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!