Jenan Taylor
25 July 2023
A Melbourne parish with humble beginnings is preparing to mark 150 years of prayer, worship and attention to community.
Christ Church Dingley sprang from a small, home-based prayer service for the people of the surrounding market garden and farming community in the late 1800s.
Its dedication service involved two adult baptisms and a generous donation of money to the Alfred Hospital.
Those discipleship and prayer traditions, and heart for looking outwards, remain strong today at the church, which operates from a sprawling three-building property.
Long time parishioner Geraldine Sheard said this heritage was the yardstick by which the church measured all its programs and offerings.
Mrs Sheard said part of Christ Church’s early history included setting up a Sunday school in the area, providing water for travellers, and organising Queen carnivals to raise funds.
She said it had even included strong links through a pioneer parishioner to one of Australia’s first canning factories.
That cannery enabled farm produce to be tinned and made more easily available to consumers, Mrs Sheard said.
Read more: Priest-sharing parish celebrates 40 years
She said the church offered a rich banquet of Christian teaching over the years with several guest speaker presentations.
Those programs attracted interest and attendees from parishes from as far afield as Geelong, Mrs Sheard said.
Church member, and parish history co-author John Pilbrow said there were more than 300 people a week attending services by 1990, and 230 were registered in the church’s home groups.
Mr Pilbrow said now there were about eight Connect groups of about 10 people per cluster.
He said the church also raised funds for a range of missions including Tearfund, World Vision and made goods for organisations such Purple Hands in Alice Springs.
Mrs Sheard said that although attendance numbers had ebbed and flowed over the years, it had always been stable.
She believed until recently the congregation might have been ageing, but youth interest in Christ Church was being revitalised through a new children’s and youth minister.
There were about 15 young people participating now, Mrs Sheard said.
Read more: Community choir to mark 19 years singing gospel truth
“It’s our responsibility to reach out and be there for them,” she said. “Otherwise, all our history, our activities, all the wonderful things that have happened here won’t mean anything unless we have a vision to nurture people for the future.”
Mrs Sheard said everything the church did was underwritten by prayer, and that multiple prayer groups continued to use the church across the week.
Christ Church vicar the Reverend Richard Loh said God grew the church and continued to bless it with many people, largely because of the prayer focus.
Mr Loh said the church was once again at a point where it needed lay ministers, so one of its aims for the foreseeable future was to equip and disciple lay people to take leadership roles.
Christ Church Dingley will be holding a service presided over by Bishop Paul Barker on Sunday 24 September to mark the sesquicentennial.
Organisers will be inviting local politicians, business and community people to the service and a luncheon.
For more details, please see here.
For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Twitter, or subscribe to our weekly emails.
