By Amy Galliford
Three new faith communities were accepted into our churches of Christ network at a Special General Meeting on 5 March.
The three churches are Illawarra Church of Christ, Saegil Church (a Korean faith community in Newington) and Wagga Wagga Christian Church (a Burmese faith community).
Each of these churches is excited about the prospect of joining a broader community and contributing to our network’s operations in their regions.
Peter Watson, Senior Pastor of Illawarra Church of Christ, says,
“It’s really important to be part of a network. It’s hard to do the work of the gospel by yourself – it’s important to be sharing resources and encouraging each other. We are looking forward to making a contribution. We are really excited about what is happening in the Illawarra.”
Peter describes his church community as very energetic, committed to the gospel and reaching people for Christ. They have recently hired someone as part of a six-month experiment they are calling “mercy ministry”, exploring how they can meet the needs of their community. The church’s vision is to see a network of healthy growing churches across the Illawarra.
Yong il Byun, Senior Pastor at Saegil Church, expresses his community’s excitement about joining churches of Christ. Having begun in a living room in 2017, the church has grown over the past seven years to around 145 members and many ministries, providing relief funds, scholarships, and an emergency support line.
With most of its members speaking both English and Korean, the church is hoping to connect more with the Australian community. Yong says,
“As an immigrant church, we can be kind of separated. We really want to break down the barriers and help our local communities with our ministry.”
Joe Redamwang, Pastor at Wagga Wagga Christian Church, emphasises his community’s gratitude and enthusiasm at joining the church network. Similar to Saegil, this Burmese community began as a house church in 2012, moved into a church building in 2014, and has now grown to about 230 members. In their view, the support of churches of Christ will help them grow even further.
On behalf of his community, Joe says,
“I would like to say thank you very much for the affiliation. We are very happy about it – it will help us a lot!”
churches of Christ in NSW & ACT extends a warm welcome to our new members and looks forward to the kingdom connections these affiliations will forge.
Read more stories from churches of Christ in NSW & ACT HERE
