The Imagine Project 6
St George’s Battery Point and Southern Midlands
Beyond the borders
Beyond the borders of the Diocese’s Imagine Projects, at St George’s we too have been rethinking traditional parochial restrictions and embarked on our own creative initiative.
In our case this meant adopting a supportive partnership with the Southern Midlands at the same time as we took on another minister at St George’s.
Why? The challenge of seeing God's kingdom grow sometimes demands that we try new things.
With St George’s no longer just a village church in the middle of Hobart but a vital and growing community requiring new ministry platforms (After School Club, more Bible Studies), we were forced to figure out a way to resource ourselves. As we considered the needs of rural parishes (so often left to survive on the ‘bread and water’ of one service a month) and our goals as a parish the two seemed an obvious fit.
Southern Midlands was able to afford to pay a third of a stipend and this has meant the commitment of the Revd John Langlois in going up to Southern Midlands a couple of days each week. His hard work includes not just preaching and running their services but also forming relationships and home visiting.
The people of the Southern Midlands have responded positively and found John's approach refreshing. And the Revd Luke Isham’s work in starting the After School Club along with all the other things he brings to our team has also been great boost to St George’s.
It has been greatly reassuring in all this to have had the wholehearted support of the Bishop and the Diocese as we have seen what is going on elsewhere in Tasmania and followed suit.
Find out more about the partnership and its fruit.
The Revd Paul Chew