And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put vour hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”

Minnie Louise Haskins

It’s almost 38 years since John Webster was inducted as the Minister of the Bendigo Presbyterian Church, and yet the news of his illness and subsequent death on 14th December 2022 were received with a sincere measure of sorrow by current members who remember him fondly.

John began his ministry in Bendigo in 1985 when the Charge consisted of two congregations, Eaglehawk and St John’s, at a critical time in the Church’s history. Just a few years earlier, the St John’s congregation had voted to join the Uniting Church and the Property Commission left the remaining Presbyterians with only the Eaglehawk Church to meet in – which was, sadly, almost on the point of being condemned.
However, following on from the pastoral ministries of the Rev John Aitken, and then the Rev Colin Harrison, the ‘continuing Presbyterians’ found themselves in a good space, when they called John (Webster) to come and build on what had been begun. And ‘build’ is just what John did, and he did it as ‘God’s man’ for the hour. Faced with congregations who had been used to a more ‘liberal’ flavoured theology rather than Reformed or evangelical, John’s ministry was exercised in the context of a certain measure of opposition and criticism from some quarters. But this did not deter John nor the eventual growth of the congregations. His faithful and strong preaching, his firm commitment to the Church’s theological standards and his Presbyterian convictions shone through over the 10 years in which he served both congregations, resulting in significant growth in the Charge – especially in the St John’s Bendigo congregation, paving the way for it to become a full charge in its own right, something that John had been working towards and planning for, soon after John accepted a call to Hamilton (NSW). He could not have foreseen the fruit of his ministry in this city where now three Presbyterian congregations are flourishing under the teaching of God’s Word and days of opposition from within the church have long passed. Truly we are reaping where he has sowed.

John will be remembered for his love for and his labour in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he served faithfully and in the spirit of 1 Corinthians 15:58, ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.’

Rev Philip Burns

“O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Til He appears and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices“

Adolphe Adam 1803-1856

It goes without saying that our world has been through too many ups and downs over the past couple of years. We found ourselves in situations where everything was constantly changing and uncertainty lurked around every corner. I’m not sure about you, but I am tired. I am exhausted. I am weary.

Even now when we are mostly back to normal, it took me a long time to get back into the swing of meeting up with people again. Now we are at the busy end of the year with breakups and celebrations I don’t feel like I can keep up!

At the first Christmas there was a lot of things going on too; pregnant Mary having to make a cross country journey, giving birth in a stable which mustn’t have been very comfortable, and then the shepherd visitors started arriving! It would have been a far cry from the images on our modern day Christmas cards – dusty, smelly and noisy!

But in all this seeming chaos there lay the longed-for baby, the one that not only Mary and Joseph had been wanting to meet, but the whole world. A Bible verse from Luke chapter 2 verse 11 proclaims “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord”. The Saviour had arrived in the form of a baby and brought a weary world hope for a new future.

This hope was evident throughout all of Jesus life in the way that he was able to show that he was God’s son through his teachings, miracles and love for those who were deemed unlovely by society. There is hope for us now of new life in Jesus when he died on the cross to make us right with God- something that we could never achieve on our own. This is something that I know my weary self can rejoice in!

So in this Christmas season, if things seem overwhelming, turn back to Jesus and rejoice in the hope that his birth brought to our weary world.

By Esther Kerr

We had a very informative and encouraging meeting last night (23/11/22) with Rev Hiralal Solanki and his wife Laxmi, who spoke to us about the ongoing ministry of Indian Reformed Fellowship Australia and updated us on the growth and progress of the gospel throughout the country!

If you would like to know more about IRFA you can visit www.irfa.com.au

Things are s-l-o-w-l-y returning to something like ‘normal’ (whatever that was!) with some of our ministries at St John’s with some small steps in the right direction over the last few weeks…

For a start, we’ve been able to re-establish our own Youth Group that has met once so far this term and is meeting again soon. It was a great start with just under a dozen youth from Grade 6-Year 12 attending, and with the PYV Summer Camp ahead, things are looking up..!

Then, just last week, after too long(!) of not meeting, our Sunday School is up and running again, and we are looking forward to hearing from our Sunday School scholars all that they are learning from Matthew 13 over the next few weeks!

We thank our great God for His blessing in this way!

Well, today was the day! Despite it being a rather cold September morning, we gathered with thankful hearts to celebrate the Lord God’s faithfulness to us over these 150 years.

Like most churches, the story of the St John’s congregation is one of ups and downs, decline and growth, good times and hard times… and yet through it all, our God has proved again and again that He is faithful.

You can listen to the whole service and/or the message by Rev Peter Phillips on the theme of ‘God’s Word for God’s World’. Also, here’s a snap of the congregation on the day (just for posterity’s sake!).

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the formation of the St John’s congregation (you can read about this in our history), we’ll be gathering on Sunday September 11th at 10:30am. The Moderator of the PCV, Rev Peter Phillips will be preaching. Former members and friends are warmly invited to attend! Plus, there’ll be a big morning tea to follow!