Our Stories

It seems isolation and loneliness has often been associated with those who suffer from mobility, or mental health issues, however over the last few years we have come to recognise that people can lose connections for many reasons.  Moving to a new area, changes in life circumstances and the dreaded Covid lockdowns have all impacted on people’s ability and motivation to form meaningful connections.

A roast dinner served to around 50 people in July was the icing on the cake following a term of weekly cooking sessions for young people at Bacchus Marsh Baptist Church.

Youth leader Dannii Cooper taught four simple dishes per week in a MasterChef-style competition that wove together practical life skills with faith lessons.

Renew Monte is run by several churches, three of which are Baptist. Four volunteer hosts per day spend time with those who come along. “The expectation is, you want people to be volunteering knowing that there’s very little they have to do, but they need to do it for a long time.” Just a simple space where people can share a hobby or a free hot drink can bring vital connections to combat loneliness.

A love for people, and a general habit of chatting with those who are homeless, prompted Croydon Hills Baptist Church member Ken Weller to join Maroondah Winter Shelter as a volunteer when it began in 2018.

Ken was drawn to the program’s goals of providing shelter, food and honour to the homeless in his local area, at a time of year when freezing temperatures can add to the discouraging circumstances in which people sometimes find themselves.

Every week, residents at Lionsbrae Aged Care in Ringwood East look forward to the smiles and antics of little children who attend an interactive musical playgroup at the facility, organised by New Community Church Ringwood (NCR).

Oakleigh Baptist Church has been on a journey with Empowered Faith Communities (EFC) since early 2023, and we are seeing a fruitful impact on our church and local community.

Coming out of two years of lockdowns, we were faced with the reality that the landscape had changed – both inside and outside the church. Initially we focussed on understanding and uniting our church community; now vastly different to that which we had been two years prior.

A five-year renovation project to provide an open, welcoming place for community members to visit has been completed at Daylesford Community Church (DCC). The backyard, built with assistance from a BUV and Baptcare community engagement grant, was the final part of the upgrade and is now completed, and the popular pop-up café is also set to reopen soon.

A thought-provoking exhibition at West Preston Baptist Church (WPBC) titled, Stations of the Cross, immersed visitors in a reflective visual journey through Christ’s death and resurrection with support from a BUV and Baptcare community grant.
Around 160 people visited over four days leading up to Good Friday to view the artworks created by WPBC members.

Nourish is a day for pastors and spouses from Victorian Churches to receive input, connection and fellowship.

May Nourish was an uplifting time of connection and encouragement for pastors from around the state seeking to support each other and reflect on how God is at work in our midst. Our hardworking BUV pastors received an uplifting message with the themes of restoration and resilience.