Parish in Focus - St John’s’, Kirribilli and Church by the Bridge

St John’s’, Kirribilli and Church by the Bridge

The beginning

In November 2004, Southern Cross began a monthly column entitled ‘Diary of a Novice Church Planter’. The former St Thomas’, North Sydney assistant minister, the Rev Dr Paul Dale wrote about his experiences planting a new congregation in the Kirribilli/McMahon’s Point area. Church by the Bridge (CBTB) commenced meeting in February 2005 in the St John’s, Kirribilli building and two years later has grown to two evening congregations.

Striking a deal

In July 2006, Bishop of the Northern Region, Glenn Davies met with the Rev Ernest Chau to discuss the future of Kirribilli. St John’s had a small, traditional 9:30am English-speaking congregation and an 11am Cantonese-speaking congregation.

The opportunity for Mr Chau and the Cantonese congregation to move to Artarmon arose. Since many members live in that area, it seemed the best way forward.

Bishop Davies then invited Paul to consider becoming curate in charge of St John’s.

“Ernest Chau has modelled to his congregation the importance of kingdom growth. They’ve been very welcoming and I’ve been encouraged by their warmth,” Paul says.

St John’s will maintain its 9:30am morning service and have sought to integrate the existing traditional service with a family service.

“I believe CBTB integrating with St John’s is the best way forward. For me personally, the past two years have been exhausting, as I’ve tried to oversee two congregations at CBTB, oversee six MTS trainees at St Thomas’ and serve at St Thomas’ 8am congregation,” Paul says.

“To focus on CBTB has been a real joy. Moving my office to Kirribilli has also been important – so I’m living and working among the people we’re seeking to reach.”

Paul has recently employed an assistant minister, Mark Smith, to oversee the morning congregation.

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