Parish in Focus - Beverly Hills / Kingsgrove

The Rev Peter Hayward commenced as the rector of Beverly Hills six years ago when he returned to Australia after establishing a new church in Spokane, USA.

In the time since, Peter has made church planting and community outreach a priority of the parish.
The parish planted a congregation at Beverly Hills Public School in 2003 and is planting another congregation at Peakhurst South Public School in 2008.

“[Church planting] is one part of the strategy. We will attempt to take up other church planting options when we have the right mix of people and place. Church-planting will always be on the radar,” Peter says.

Combining parishes

Three years ago the parish of Kingsgrove was amalgamated with Beverly Hills, which Peter says has given the parish a wider scope for outreach.

“In this area of Sydney the least significant thing is the geographical communities people belong to. This is in part because of the high multi-ethnic and multicultural characteristic of the area.”

Nothing special… really!

Peter does not want to give the impression that his church is doing anything particularly special.

“We are just an average parish struggling along with nothing that interesting to report… who under the kind hand of God seek opportunities and take risks to reach this wider area of Sydney in which we live.”

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