Moe Baptist Church (MBC) is hosting regular community-wide events that bring fun to families, to teach people about Jesus, and also come alongside local residents who have a relative in prison.
Rev Megan Stock, Pastor at Moe Baptist Church, is a bi-vocational pastor, and as part of her role, she is bringing some of her relevant experience working for Prison Fellowship Australia to her pastoral role at the church, seeking to build skills, resilience and Christian faith in families and children who have a relative in prison.
Megan said MBC had decided to grow not through drawing other Christians, but by sharing the good news with those who don’t know Jesus. “What we’re working on now is building a new congregation with people who may not understand what’s going on at a traditional Sunday service. We have people in our community with no Christian memory or family history, so what church looks like is so foreign to them. I think we need to be very wise in realising that church can look very different for different pockets of people.”
Megan said MBC members had been “absolutely fabulous” in opening their arms to the community. “Part of the training we do is about understanding this is not about us correcting other people. There’s no sense of judgement – they’re so willing to get to know people and learn about their lives that people have felt they can be open with them. We’ve talked about being ready for those who God will bring – an example of this is our family zone at church, where during the service kids can play during the message so families feel welcome. One lady, whose grandchild is in prison, brings her great-grandchildren to church with her now.”
“What I’ve been pioneering for the past 12 months is a partnership between local churches in specific at-risk areas and Prison Fellowship Australia, to minister to families and children who have a relative in prison, teaching about Jesus to people who may have no concept of him,” Megan said.
In July, Moe Baptist hosted its first day camp for children who have a relative in prison, finishing with a Mexican-themed community family fun night. The day camp was a success with two primary schools promoting it and children inviting their classmates, and around 62 people from the local area attended the family fun night. Volunteers from Moe Baptist, Prison Fellowship Australia and Scripture Union offered games, challenges and crafts, served tacos and churros for dinner, and handed out gifts for kids to take home. One leader walked around the event pretending to look for his sheep, which led into a video on Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep.
“It was a lot of fun! People who came to the events really enjoyed themselves and asked when the next one will happen,” Megan said. “Some were excited to see that it was multigenerational – we had 80-year-olds playing games with 10-year-olds. Relationships built between all ages was one of our key aims. It was great to provide an opportunity to be with the community, and the community to be with us.”
Out of these events, Megan started a Kids With Courage course at the two primary schools to help children to grow in resilience and learn to work through tough life topics, such as boundaries, anger, grief and loss. Five children from two families attended, with the kids helping to cook dinner for their families each week. “Interestingly, when they first came to the course we ate tacos, and recently one child came to me and said, ‘Guess what? We made tacos at home together and sat and ate together – we never do that!’ It is lovely to have their parents come and eat with us at the course every week. One parent has started bringing brownies for everyone for dessert.”
- Faces have been hidden to protect individla identities