Renew Anglican Church, Canberra has kicked off, launching 19 March. Steve Boxwell, Pastor, shares how it’s going.
Ever since I was 18 I’ve been praying for Canberra. I’ve been praying for the Anglican diocese and I’ve been praying for a movement of the gospel in this city, such that 10% of Canberrans would be part of gospel-hearted churches of all denominations in my lifetime. That looks like a quintupling of the churches in this city! I had no plans on living in Canberra, or being in ministry in Canberra (and don’t tell my bishops – but I wasn’t really interested in being Anglican either!) But here we are! With a stellar team, a small army of prayer backers and an excited mother church, Renew Anglican church has been birthed into South Canberra.
On launch day, I preached on 2 Cor 5:16-6:2 where we saw Jesus and his spectacular work for us in his death in our place and our ambassadorial response to a message that extraordinary. This has been a special passage for us as we’ve thought about starting a church for Canberra. This is a diplomatic town – there are embassies, consulates and high commissions dotted throughout the city. Renew Church is an embassy of the Kingdom of God. Our church hopes to reduce the culture shock for our city for the day that King Jesus comes in glory to make all things new.
We had about 40 adults and 20 kids come along for our first week and similar numbers since then. As we’re meeting in a school right on the banks of Lake Tuggeranong, we’ve had a barbecue after church each Sunday till Easter to raise awareness amongst Tuggeranong’s dog walking and active wearing public.
PLEASE JOIN US IN PRAYER
- We’ve begun our first intro to Christianity evenings (We'll be using "321 - The story of God, the world and you"). Please pray that those attending would hear the gospel, see it ‘lived in’ and come to faith.
- Pray for our church – that we’d be frank and fearless in holding out the message of the cross and resurrection in the lead up to Easter.
- Pray that, under God, we would see 10 churches planted in Canberra in the next 15 years.
- Thank God for the team of people who have counted the cost of starting our new church and are working at it with all their heart. Pray that God would sustain our efforts and we’d be quick to disciple others into service.
Renew Anglican Church Canberra meet at 10am every Sunday, in the Common Room of Lake Tuggeranong College. 123 Cowlishaw St, Greenway, ACT.
Find out more about Renew Anglican Church on their website: http://www.renewchurch.org.au/