Churches across Australia are looking to find ways of connecting with their local communities, with many opting for an outdoor event, whether after dark, or at dawn. Here’s a taste of what’s happening over the long weekend.
Good Friday in the park – Melbourne A St Kilda church plant, Ark House is hoping Melbourne’s famously unpredictable weather behaves well this weekend, with plans for an outdoor Good Friday service. Like lots of others this year, the church is taking a more creative approach to the usual church service by holding a picnic in a local park and incorporating poetry, readings and reflections in to the proceedings. Pastor Dan Saunders says the move outdoors is an attempt to connect with locals who might never set foot in a church. “We’ve invited local friends and family to come, bring a rug and a picnic basket and share in a beautiful, informal morning of reflection, celebration and community.” The fun times will happen on Friday morning at 10AM in St Kilda Botanical Gardens, weather permitting.
Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Hobart is running its annual seafood BBQ bonanza on Good Friday. Held after dark, the candlelit service has grown from a small, intimate event, to a big celebration popular with international students from the University of Tasmania. Many of them are involved with FOCUS, the local international student ministry run by one of the church members, Luke Hansard. The FOCUS staffworker describes it as “candles, cool music, a sermon and seafood”, open to everyone and best of all, free – both the gospel and the prawns.
Dawn time reflections – South-Western Sydney New Life Anglican in one of Sydney’s newest suburbs, Oran Park, is a new church and has been letter-boxing for months in the lead up to Easter. The Assistant Minister, Matthew Payne says the aim is to doorknock the whole suburb by the end of the week, inviting residents to their Easter services. NewLife is opting for a “dawn BBQ breakky” on Easter Sunday, which last year drew a number of locals who don’t get into all that “God stuff” (their words). The service, which will take place from 6am on Sunday morning, will be followed by a four week course: “Jesus for the Curious”. “Our goal in all of this is that we have fresh opportunities to present Jesus to people, and that we can create future opportunities as we meet new neighbours,” says Matthew.
In the Northern Territory, INChurch Darwin is planning a Good Friday feast at Charles Darwin University. The church, which is only three years old, has a real mission focus, and meets at the university for their Sunday services. Last year’s Good Friday feast saw 80 students flocking to participate. Troy Davis, pastor of InChurch, says that a lot of the students who come along are completely unreached with the gospel, a lot being international students. “It’s the food which motivates them to come along!” Church members prepare and serve the food to the students, with Troy sharing what Easter is about between dinner and dessert. For students who are interested to know more, Troy says the church will plan to run a Foundations or Alpha course after Easter. Troy says he loves Easter, and is looking forward to “taking the opportunity to really be the church, not just have church, as well as having a real sense of gratitude for what Christ has done for us, and sharing that.”
Musical celebrations in Toowoomba, QLD
In Toowoomba this Easter, musical celebrations will mark the Easter season. As well as the annual Easterfest music festival which is running with contemporary Christian music events planned across the town, a group of twelve Bible Society supporters are putting on a Hymnfest on Easter Sunday afternoon from 2-4pm. “This year there’s nothing for the elderly people happening around town,” says Les Male, who heads up the team of volunteers. “So we thought we’d bring our mid-year Hymnfest forward to Easter time. We’ve put ads in the papers and I’ve been running around to all the churches inviting people to come.” The Hymnfest will be held at St Paul’s Lutheran church, and those who gather will sing traditional hymns together, as well as listening to the stories behind the hymns. Les says he is looking forward to “a lot of people singing these wonderful hymns together and the freewill offering towards the Bible Society’s project in Rwanda”.
COMPETITION TIME!
We want to know what your church is doing over Easter. Send us an email (click here) with ‘Easter Giveaway’ in the subject line and tell us in 50 words or less what your church is up to this weekend. We’ll pick our favourite to win this great prize pack
Prize: A pack of some of the items in Bible Society Book Shop’s latest sale catalogue (total retail value is $150.70):
NLT Chronological Life Application Study Bible
Life Application Study Bible Devotional
One Perfect Life – the Complete Story of Jesus by John MacArthur
Follow Me – A Call to Die, A Call to Live by David Platt
