Building Local Outreach in the New Housing Estates of Melbourne

Kathryn was in the Ordination stream in the Baptist Union in 2019 when she heard a Church Planter tell a story about church planting. In her words, while listening to the story of an 18-year-old-church plant: “I heard something in the story, and something came alive in me.” Being an associate pastor at Mill Park Baptist in the northern suburbs of Melbourne at the time, she shared her experience with the leadership there and began to discern the call to plant. And then COVID hit.

Kathryn reflects that part of her experience of the COVID pandemic was freedom, in that it stripped back some of the excesses of modern church life, and made way for a ‘cocoon of growth and development’ where she was free to dream and pray about the call to planting. During this time she further discerned her sense of call with trusted others, and it only became stronger. Her church was supportive of her and the call to plant, and made plans to bring it to fruition. 

Mill Park Baptist released Kathryn to begin planting Donnybrook Community Church (DCC) with a small team in the new housing estate of Olivine in Donnybrook in June of 2021. Olivine houses a lively and diverse community, with 20 percent of the population from an Indian background. She began working one and a half days per week, which increased to three days in her second year, and has now increased to four days a week. In the early stages, the church met as a house church in local members’ homes. It launched publicly in June of 2022, and has just ticked over one year of public meetings. 

Being bi-vocational has been of great benefit to Kathryn during this time, and not just from a financial perspective. She feels her work as a counsellor has given her credibility within the community, especially in the wellness space. 

Perhaps one of the happiest eventualities for Kathryn and DCC is the confluence of the arrival of two other strong Christian presences within the Olivine community alongside their own, while the community as a whole is in its infancy. There is a local Placemaker, akin to a Chaplain to the whole local community, as well as a café called “Shared Cup”, an initiative of the Baptist Union where those who struggle to find employment can find it, and all profits are returned to the community. These three bodies collaborating means that the community can be served in vastly more ways than if only one of these three were present. 

For example, Kathryn meets regularly with Michelle Mitchell, the local Placemaker, and it is through this relationship that Michelle introduced Kathryn to Nimi. Michelle knew that Kathryn is keen to run an International Expo with food, music, and dancing at some point in the future, so when Michelle met Nimi in the course of her daily work, and learned that Nimi, a Punjabi woman, had extensive experience in community work, she introduced her to Kathryn. Kathryn and Nimi met and discussed what an International Expo could look like in Donnybrook, and in the course of that meeting, Nimi learned that Kathryn was a pastor. Nimi expressed her desire to learn more about Kathryn’s faith and work, and now they are studying the Bible together.

Similarly, the members of DCC have inaugurated and established a quarterly event called “Raise Your Glass” which happens at Shared Cup. The aim of the event is to build community connections for locals, and to nurture an affirming and pro-social culture. It is an evening meal with a guest speaker (themes have been the importance of community post-pandemic, the love languages, or most recently a trivia night in place of a speaker), and an opportunity to publicly acknowledge local residents. There is a section of each event called ”Toasting not Roasting” where anyone may stand up, raise a glass, and toast a community member for their positive contribution to local life, large or small. This is a brilliant antidote to the Australian pastime of demonstrating acceptance by verbally roasting one another, and at the same time shows that the church is a place where that can be sidelined in favour of genuine affirmation and warmth. Each “Raise Your Glass” event includes the offer of opportunities to talk further about any of the themes of the evening, and information about upcoming community events. 

In terms of City to City Australia’s (CTCA) assistance and involvement with this process, Kathryn is most grateful for being part of the Church Planting Cohort. In that group, she says, “...in the early formation stages (of DCC) they were there to discuss all the ‘firsts’. It was so helpful to have a live conversation to help with what we were experiencing in real time.” Some of the relationships she formed in that cohort are ongoing, and continue to be a source of support and nurture for her. Kathryn also highly valued the sustained support, prayer, encouragement and ‘the right questions’ from Brett Mitchell, her CTCA coach. She says that CTCA has supported her ‘on every level, with funding, training, and coaching’, and that each of these three has been key.

Of the path of a Church Planter, Kathryn observes that “it’s a slow path, and not necessarily efficient. Self discipline of the ego of the leader is involved, and it doesn’t appeal to everyone.” On the flipside, reflecting on the context in which she has planted, Kathryn says “To be able to shape culture in a new housing estate where everything is rising up all around you is incredible”.

"But I'm Not An Evangelist..."

Every pastor has heard this response to the suggestion that their church look outwards and talk to some unbelievers about Jesus. In fact, the name Jesus needn’t even be mentioned. The word “outreach” is often enough to draw the same response: “But I’m not an evangelist”. It’s a dead-end phrase, a complete roadblock, and deeply disheartening for a pastor to hear, because an attempt to address it can feel like an attempt to challenge the congregant’s identity, against their will into the bargain. This can feel like an irreversible defeat in the quest for evangelism and mission, and can discourage both pastors, and gifted evangelists in the church who long to see people come to faith in Jesus, and their flock grow in numbers and in vitality. This need not be the case. There are many ways in which to share the good news about Jesus, and many methods of proposing those ways to churches, and it is possible to do so in ways which affirm and empower believers. Much ink has been spilled on the topic of evangelism, and of evangelism hesitancy, and this article will only attempt to scratch the surface by the barest of margins and offer some thoughts, which are hopefully useful to some. 

Many of the subtexts of a person’s belief that he or she is not an evangelist are a collection of things that are actually true, but which do not preclude sharing faith. Objections can be “I’m an introvert”, “I don’t know enough about apologetics”, “I’m a new Christian”, or even “I don’t know any non-Christians”. While any of these things might be true for any number of believers, none of them rules out the ability to talk about faith in Jesus. It just means that those particular believers might not be ‘Big E Evangelists’. 

It can be useful to point out to members of the church at the point of these objections that there are big E and small e evangelists, and they come in all temperaments, academic capacities, and stages of maturity. (Not all subscribe to this theory, but it can be a useful language in distinguishing between those who are gifted in evangelism, and those who are not.) A big E evangelist is a believer who is particularly gifted in evangelism, and who finds himself or herself energised by sharing his or her faith, and actively looks for opportunities to do so. Not all believers fall into this camp, and no believer should be made to feel as though it is required. Anyone who is not a big E evangelist is by default a small e evangelist, and as a matter of obedience is charged at the very least to “…be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15). So the answer to “But I’m not an evangelist” can sound like “No, you might not be, but we’re all called to be able to share our faith.” It can sound less daunting, but only slightly.

The simple truth is that obedience is costly, and it is hard work at times, and preparing to talk about faith in a way that is compelling and persuasive can feel like more that we are willing to give, or even that we are capable of. It is at this point that another scripture is pertinent: “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). God would not ask anything of us for which He is not going to equip us. There is great liberty in this, in that we are reminded that our confidence does not need to come from within ourselves or from our abilities (and indeed ought not to) but it comes from God. With a few simple ideas and tools, sharing faith can become a joy, and something we long to do. The biggest obstacles to evangelism, and to creating a culture of evangelism in our churches, can be in our thinking and in our beliefs about what it is and how it ought to happen. 

In attempts by pastors to overcome evangelism hesitancy in our churches, there are some common shortfalls which, while having some benefit, still miss the mark and do not yield ongoing evangelism or build a culture of evangelism. One such attempt is to teach a formulaic/rhetorical script to share when talking about Jesus. While these can be very useful, and there are some great examples of them, the truth is that there is not one single way to talk about Jesus and the beauty of his redemptive work. There are, in fact, myriad ways. Church members can feel that they ought not stray from the pattern they’ve been taught to say, and feel constricted to stay within it, even when they can sense that it is not being well received. Also, those hearing the taught formula can feel that the Christian who is sharing it is simply following a script, and has not really engaged with them or listened to them. 

Another way churches can miss the mark with evangelism is by having a one-off evangelistic event. Again, these can be great things, and many people who have never heard about Jesus can hear the wonderful story of his love and salvation. But if the big event has no plan to follow up those who want to know more, or if church members feel that the evangelism box has been ticked for the year, then the mark has been missed. Additionally, it can be a significant drain on the church budget, while yielding very little return. An event like that is far more effective when the church who has hosted it has an ongoing culture of evangelism, and a number of options to offer those who are interested to pursue Jesus further, like an invitation to an Alpha program or similar.

Evangelism attempts can also be unfruitful when the good news being shared is incomplete or indistinct, or if the appeal is being made on the basis of something other than the gospel of the scriptures. When this happens, it can mean that those hearing the message are perhaps being called to a nice way to live, or a new group of friends, or a higher moral code that they previously held – and not the saving grace of Jesus. 

There will be a lack of evangelism in churches where the pastor/s do not lead by example. It is vital for any church leaders who hope for evangelism to occur within their flocks to engage in evangelism themselves, and to share stories from their attempts. In so doing, leaders will foster and grow a culture of ongoing evangelism and demonstrate how it can be a part of everyday life, not just something done as a push for a big event, or as part of a program. Evangelism can additionally be stymied where church members are not taught how to be discerning and how to proceed when there are objections or hostility. Some pastors might choose to share and teach the concept of ‘people of peace’ to help with this. 

How, then, might pastors go about cultivating an outward-looking church where members are willing and equipped to share their faith? A good starting place is to identify which members of a church are gifted, big E evangelists, and which are small e evangelists. Teaching each group will look different, and identifying the differences will give clarity and comfort to those who are fearful. Then, it is useful to think about both corporate and individual evangelism. How might a church reach out to and engage with its community as a community of believers? How might individuals think about sharing their faith one on one in their various contexts in ways that are relational and engaging? And how can individuals learn to share faith, and participate in corporate mission and evangelism in ways that feel authentic and not foreign to them. These are all important areas of evangelism to differentiate, to investigate, and to offer training in: big E, little E, corporate, and individual. Breaking it down like this takes away some of the fear of the unknown, and can give a sense of agency to those who feel ill-equipped to talk about their faith. 

Another critical area to consider when teaching and leading in evangelism is that of contextualisation, with regard to both the broader Australian context, and the local context of a particular church. Understanding the context in which we will share our faith will have a large bearing on the manner and the methods with which we share it. Helping church members to think about this, and the kinds of people they will be sharing with, can demystify the process further, and can reinforce the idea that evangelism really is about the people with whom we share, and God being at work, far more that it is about ourselves and our gifts of lack of them, perceived or otherwise.

Even before methods, giftings, or contextualising, though, come prayer and expectation. Prayer, both individual and corporate, is the underpinning of evangelism. Prayer for both those known to us who we would love to see enter the kingdom of God, and more general prayer for the communities where we live, work, and worship. Expectation, then, will be a result of our prayerfulness. When we pray for God to move, we ought to expect to see Him do so. And that expectation will engender a desire to sharpen our focus on the world around us, and our skill in engaging with unbelievers with empathy, curiosity, and a desire to listen and learn how best to offer the wonderful, redemptive, and merciful love of Jesus.

As with any goal a church leader has for his or her church, a shared vision can be a highly effective motivation to help all members participate in the goal. The following quote from J. Mack Stiles in his book “Evangelism” describes a beautiful vision of church, and evangelism within it, to which any believer could joyfully subscribe:

““I long for a church that understands that it – the local church – is the chosen and best method of evangelism. I long for a church where the Christians are so in love with Jesus that when they go about the regular time of worship, they become an image of the gospel. I long for a church that disarms with love, not entertainment, and lives out countercultural confidence in the power of the gospel. I long for a church where the greatest celebrations happen over those who share their faith, and the heroes are those who risk their reputations to evangelise.””

This vision of every day evangelism within a community of believers is truly compelling, but might seem too far off to reach. If a church like this is what you would love to see, hear, and lead, then Ripple Effect is a highly effective tool to begin the journey there.

Ripple Effect is a multi-layered program offered by City to City Australia. Over twenty-two churches have participated in the program, and more that fifteen hundred people have participated in the online courses on offer. There are four different ways to engage with the Ripple Effect material. The first is a Workshop (conducted over a weekend) which is designed for an entire church to participate in. In it, every day Christians (small e evangelists) are equipped to share their faith. The second is an Online Course which is designed for small groups (mostly made up of small e evangelists) to access together, and looks at shifting the culture of congregations towards embracing and living out evangelism. The third is a Missional Engagement Incubator for Senior Leadership Teams to attend together with other Teams from other churches intermittently over a 12-month period. This helps leaders think about the structure of their churches, and where the pathways are for people to become Christians. The fourth is a Cohort offered to gifted Evangelists within Australia and New Zealand, and helps them to thrive and be utilized within the church, and to have a real love for the church and for the community. One church leader had this to say about the program:

““Our church has benefited from the multilayered approach of ministry leaders training with a cohort of peers through the Missional Engagement incubator, a workshop run by Julie Anne at our church, using the Ripple Effect course in our small groups, and Julie-anne’s coaching of gifted evangelists in an online cohort. This approach far outweighs doing any one of these elements in isolation or dislocated from the other elements.””

If any of these offerings is appealing to you, please get in touch with Julie-anne Laird, CTCA Specialist Consultant of Evangelism and Mission.

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Written by Jane Duff

Abundant Life Church of Christ with Tola Ten

Tola Ten stepped out in response to a call from God to plant Abundant Life Church of Christ during the COVID-19 pandemic. It seemed like an unlikely time to plant, but in obedience, that’s what Tola did. And Abundant Life has flourished. 

Tola had worshipped at Springvale South Church of Christ for seven years, and was serving as a deacon there when he was called to plant Abundant Life. During 2019 the leadership team had begun to discern together whether they ought to begin a second service on a Sunday, or whether they ought to plant a whole new and independent congregation. It was discerned that a new and separate church was the direction in which God was leading, and that Tola was the person to lead it. It would be a Cambodian church, for Cambodian people in Melbourne. Excitement was building, and then the pandemic began. Even so, the leadership was clear that the church ought to launch, and so Abundant Life launched online. 

People joined the livestream from Springvale South, from the broader Cambodian community in Melbourne, from Cambodia, and even from the United States. For almost a year, the church met solely online. Then in December of 2020 Abundant Life had its first in-person gathering outdoors. Around 30 people met for this inaugural gathering. Tola says this was crucial to members beginning to feel a sense of belonging. Belonging, Tola says, is important to Cambodian people, and is what members of the Cambodian community in Melbourne are looking for. Of course, the international members could not attend, but the online service continued alongside public gatherings for over a year. 

In January of 2021, Abundant Life held its first indoor public worship service. They used an Anglican Church building near Springvale to meet. The search for premises had been a long one, with a lot of closed doors, until Tola made contact with an Anglican minister who was sympathetic to the cause of Abundant Life: this minister had himself been a missionary to Cambodia for twenty years. The partnership is a strong one, and Tola and all of Abundant Life are grateful for that.

When Tola began to lead Abundant Life he was studying theology, and was drawing on his life of experience in churches and, more recently, in lay leadership to shape and inform his leadership. It was not until 2022 that Tola joined a Church Planting Cohort with City to City Australia to help him develop the leadership necessary for leading a new congregation. He articulates that participating in the cohort “opened up a different window” for him through which to view church – it showed him other practices and perspectives to which he had not previously been exposed.

The other significant benefit to Tola was the knowledge and assurance that he was not alone in planting, which can feel very solitary. He gained great encouragement and support from the collegiality and fellowship of the cohort, which was deeply nourishing at that particular stage of his planting journey. 

Tola believes that his engagement with City to City, along with Abundant Life belonging to the Churches of Christ, has given his congregation assurance. For them, he says, it shows that planting is “not a whim”, that he is “not on his own”, and that he is part of something “bigger than himself”. He feels this is very important to Cambodian people. He says “they are more willing to bet their life” on Jesus since they are seeing Tola be taught by others, and not merely relying on his own understanding. 

One of Tola’s many joys in planting Abundant Life has been eight new families begin attending the church in order to have their children accepted for enrolment at a local Christian school. This occurred about halfway through 2022. These families are not believing families, yet want their children to have a Christian education, and are willing to become church members to do so. Abundant Life has welcomed these families, which took their membership to around 70 people, and the families have expressed a genuine sense of belonging.

Again, Tola observed that this is very important to Cambodian people. He also noted that belonging frequently precedes believing. It is his prayer that all these families will become believers in Jesus, and he is delighted to have the opportunity to walk alongside them, read the Bible together, and gently lead them towards Jesus. 

Abundant Life is a Cambodian church which “fosters fellowship over food” and has an “intentional and relational” way of operating. With the City of Dandenong home to over 25,000 Cambodian people, and fewer than 500 of those professing Christians, Tola is excited for the future of his church. He is praying for more and more Cambodians to find belonging at Abundant Life, and that that belonging will in turn lead to belonging to Jesus.

Persian Ministry in Eastern Melbourne

Pedram and Leili Shirmast arrived in Australia from Türkiye in 2019, settled in Doncaster and, being Iranian, chose to begin attending Emmanuel Church, the only Farsi speaking church in Melbourne. The couple had lived in Ankara, the capital of Türkiye, for six years immediately prior to coming to Australia, and ministered together during their time there (Pedram was also ordained in Ankara in 2015). Prior to this they had lived in Iran and had ministered together there for two years. 

Even with an extensive experience of ministry life, neither Pedram nor Leili assumed that they would continue with ministry in Australia, and each of them pursued other career paths while they discerned whether God was calling them to minister again in a new country. Leili began pursuing childcare, and worked in the field while she discerned her future path.

As time went on, she discerned that she was being called to ordination here in Australia. Running parallel to this, Pedram began the process of applying to the police force, having been interested in the profession from a young age. Pedram prayed that as he pursued discerning between ministry and the police force, God would firmly open one door and close another. God did not answer this prayer definitively, and Pedram was left with the choice between accepting a position in the Victorian Police Force, or as a candidate for ordination in the Anglican Church. After consulting with Christian mentors, Pedram felt that God was calling him into ordained ministry.

Having been made Deacons in the Anglican Church in February 2023, Pedram and Leili look forward to being ordained as Priests in ten months’ time in November. In the initial stages of their training, they were able to do a placement at their home church in Australia, Emmanuel, and serving the Farsi-speaking community there: “We found ourselves in the middle of God’s mission”. Doncaster and the neighbouring suburb of Templestowe are home to the largest Persian community in Australia. There are 2,500 Persian people in this area, with few attending church or professing Christianity. In 2021, Pedram and Leili began thinking about how to begin a Persian church in their local area.

Coincidentally, there was a church that Pedram and Leili drove past several times a week very near their house in Doncaster. They would look at it and wonder about the services, the congregation, and what church looked like for that community: Deep Creek Anglican Church. It’s this church where the couple now lead a Farsi-speaking plant. Megan Curlis-Gibson, the parish minister at Deep Creek encouraged the couple to pray about a way forward for planting in Doncaster, and to potentially engage with City to City Australia as a means to pursue planting.

Both Pedram and Leili describe engaging with City to City as bringing them ‘huge hope’ for their call to plant, and ‘light’ to the journey. By receiving funding via City to City they are able to work alongside Megan at Deep Creek and minister to the local Persian Community, a small number of whom attend church at Deep Creek. In July of 2022 they started a Farsi-speaking Bible study on a Friday night with just five members. Membership is now at eighteen. They conduct various evangelistic activities in their local community, as well as providing ESL classes for Iranian refugees. (Although Pedram laughs when he says ‘ESL’, saying that English is often class members’ third or fourth language.)

One of Leili’s weekly activities is attending sewing classes for refugees in a neighbouring suburb. During her time attending these classes, Leili provides pastoral care for attendees, often offering assistance with things like language, technology, and navigating bureaucratic processes in Australia.

Recently Leili invited any of the attendees who had come that day to come for prayer. In a neighbouring room many of the women came, some with no faith, some with other faiths, and Leili prayed aloud for them all. She said the response was overwhelming. The women were so grateful, some were crying, and Leili had felt a palpable presence of the Holy Spirit as she prayed, guiding her prayers. Leili and Pedram are praying for more opportunities to witness like this, and to continue in relationship with those who responded favourably to the offer of prayer. 

Of City to City, Pedram says that it was such a welcome relief to discover an organisation that could walk with them in planting a ministry to Persian people, which they would like to become independent and truly multicultural. Pedram says that there are many churches which stay true to their culture, whatever that might be, who will minister to other cultures in various ways, but there are very few that attempt to embody more than one culture and be truly multicultural.

Pedram and Leili dream of seeing this happen in Melbourne with the Farsi-speaking community alongside ‘Aussie’ culture. They feel strongly about advocating for refugees, about helping both Persian people and Australian people understand one another better, and about sharing the challenges that Iranians face when they become Christians, both here and in Iran.

With City to City, Pedram and Leili articulate that they are so delighted to have found more than they were looking for. They had sought an organisation which could help them with tools and strategies for planting, but have also gained through the planting cohort “…hope that we are not alone, since we have so much support through the ups and downs of planting”.