By Amy Galliford
It’s Wednesday morning and an Illawarra SRE classroom is buzzing with Bible questions. It’s Thursday night and The Cottage in Albion Park is alive with community conversation over platefuls of homecooked food. It’s Friday morning and a pair of anxious hands are gripping a cup of tea offered to them outside the Albion Park courthouse. Another day, a group takes up paintbrushes and clay for some time exploring faith through art. And yet another day, dozens are gathered over a barbecue in crisp morning air to thank the local police officers.
Southern Church is the force behind these ministries, yet its leadership team had little to do with them. Rather, empowered individuals from within the church congregation with eyes to see the needs of their community have swung into action, catalysing the many community-based ministries associated with the church.
Southern Church Senior Pastor, Stephen Cathcart says, “It is about the priesthood of all believers. The Spirit has good ideas that He gives to people with certain gifts and talents that I would never think of.”
In addition to empowering the many church members who serve as chaplains and SRE teachers, this inclusive approach to ministry has resulted in the development of several lay-person-led ministries that have proved integral to the local community. A case-in-point is Tongarra Tukka, a free, weekly community meal where people can come and gather around the table, over a meal. While its purpose is not evangelism, everyone who has attended has also come along to church.
There is an open invitation for all to attend Tongarra Tukka.
Another core ministry began in 2016 when Southern Church members contacted the local courthouse and asked if they could provide a monthly Saturday morning tea to people during their court cases. When COVID hit, they had to suspend their morning teas; when COVID was over, the courthouse asked them to come back.
The team on a frosty Friday morning serving tea at the courthouse.
“We are now a fixture in that courthouse. They told us that when our team is there, the anxiety levels drop – they never have to call the police when we are there. Just giving people a cup of tea and a biscuit can really alleviate the stress,” Stephen explains.
In another response to community need, ex-police officer Tim Hall, a Southern Church member initiated ‘Presence BBQ’, a quarterly breakfast held for the local police to thank them. Being personally familiar with the dangers and darkness the police encounter daily and seeming lack of gratitude for their efforts, Tim used his knowledge, connections and the backing of his church to act. While the ministry is practical in nature and largely hidden from others, as Stephen says, “Moving bacon around on a barbecue is a Kingdom activity.”
Two volunteers preparing breakfast for the police at Presence BBQ.
Stephen sees his role as equipping people to pursue the ideas the Spirit has laid on their hearts.
“Part of this is to remind people that we are the church, you are the church. The Spirit of God is alive and well within you. You have gifts and abilities and talents that the Spirit is calling out. We have to do something about it,” Stephen says.
Southern Church Evangelist and SRE teacher Belinda Lakelin reflects, “It’s about helping people become aware of what God might be placing on their heart and then helping them find people with that same thing on their heart. We help people with the same passions come together to dream. Then when they start, we are looking to see how we can support them with teams, finances and promotion.”
To help people hone this awareness, Stephen emphasises training people to see. “I always say we need three spiritual gifts – gratitude, hearing and seeing.”
Such a participatory culture means people are willing to look, and thus are able to see where God is moving and recognise where he is inviting them to join in. The result is an array of ministries catalysed, implemented and led by congregation members.
As these ministries have proliferated, the leadership at Southern Church have made a point of supporting them, and this support sustains them. Belinda says, “We often meet with the teams to hear where God is at work in their ministries and where their frustrations are so that we can help problem solve. We have this culture of review and improvement. People respond to that with a lot of enthusiasm and ownership. That open communication is really key. We also prioritise a culture of gratitude in affirming people and thanking our volunteers – Steve constantly thanks people.”
Southern Church’s commitment to service emerges most plainly in the annual trip that a team of their members makes to Dareton in Far West NSW to spend a week serving the Dareton Youth and Community Centre. This enterprise emerged from Dareton Church of Christ’s heart to reach out to the Indigenous community.
Some of the team connecting with the local kids at the community centre on last year’s trip to Dareton.
Stephen has spearheaded the effort, leading a team of a dozen or so people each year on the 10-hour drive to regional NSW. The team serves at the church, helps run the kids club and takes over the youth centre, cooking meals and passing time with the local young people. His enthusiasm for the mission is palpable.
“God’s blessing is not in the comfort; it’s in the discomfort. It’s when I walk into the uncomfortable places; that’s where I find God at work. What else would I rather be doing? I can sit down with a dozen indigenous young people and watch the AFL grand final and just that act of being present can be profound.”
Humble and selfless, Stephen’s heart for the ministries in which his church serves reflects a Gospel that exalts the lowly and glorifies the ordinary.
“It’s always a temptation to look at the big and the loud and the spectacular and see that that is significant and important. It is much harder to say it is the small and quiet that is really significant – that’s not what my culture has trained me as a leader to see. But it’s in the small that we can really know people; if people can be really known by another person, that can change the whole direction of their life.
“For me, it comes back to the quote, ‘Do small things with great love.’ I just encourage people to do this. It does not matter how small it is or how well you do it, but do it with great love.”
This story is an example of one of the seven facets of the ethos of our network of churches: Alongside In Service. Southern Church, while only one example among many in our network, reminds us that God’s Spirit is drawing His people to champion this value for His Church today.
To learn more about the churches of Christ in NSW & ACT ethos, check out our Who We Are resources.
Read more stories from churches of Christ in NSW & ACT HERE
