By Garry Sanossian
Heartbeat Church, a multi-campus congregation with locations in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, is seeking affiliation with Churches of Christ NSW and ACT at the upcoming Special General Meeting on May 20. Founded a decade ago, this vibrant faith community has grown from humble beginnings from a network of house churches serving primarily Asian-Australian Christians across three states.
“At the beginning of Heartbeat, we started in a Strathfield restaurant with five other families,” shared Pastor Joshua Choi, who has been in ministry for 30 years.
“I think a lot about the Heartbeat journey has been about rediscovering what it means to be the church rather than just doing the church.”
Heartbeat operates with a model centred around house churches where lay leaders, as Joshua calls them ‘shepherds’, minister to smaller gatherings throughout the week. These house churches form the backbone of their community, with Sunday gatherings focused on teaching and worship.
“The whole idea was to build the community-based community,” Joshua said. “We identify the church not just as a Sunday thing, but church as doing life together. Church, not as a building, but church as the people of God.”
The emphasis on empowering lay leadership has enabled Heartbeat to establish approximately 17 house churches across three cities, despite having only one full-time pastor and one church building.
Heartbeat began exploring a connection with churches of Christ when Joshua’s long-term friend, Stephen Cha (pastor of The Chapel Sydney, Burwood) introduced him to the network, sensing a natural alignment.
“Heartbeat Church are a young, multi-ethnic vibrant community that really loves God and wants to honour God in what they do as a church,” Stephen said.
Stephen saw a particular value in in a growing congregation at a time when many churches are declining. “Heartbeat is a young church with a strong youth presence. While Christianity is declining in society, Heartbeat is growing.”
Joshua sees their journey as one of returning to the first century Church. “When I met the churches of Christ leaders, I sensed a strong kind of similarity,” Joshua explained. “The whole value is exactly the same which is first-century church. Everything they talked about is exactly what we’ve been doing.”
Joshua particularly appreciates the network’s restoration movement roots, and it’s focus on Jesus. “It’s truly a Christ-centred ministry. I want to simplify it [the church], much like a restoration movement. I didn’t even know the term before, but that’s exactly been our journey from the very beginning, going back to the first-century church, returning to a simple, foundational church,” he explained.
What draws people to Heartbeat is the space to be authentic in their spiritual journey, as one member explained: “The reason we joined Heartbeat was because we wanted to struggle with the right thing, which is really loving God and loving people. And it is still a struggle, which is a struggle that we experience as Christians. But it’s been a joy. And God’s faithfulness has been evident in my life and in my family’s life. So I’m very thankful to be part of this journey with this family that we have here,” she said.
When Heartbeat’s Sydney congregation received just two week’s notice to vacate their rental space at Concord High School in late 2023, they found themselves in an urgent situation. That is when Matt Young, Properties & Projects Manager for churches of Christ (now head of Network Enterprises), stepped in with a solution.
“Their situation was that they had to move out of their old place very quickly. We had just got the Merrylands building after renovations. So, with the car park freshly finished, it felt like perfect timing,” he said.
As the Heartbeat team inspected their potential new home, they encountered an elderly man standing outside. Joshua asked him, “How can I help you?” The man asked what they were doing, and Joshua explained to him they were starting a church.
“His face changed completely,” Joshua said. “The man said, ‘My father built this church 70 years ago. I got baptised here 50 years ago. We moved away because the church diminished, but every time we pass by, we were praying that this church come alive again,’” Joshua recalled with excitement.
Since they moved to their new home, they have been building connections with the community. “We are praying to reach out to the community,” Joshua said, highlighting how they organised a Christmas dinner that attracted diverse community members during the Christmas season.
The church recently celebrated another milestone when they used the building’s baptistry for the first time in years, baptising three people and welcoming them into God’s family.
Watch a video about Heartbeat Church.
Read more stories from churches of Christ in NSW & ACT HERE
