mgpcpastor's blog

Around fifty people gathered from pretty much all points of Australia for the commencement service of Alice Springs Presbyterian Church.
Representatives of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and Victoria joined residents and other visitors for the service. The national church was represented by Moderator-General David Jones along with Presbyterian Inland Mission Superintendent Stuart Bonnington.
While the occasion was special in nature, our defining purpose, empowered by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, was to worship God through our redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rob Duncanson, convener of the PIM and pastor of Darwin Presbyterian led us in a call to worship from Psalm 122, reminding us of the joy which it is gather as the dwelling place of God to praise His name.
We sang This Earth Belongs To God, a stirring reminder of the themes of Psalm 24 with the rejoicing welcome which God’s people give to the Holy One.
Stuart Bonnington, superintendent of the PIM and pastor of Scots Church, Fremantle, delivered a comprehensive narration of the steps which had led up to the commencement of Alice Springs Presbyterian. In particular, the negotiations to gain use of the AIM building and residence as a home for the church and the appointment of Rev Keith and Jenny Bell as church planters were both reasons for rejoicing that God had enabled the desire to commence a work to come to fruition.
David Jones, moderator-general of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and pastor of Mt. Stuart Presbyterian Church, prayed, and on behalf of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Presbyterian Inland Mission constituted Alice Springs as a part of the PCA with the following words.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of the Church, by the authority of the Presbyterian Inland Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, I declare the Alice Springs Presbyterian Church established as a a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Australia to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, in word and deed to the people of central Australia.

The hymn Glorious Things Of You Are Spoken was our proclamation that this new congregation, though a new work in its own right, was also a part of the national and international body of Christ on earth, and a part of God’s people that expands through all of human history and into eternity.
Sam Hauzel of Alice Springs Presbyterian read Micah 6:1-8, the passage from which the sermon of the day would come.
John Wilson, clerk of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, led the congregation in prayers of intercession which included Timor Leste and South Sudan, our own nation, along with the city of Alice Springs and the mission and ministry of all the Gospel believing churches and Christians who are part of it.
We were then able to rejoice in the blessings of God’s provisions to us in giving out tithes and offerings which was taken up by Mini and Deng Gordon.
Riak Gordon of Alice Springs Presbyterian read from Mark 12:28-34 which related the great commands of Scripture and how obedience and relationship with God are innately united.
This theme was reflected in Lord Be My Vision, a song which proclaims that only relationship with God inspires a life that aspires to enduring godliness.

David Jones developed these themes in his sermon, as he preached from verses 1-8 of Micah 6, encouraging the new church, along with all the rest of us, about the great works which God has done for His people through the Lord Jesus Christ, and how they are both the source of enabling and motivation for the works of ministry and mission which we are called as God’s people to carry out.
The great imperatives of doing justice and loving kindness flow from the indicatives of His great redeeming work which His people have experienced, and which we experience through Jesus.
To God Be The Glory was the closing song of praise which summed up both our wonderful time of remembering God’s good works and our expectation of His future good purposes for the work of the Gospel in Alice Springs, across our nation and throughout the world.

This thankfulness and expectation was sealed upon us again as Rob Duncanson spoke a final blessing over us all.

After worship a splendid time of fellowship and a (anything but light) supper was shared we departed.
Hopefully those who remain will find the service a continuing source of encouragement, and a tangible reminder that prayers from around the nation continue to uphold this work in Australia’s centre.