THIS Sunday afternoon Bendigo Baptist Church will celebrate one-hundred-and-seventy years in the community with a special service.<\/p>\n
In 1853, the first worship service was held in a tent on the current site of White Hills Cemetery, said senior pastor David Lovell.<\/p>\n
\u201cA young couple from Melbourne who had moved up this way had a tent and were passionate to hold a Christian worship service right here on the gold fields, and it happened in their tent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really was the beginning of what we now know to be Bendigo Baptist Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the celebrations will include the launch of a new campus at the church\u2019s MADCOW, or Make a Difference, Change Our World, social services site on Hargraves Street, which will join the two others at Eaglehawk and Junortoun.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have identified that we want to minister the people that are living in the city, that are homeless, marginalised; those who are urban dwellers who live in close proximity, young and old, teenagers,\u201d Mr Lovell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re launching that plant, it won\u2019t open its doors until probably early next year, but we\u2019re commissioning that work this Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be people we are naturally connecting with through our MADCOW services, but the doors will be thrown open and wide to anyone that lives in close proximity to the CBD.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be people that are business professionals who walk to work, who live close by, it could be young people who kind of hang around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extending the church\u2019s ministry process right here in the city 170 years after Bendigo Baptist Church was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere we are continuing to keep growing, keep reaching out, endeavouring to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a really practical way right here in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to give them meaningful community, it\u2019s a place in which they can turn up and find that they belong. They\u2019re accepted, they\u2019re loved, they\u2019re embraced.\u201d<\/p>\n
The service is open to anyone and will be held at Ulumbarra Theatre from 2pm to 3.30pm and followed by a free community dinner.<\/p>\n