Syndal Baptist Church(SBC) began on October 10, 1954 in the home of Ray and Jean Williams. It was a group of mainly young families. Over the years, prayer has undergirded much of what happens.

Today, the church sees around 1,000 people in worship services on a Sunday. There are 7 services each Sunday – Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean and 3 English.

Our mission is to ‘present Jesus, provide nurture and produce disciples’ and our tag line is ‘Life together is a gift’ i.e. Life together with God, with one another and with those we encounter day to day is a wonderful opportunity to partner with God in his mission. One of the greatest challenges for Syndal and every church is to help every follower of Jesus to know that they represent Jesus and are on mission wherever they are and whatever they are doing. It involves recapturing the secret of Jesus to see where God is at work and join in that mission (see John 5:19). Because the Father is always at work it means every day has opportunities to partner with him.

At our 65th Church Anniversary on October 13th, Rev Chris Danes was inducted as our fourth Senior Pastor. 

Rev Bill Brown, our church’s 3rd Senior Pastor, encouraged Chris from Colossians 1:28-29: “to proclaim Jesus, to do it as a team, through encouragement, prayer, working with God and each other, training, helping people engage with life and learn from it, all the time relying on the Spirit of God working in and through us to present everyone fully equipped for life, growing up as God wants for us.”  Then Bill challenged the congregation to build Chris’ spiritual influence by praying for him, build his reputation by speaking well of him, build his spirit and morale by encouraging him and Jo-Anne and their family, build his leadership by cooperating with him and learning together and together keep following the Jesus we seek together to proclaim and exemplify. 

Rev Jonathan Stark, Head of Pastoral Leadership Support & Development with Baptist Union of Victoria, led the induction and family members and people from the congregation came forward and prayed for Chris as he was inducted. "There was a great sense of excitement at both morning services as the seven congregations came together to hear Chris make his promises and to express their own commitment to encourage, support and participate with Chris in advancing the kingdom of God.

Rev Chris Danes then spoke to the congregation, sharing how in midst of his wrestling about whether he would be able to be the kind of leader that Bill was, God gave him a response to the doubts in his mind, "Chris I have not call you to Be Bill Brown. I already have one of those! I have called you to be Chris Danes!" Chris added, "And so I stand before you and say, "I can never be Bill! But I can be Chris! And with God's anointing I think we can accomplish great things together." Chris declared, "I am here today because I love God. I love the people of Syndal Baptist Church. And I believe if we bear Christ together, we can be a light to the world." Chris' name, Christopher, means bearing Christ and he added, "Christ-bearer… that's the measure for me… and I am hoping that as we walk the road together that will be the measure for Syndal Baptist Church. Individually and collectively! 

We celebrate with Syndal Baptist Church as they look forward to all that is ahead!

Source: BUV News

Syndal Baptist Church(SBC) began on October 10, 1954 in the home of Ray and Jean Williams. It was a group of mainly young families. Over the years, prayer has undergirded much of what happens.

Today, the church sees around 1,000 people in worship services on a Sunday. There are 7 services each Sunday – Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean and 3 English.

Our mission is to ‘present Jesus, provide nurture and produce disciples’ and our tag line is ‘Life together is a gift’ i.e. Life together with God, with one another and with those we encounter day to day is a wonderful opportunity to partner with God in his mission. One of the greatest challenges for Syndal and every church is to help every follower of Jesus to know that they represent Jesus and are on mission wherever they are and whatever they are doing. It involves recapturing the secret of Jesus to see where God is at work and join in that mission (see John 5:19). Because the Father is always at work it means every day has opportunities to partner with him.

At our 65th Church Anniversary on October 13th, Rev Chris Danes was inducted as our fourth Senior Pastor. 

Rev Bill Brown, our church’s 3rd Senior Pastor, encouraged Chris from Colossians 1:28-29: “to proclaim Jesus, to do it as a team, through encouragement, prayer, working with God and each other, training, helping people engage with life and learn from it, all the time relying on the Spirit of God working in and through us to present everyone fully equipped for life, growing up as God wants for us.”  Then Bill challenged the congregation to build Chris’ spiritual influence by praying for him, build his reputation by speaking well of him, build his spirit and morale by encouraging him and Jo-Anne and their family, build his leadership by cooperating with him and learning together and together keep following the Jesus we seek together to proclaim and exemplify. 

Rev Jonathan Stark, Head of Pastoral Leadership Support & Development with Baptist Union of Victoria, led the induction and family members and people from the congregation came forward and prayed for Chris as he was inducted. "There was a great sense of excitement at both morning services as the seven congregations came together to hear Chris make his promises and to express their own commitment to encourage, support and participate with Chris in advancing the kingdom of God.

Rev Chris Danes then spoke to the congregation, sharing how in midst of his wrestling about whether he would be able to be the kind of leader that Bill was, God gave him a response to the doubts in his mind, "Chris I have not call you to Be Bill Brown. I already have one of those! I have called you to be Chris Danes!" Chris added, "And so I stand before you and say, "I can never be Bill! But I can be Chris! And with God's anointing I think we can accomplish great things together." Chris declared, "I am here today because I love God. I love the people of Syndal Baptist Church. And I believe if we bear Christ together, we can be a light to the world." Chris' name, Christopher, means bearing Christ and he added, "Christ-bearer… that's the measure for me… and I am hoping that as we walk the road together that will be the measure for Syndal Baptist Church. Individually and collectively! 

We celebrate with Syndal Baptist Church as they look forward to all that is ahead!

Source: BUV News

Nourish: Imagine

We kicked off October Gathering on 18 October with Nourish where we spent the day with our pastors (and their spouses) to "Imagine” the possibilities and impact of being part of a movement of flourishing churches in Victoria together.

Our BUV Director of Mission & Ministries, Rev Daniel Bullock, led us in opening our minds to new possibilities by dreaming of what our churches might look like if we invited God to inspire those dreams for our Church, and to imagine how the Church might then flourish beyond all expectations.

Daniel said: “I have a dream of flourishing Baptist churches in every corner of Victoria – produce passionate disciples who will bring hope and transformation to our world, and I am looking forward to hearing the great stories of transformed lives and communities and I hope you share my dream, not only for your church but for all churches.”  

Using John 15, Dr Lynn Moresi from Whitley College encouraged us to imagine our churches transformed with Christ-like disciples whose encounters with all those around us were characterised by the love and welcome of Jesus.

Following a tasty and satisfying lunch, and a relaxed opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends, Rev Dr David Talathoti invited us all to imagine our churches filled with people from all cultures who felt a sense of belonging and identity. He used the example of Dandenong Church welcoming members of their local community to weekly events, where many have found acceptance and friendship beyond the limitations of their cultural and religious restrictions.

Rev Carolyn Francis from Collins Street Baptist Church capped off Nourish by inviting us to imagine what it could look like to see a whole society redeemed and transformed by the faithful and genuine witness of all believers to the crucified and risen Christ.

“I valued the reminder that we are witnesses to redemption when, to people living in fear and confusion, we offer our vulnerability, woundedness, and peace.”
– Rev Alison Sampson, Sanctuary Baptist Church

Members' Dinner

In the evening, over 300 delegates attended the Members’ Dinner where we voted for Mick Turnbull to be reappointed as a member of the Union Council for another three years. We also thanked Rev Dr Allan Demond for his six years of service to the BUV as a member of Union Council and we invited nomination for a new Union Council member by Friday, 8^th November.

Debbie Uy, Director of Finance and Administration, presented the proposed 2020 Pastoral Stipends and proposed 2020 Membership Fee. The Assembly accepted both proposals by show of hands.

Rev Daniel Bullock provided an update on the Baptist Identity Project. He thanked churches for their input at the five Consultation Forums and confirmed that the current doctrinal statements and principles and ideals of faith documents will remain with a revision of wording and phrasing using modern language.

Our discussion topic for the evening was centred around Climate Change with Dr Keith Dyer from Whitley College, presenting on the Biblical and theological reflection. He pointed out eschatological misreading on heaven and rapture as not biblical, and stressed the earth needs redemption not annihilation.

We celebrated and welcomed three new constituent churches: Kangaroo Flat Karen Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church of Melbourne and Zomi Mission Church; three faith communities: Melbourne Agape Baptist Church, Ebenezer Karen Baptist Church and Radiant Church; and two new Missional Communities: Sandy Life Baptist Church and Social foundry. We also farewelled Thurgoona Baptist Church.

The evening concluded with Rev Daniel Bullock sharing a new vision for the BUV: “To be a union of flourishing churches with Christlike followers, that redeems society and brings transformation to Victoria.” He encouraged churches to use the Flourishing Church Framework to measure themselves and back up the rating with current stories of transformation.

“I am convinced that every church in our Union has some good news stories of transformation to share, I am convinced that most churches are flourishing in some shape or form. But I am also sure that we are not flourishing to the fullness of God’s intention and I want to make sure we in the Union office are directing our resources to help change that.” 

This framework will be communicated to all churches in 2020 as an assessment tool.

“I found the day both encouraging and inspiring. The BUV’s vision and flourishing church framework resonates well and will help us with our own visioning.”
– Rev Paul Llewellyn, Knox Community Baptist Church

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBBsnhsHlJU]

Nourish photos
Nourish Presentation slides
Members’ Pack
Members' Dinner slides
Minutes from Members' Dinner
Members’ Dinner photos

Source: BUV News

Nourish: Imagine

We kicked off our last Gathering of 2019 on 18 October with Nourish where we spent the day with our pastors and their spouse to "Imagine” the possibilities and impact of being part of a movement of flourishing churches in Victoria together.

Our BUV Director of Mission & Ministries, Rev Daniel Bullock, led us in opening our minds to new possibilities by dreaming of what our churches might look like if we invited God to inspire those dreams for our Church, and to imagine how the Church might then flourish beyond all expectations.

Daniel said: “I have a dream of flourishing Baptist churches in every corner of Victoria – produce passionate disciples who will bring hope and transformation to our world, and I am looking forward to hearing the great stories of transformed lives and communities and I hope you share my dream, not only for your church but for all churches.”  

Using John 15, Dr Lynn Moresi from Whitley College encouraged us to imagine our churches transformed with Christ-like disciples whose encounters with all those around us were characterised by the love and welcome of Jesus.

Following a tasty and satisfying lunch, and a relaxed opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends, Rev Dr David Talathoti invited us all to imagine our churches filled with people from all cultures who felt a sense of belonging and identity.
He used the example of Dandenong Church welcoming members of their local community to weekly events, where many have found acceptance and friendship beyond the limitations of their cultural and religious restrictions.
 

Rev Carolyn Francis from Collins Street Baptist Church capped off Nourish by inviting us to imagine what it could look like to see a whole society redeemed and transformed by the faithful and genuine witness of all believers to the crucified and risen Christ.

“I valued the reminder that we are witnesses to redemption when, to people living in fear and confusion, we offer our vulnerability, woundedness, and peace.”
– Rev Alison Sampson, Sanctuary Baptist Church

Members' Dinner

In the evening, over 300 delegates attended the Members’ Dinner where we voted for Mick Turnbull to be reappointed as a member of the Union Council for another three years. We also thanked Rev Dr Allan Demond for his six years of service to the BUV as a member of Union Council and we invited nomination for a new Union Council member by Friday, 8^th November.

Debbie Uy, Director of Finance and Administration, presented the proposed 2020 Pastoral Stipends and proposed 2020 Membership Fee. The Assembly accepted both proposals by show of hands.

Rev Daniel Bullock provided an update on the Baptist Identity Project. He thanked churches for their input at the five Consultation Forums and confirmed that the current doctrinal statements and principles and ideals of faith documents will remain with a revision of wording and phrasing using modern language.

Our discussion topic for the evening was centred around Climate Change with Dr Keith Dyer from Whitley College, presenting on the Biblical and theological reflection. He pointed out eschatological misreading on heaven and rapture as not biblical, and stressed the earth needs redemption not annihilation.

We celebrated and welcomed three new constituent churches: Kangaroo Flat Karen Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church of Melbourne and Zomi Mission Church; three faith communities: Melbourne Agape Baptist Church, Ebenezer Karen Baptist Church and Radiant Church; and two new Missional Communities: Sandy Life Baptist Church and Social foundry. We also farewelled Thurgoona Baptist Church.

The evening concluded with Rev Daniel Bullock sharing a new vision for the BUV: “To be a union of flourishing churches with Christlike followers, that redeems society and brings transformation to Victoria.” He encouraged churches to use the Flourishing Church Framework to measure themselves and back up the rating with current stories of transformation.

“I am convinced that every church in our Union has some good news stories of transformation to share, I am convinced that most churches are flourishing in some shape or form. But I am also sure that we are not flourishing to the fullness of God’s intention and I want to make sure we in the Union office are directing our resources to help change that.” 

This framework will be communicated to all churches in 2020 as an assessment tool.

“I found the day both encouraging and inspiring. The BUV’s vision and flourishing church framework resonates well and will help us with our own visioning.”
– Rev Paul Llewellyn, Knox Community Baptist Church

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBBsnhsHlJU]

Nourish photos
Nourish Presentation slides
Members’ Pack
Members' Dinner slides
Minutes from Members' Dinner
Members’ Dinner photos

Source: BUV News

Before I was 4, I had been exposed to Chinese, Indian, Malay, and colonial English cultures (add war and peace to that, if they are cultures). By the time I was 14 I was enrolled in an International Christian Missionary School with Dutch, German, English, Canadian, USA, South African, Swiss, Australian, and New Zealand children and living in the Japan.

We actively learnt about all these different cultures and customs. Yule logs from England, Christmas trees from Germany, clog shoes from Holland and Christmas carols from everywhere. We learnt lots of different National Anthems. But Australia's was always ‘God save the Queen’.

So… when I arrived at Tekin in Papua New Guinea, and saw the primitive dress, bows and arrows and grass huts, I viewed these were just a variation on the lives of many kinds of people whom I had already learnt about.

By primitive dress I mean clothing made out of local materials and not from cloth imported from half way around the world. This took some getting used to. I was glad that we had been married 6-7 weeks earlier as I was from a family of four girls. However one dear friend from Melbourne, a single, missionary minded young woman whispered to me as she got off her plane "Where do I look?"  I replied "Straight into their eyes and smile."

On special occasions, the men would dress up and wear an extravagant head-dress made of a great flamboyant array of spectacularly coloured feathers. These make a wonderful display when they all dance at a sing-sing (normally connected with initiation ceremonies during spirit worship).

But the normal street dress for men was nothing more than a penis sheath. These were made of gourds which as we all know grow in all shapes and sizes. They were held in place by strings attached to circles of thin bamboo (belts) around their waists. Fortunately, only smallish gourds were used in our area. In lrian Jaya, the men wore longer bamboo pipes that could stretch up as high as their heads.

On the other hand, the women only wore the shortest of grass skirts and nothing on top. (I felt this may have been more of a distraction to our 'holy, missionary husbands' than the gourds were to me).

Along with all the cultural differences, we carefully listened to our senior missionaries and tried to fit into the culture where we could, but discarded anything to do with the animistic worship. (Even though it had nothing to do with animistic worship Lindsay did not take to wearing a gourd nor did I start wearing no more than a grass skirt).

In a prayer meeting, I closed my eyes (and still do) so as to be able to concentrate on talking to God.

One day in corporate prayer – when all stood and prayed out loud together – I was distracted and extremely humbled by a dear person praying quietly behind me and thanking God for giving them missionaries who had brought the good news of salvation to them.

Editor’s note: Some questions
How well do we look people in the eye and engage them in conversation when we meet them for the first time? How often do we disengage because of brightly coloured hair, a great flourish of bling, a flashy earring or some audacious tattoos?

Has the time come when we need to accept people who wear something other than a blue rinse, a wedding ring and a few freckles?

Should we ourselves become more engaged with our local cultures and expect to se people at church to wearing footy scarves in winter (other than at a funeral) or our youth workers to wearing slashed jeans and tattoos?

Source: BUV News