This past week, my local church had its 60th Anniversary.  60 years ago, Dutch families who had migrated to Australia decided they needed to form their own churches. How difficult a decision this must have been — many know the comfort of a local church when they move to a distant land. “It is not because there are no true Christians in these churches — on the contrary we know and honur many who are earnest and gracious servants of Christ — but it is because these churches are not reformed according to the teaching and practice of the New Testament as set out by Calvin. This is not said in any spirit of antagonism or superiority, but simply because it is true.” (The Reformed Churches of Australia, by Rev. Prof. T.L. Wilkinson) This is a hard thing to say to your new countrymen — but to be a true Christian is to follow God’s Word above all else. I am so thankful for these courageous fathers of our denomination. These days, I’m so thankful to say that God has blessed Wollongong with many faithful, God-honouring, Christ-proclaiming, gospel-centered churches. It is an absolute pleasure and honour to fellowship with fellow believers in other churches nearby whose beliefs are so near my own. We may joke about superficial differences, but the unity of the Spirit of God truly brings much joy. The early days of my church were simple, basic ones. A history of our church reads: “There were only children’s seats, so boards were put over the seat to make a sort-of pew, with no backrest. We had a ping-pong table for the Lord’s supper service”. It goes on to recount: “After receiving some Psalter hymnals, we tried to sing in English for the opening hymn, number 468, and number 463 as closing hymn.” I love that as new immigrants, they had an earnest desire to join with the country they were now living in, and give it their best shot at singing praise to God is this new tongue, English. I can imagine what this small group of Dutchies singing in broken English would sound like — a sweet sweet sound to His ear. In 60 years, God has brought us a long way from a group of Dutch migrants in a weatherboard hall worshiping around a ping-pong table. We have members from South Africa, the United States, China, New Zealand, Togo, Canada, South Korea and more.  My church is far from perfect, and I am first to point that out. We have so far to go, and so much more to do. But in God’s mercy, he has thought it good to keep his hand of protection, blessing, and love on the group of sinners who meet to worship Him in Wollongong for the past sixty years. Praise God, our fortress and our rock! Praise him!
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This past week, my local church had its 60th Anniversary. 

60 years ago, Dutch families who had migrated to Australia decided they needed to form their own churches. How difficult a decision this must have been — many know the comfort of a local church when they move to a distant land. “It is not because there are no true Christians in these churches — on the contrary we know and honur many who are earnest and gracious servants of Christ — but it is because these churches are not reformed according to the teaching and practice of the New Testament as set out by Calvin. This is not said in any spirit of antagonism or superiority, but simply because it is true.” (The Reformed Churches of Australia, by Rev. Prof. T.L. Wilkinson) This is a hard thing to say to your new countrymen — but to be a true Christian is to follow God’s Word above all else. I am so thankful for these courageous fathers of our denomination. These days, I’m so thankful to say that God has blessed Wollongong with many faithful, God-honouring, Christ-proclaiming, gospel-centered churches. It is an absolute pleasure and honour to fellowship with fellow believers in other churches nearby whose beliefs are so near my own. We may joke about superficial differences, but the unity of the Spirit of God truly brings much joy.

The early days of my church were simple, basic ones. A history of our church reads: “There were only children’s seats, so boards were put over the seat to make a sort-of pew, with no backrest. We had a ping-pong table for the Lord’s supper service”.

It goes on to recount: “After receiving some Psalter hymnals, we tried to sing in English for the opening hymn, number 468, and number 463 as closing hymn.” I love that as new immigrants, they had an earnest desire to join with the country they were now living in, and give it their best shot at singing praise to God is this new tongue, English. I can imagine what this small group of Dutchies singing in broken English would sound like — a sweet sweet sound to His ear.

In 60 years, God has brought us a long way from a group of Dutch migrants in a weatherboard hall worshiping around a ping-pong table. We have members from South Africa, the United States, China, New Zealand, Togo, Canada, South Korea and more. 

My church is far from perfect, and I am first to point that out. We have so far to go, and so much more to do. But in God’s mercy, he has thought it good to keep his hand of protection, blessing, and love on the group of sinners who meet to worship Him in Wollongong for the past sixty years. Praise God, our fortress and our rock! Praise him!

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  1. sejtraav posted this