Our Stories

In 1850 or thereabouts John Watson and his wife Anne moved into the forest beside the Cudgee creek not far from Warrnambool. He was a stonemason and built ‘Haverhill’ house for his family.  Over the years Annie presented him with nine children so the house was well filled and the couple had a tremendous impact on the area. John became a persuasive evangelist and, after being convinced of the need for adult Baptism formed the Cudgee Baptist Church.

“I was challenged, spiritually invigorated, and encouraged.”

The Corryong Baptist Church with the backing of donations from generous Baptist folk has been in a position to help fire affected farmers across the board. From my perspective assisting Pastor Graeme, it is not the amount of financial aid that we are offering, but that we consider each and every person of equal worthiness, no matter whether they have 2 cows or 200 cows. This is the teaching of Jesus, which we demonstrate by our actions rather than our words in this situation.

Will Florance, Bushfire Pastoral Carer based in Orbost, East Gippsland,  gives an update on his role.  “I found myself with a mandate:  To find fire affected people, find out from them what they need and do my best to meet that need.  It’s fairly simple in words, unfortunately less so in action.  So if you asked me what I’ve achieved,  I could give many answers but I think the best answer is simply, I have been there when people needed me,  and Lord willing, by the generosity of the Baptist family, I’ll continue to be.”

Well, here we are Victorians. Isolation number 2 that we thought we were handling well and now find ourselves with another 6 weeks with even further restrictions.

As the initial COVID restrictions came into force earlier in the year, the team at Wodonga and District Baptist Church talked about how they could practically move forward. Sensing back then, what we know to be true now, David was mindful that there might be a second wave of the virus, which could return them to a constrained environment, and so the church looked for a model of gathering that would sustain them for as long as needed. So began Wodonga’s network of neighbourhood churches.

Pakenham’s Follow Bless Collective has received $5000 from the council to continue to support Cardinia residents who are struggling financially and have been affected by the coronavirus.

At a time when most see ‘unprecedented’ obstacles, Mornington Peninsula Mayor Sam Hearn sees opportunity. With COVID-19 lockdowns forcing the closure of many Community Support Centres, Sam (who is also involved in the leadership of his neighbourhood Baptist church community) dreamed up the ‘People’s Army’: redeploying stood down local council staff to deliver care packages to vulnerable and isolated people in the area. The idea came to him after seeing community members share on Facebook how they were reaching out to their neighbours.

On Monday March 16th, the leadership at Bendigo Baptist decided to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving all of its weekend services into one livestream. Like many other churches that have made this move, it didn’t stop us from BEING the church – it just changed that way in which we would GATHER as the church here in Bendigo.

Rev Alison Sampson talks with us about her journey into leadership and the continual journey to be true to your call while loving God and people, keeping your eyes on Jesus and following the Holy Spirit’s leading. Alison is the Pastor at Sanctuary, Warrnambool.