Vision for Unity in Australia

Charmaine Ryan is a Christian freelance journalist.

Over 15,000 Christians defied denominational differences to meet for an evening of praise and worship in Perth early in 2001. It is a scene unheard of a decade ago, unthinkable three decades ago. Yet this picture is being repeated annually to a greater or lesser extent in Adelaide, Bendigo, Canberra, Davenport, Geelong, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Wollongong, Toowoomba and Brisbane.

By Australian standards, the number of Christians attending combined church meetings is impressive. Over 8000 in Adelaide, 6000 in Melbourne, 1500 in Newcastle, 15,000 in Perth, 2000 in Toowoomba and 1000 in Brisbane – and growing.

Parishioners from Anglican, Apostolic, Assemblies of God, Australian Christian, Christian Outreach, Baptist, Bethesda, Church of Christ, Four Square, Lutheran, Salvation Army, and Uniting churches worship and pray side by side - sometimes in an open-air forum, sometimes in the local hall or entertainment centre.

Traditional Christians can be seen praising God together with evangelicals, charismatics and pentacostals. People attending the meetings say the atmosphere is electric, bonds are formed and souls come to Christ. Comments like awesome, a move of the Lord and phenomenal are common.

Australia’s combined church meetings have grown out of a common vision. Pastors including Rob Isaachsen in Melbourne, Phil Baker in Perth, Paul Scarfe in Newcastle, Ian Shelton in Toowoomba, Richard Holloway in Launceston and Danny Guglielmucci in Adelaide. Each trace their vision and prayer for unity from the early 1990s. Pastor Sheldon says a group of pastors in Toowoomba tried to get local churches meeting and praying together in the 1970s but that movement collapsed.

Unity for these pastors does not mean churches giving up historical denominational differences. Each church retains its own identity. Pastor Phil Baker from Perth’s Riverview Church explains: "Too many churches are arguing about the 10% they disagree on rather than the 90% they have in common. It is about the God we all serve."

"It is just mushrooming," says Melbourne’s Pastor Isaachsen of the growing unity movement. In any other industry national acceptance and adoption of a new trend would be considered a marketing success story. None of these pastors are marketing professionals but the combined church meetings are growing regardless.

The proliferation of pastor unity networks and the growing number of combined church meetings has caught many by surprise. There is a degree of wonder and anticipation. Hopeful similarities are drawn to revival movements in Argentina and Colombia where church unity is considered the catalyst.

Jesus’ prayer: "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me," (John 17:23 - NIV), is becoming a literal and refreshing reality across Australia.

The pastors admit that bringing different denominations together is fraught with difficulty and there have been mistakes. Success has not happened overnight. Some of the pastors have been unity networking for years, other pastor networks are just forming like on the Gold Coast, in Darwin and Burnie (Tasmania).

The stated objective of the church unity movement in Newcastle is typical - to transform the city using Christian initiatives and working with the local community. "We believe we can make a difference to our city if we all work together," says Pastor Paul Scarfe from the Contemporary Christian Centre in Cardiff, a suburb of Newcastle. "Theological divides no longer seem important. We celebrate our diversity."

Pastor Richard Holloway from the Community Church in Launceston says the ‘unity’ journey in Launceston has hinged on relationships. Initially the Lord revealed the pastors’ network was only talking about unity and challenged their hearts. Pastor Holloway explains: "We had about 400 people turn up for a (combined church) meeting but only a few pastors. God tested us. Do we want an individual thing or unity?

"God is challenging us about our own independence. Theology does not work (to bring unity). We have learnt the lesson is about relationships. Prayer is central. When you touch the heart of someone it breaks down the barriers. Deep relationships are the only way to go and sometimes you have to force yourself to go deeper," he says.

Pastor Baker says a motive behind Perth’s Church Together is to celebrate unity and make a unified statement to the city, not only to the churches. Toward this end government, community and non-Christian organisations are invited to the meeting. Since the first Church Together in 1995 attendances have doubled. This year a separate Youth Together was held attracting over 3000 youth guaranteeing it will be repeated in 2002.

Each city has evolved a combined church meeting and agenda unique to local conditions and interests. Some meetings emphasise prayer, others worship and praise. Some organisers find well-known speakers and worship leaders attract higher attendance, others follow an agreed church service format.

Churches in Hobart, Launceston and Davenport hold combined meetings in each city on a quarterly basis, as do churches in Toowoomba in Queensland, and in Brisbane regional gatherings include monthly meetings of 500 in north Brisbane and bi-monthly of 1000 in south Brisbane. Churches in Adelaide and Perth hold annual meetings.

Pastor Scarfe says the size of a city makes a difference: "It is easier for smaller cities to get a breakthrough. For pastors in Sydney and Melbourne, just the getting together can be difficult." Pastor networks in Sydney and Melbourne are growing but combined church meetings will probably take a different form from smaller cities.

Pastor Rob Isaachsen, co-ordinator of the Melbourne Pastors’ Network was disappointed with Melbourne’s first attempt at a combined church meeting. About 6000 people attended but Pastor Isaachsen says considering Melbourne’s 3.3 million population attendance numbers could have been better.

A new approach to building relationships between churches in each of Melbourne’s 31 local city councils has been adopted. Each of the councils has a population of about 100,000 serviced by about 50 churches. Pastor Isaachsen says a recent evangelical crusade in the City of Casey was very encouraging. Up to 15,000 people attended one meeting and hundreds of people went forward for ministry. Churches in other cities, such as Monbulk, hold combined church prayer meetings on a weekly basis.

Funding options for the combined church meetings is as varied as the meetings themselves. Perth’s Church Together has sponsors and during the evening a ‘typical church’ collection is called. Any shortfall in running costs is shared between the organising churches. A spokesperson from the Riverview Church says a small shortfall is usual. There is no profit and the largest churches donate the organisational staff.

Volunteers from all churches come forward for ushering, choir and other tasks. The names of delegates to Church Together who ask for follow up ministry are distributed on a strictly geographical basis unless the delegate requests a particular denomination.

Vision for Transformation

These reports from a Transformations conference in Toowoomba in February 2001, highlight some developments in Australia.

Australian Prayer Network

Brian Pickering co-ordinates the Australian Prayer Network (APN) through e-mail and newsletters. It reaches 2500 registered churches and prayer groups. More than 500 people are committed to a 24-hour prayer watch where prayer is offered for the nation in allocated hours around the clock.

Brian Pickering says, “Unity always begins in the hearts of two or three – never 20 or more at the same time.” Contact Brian on e-mail: picksaa@compassnet.com.au or Ph. 02 9876 2419.

Toowomba, Queensland

Attempts to get Christian leaders together for prayer have been on-going in Toowoomba since the 1970s. However, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that pastors began to meet regularly for prayer on Friday mornings. From just a handful back then, up to 30 leaders from 15 congregations gather each week to pray for each other’s ministries and for the city.

Four prayer summits since the mid 1990s, where pastors went away to seek God with no agenda, have been crucial in building trust. Combined church services called ‘City Celebrations’ are held three times a year on a Sunday night. Up to 15 churches close their doors and their people meet at the recently restored 1500-seating Empire Theatre for worship and a message from a local speaker.

Intercessors from several churches meet weekly to pray concerning specific needs and strategies to reach the city.

Contact Ian Shelton, co-ordinator for the Christian Leader’s Network at tccemail@tccchurch.conm.au or Ph. 07 4638 2399. The Transoformatons video is available from them at $25.

Geelong, Victoria

Geelong hosted large evangelistic crusades in the 1970s and 80s. Churches would co-operate for a week at a time, ensuring big crowds filled local venues. But for long-time Baptist pastor Stewart Rae, something was missing.

“When the crusades were finished it was back to competition and distrust and waving denominational banners in subtle and not so subtle ways. Revival in Geelong was not happening in any of the churches.”

Feeling a strong call to the city, not just to his local church, Stewart called a meeting of pastors in February 1996 which included pastors from the nearby Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula.

“We committed ourselves to be relational in everything we did. There was no agenda and we refused to allow reference to our churches or ministry (in our meetings),” Stewart said. From this initial gathering, pastors began meeting once a fortnight for prayer and relationship building.

Torquay Christian Outreach Pastor Barry Swan and Ocean Grove Baptist Church associate pastor Tony Townsend now co-ordinate regular pastors’ gatherings in their areas. At Tony Townsend’s instigation, the Bellarine Peninsula churches held a combined Sunday night service on June 4, 2000. The temperature of minus one did not stop 500 people from turning up for an inspiring celebration.

Tony, a young pastor, had learned from mentors with a heart for the Kingdom of God. His senior pastor and other ministers supported his role as the co-ordinator of combined churches activities on the Bellarine Peninsula.

The emerging prayer and relational unity movement in the Geelong region is loosely identified as ‘Spirit Alive’ and Stewart Rae is recognised as the overall co-ordinator, with about 35 churches and 45 pastors involved by early 2001, and an estimated 200 people in the area praying specifically for unity and revival. People from different churches gather to worship and pray every Thursday night.

Contact Stewart Rae on www.spiritalive-geelong.org.au or Ph. 03 5250 2864.

Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo church leaders began praying together consistently from 1991. Since then, momentum to reach the city has grown involving 15 co-operating churches and 13 pastors by early 2001.

Anglican minister John Steele is president of the Bendigo Ministers Fellowship. He was also the leader of the ‘Pray Bendigo’ movement, in which co-operating churches gathered for regular 40-hour prayer weekends.

Christian outreach pastor Ron MacFadzean inaugurated Bendigo’s pastors’ prayer gathering, working closely with John Steele in city-wide church initiatives.

Jeff Keen, another pastor, sparked combined meetings one Sunday night a month when he closed his Sunday night service and took his congregation to the Apostolic Church.

Co-operating churches held an annual rally called ‘The Event’ with Sydney-based evangelist Pat Mesiti. Following these gatherings, many pastors gathered for a day a month for prayer and fellowship.

Contact Ron MacFadzean on Ph. 03 5444 1752, and John Steele on 03 5441 4070.

Brisbane, Queensland

Initiatives in charismatic renewal in the 1970s brought many pastors and churches together. A pastors fellowship meet monthly with about 50 leaders in renewal from many churches. Brisbane, like other capital cities, hosted huge united rallies in its largest church buildings. Huge numbers met in the 15,000-seating Boondall Entertainment Centre for meetings with Benny Hinn and Rodney Howard-Browne.

During the late 1990s groups of paying leaders gathered regularly in different parts of Brisbane. These developed into pastors prayer groups and combined churches gatherings.

During 2000 about 20 pastors met monthly for prayer at Logan and held bi-monthly Revival Fire rallies with 800-1000 attending. Northside combined prayer gatherings met monthly in various churches with around 500 attending regularly. Pastors met monthly in the west, the eastside and the Mt Gravatt area for prayer and fellowship.

From 2001 combined churches met for renewal meetings of the Brisbane Revival Prayer and Worship gatherings hosted by Citipointe Christian Outreach Centre at Mansfield. People continue to pray for a powerful move of God as his people unite in prayer, worship and ministry.

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