church
HISTORY
Shane and Georgie Baxter are the Senior Pastors of Enjoy Church, located in North Sunshine in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.
Enjoy Church’s journey started in September 1998, Shane, Georgie and their young family moved to become the new Pastors of Keilor AOG. On Sunday 27th September 1998 they held their first service which had approximately 40 people in attendance. They were excited about beginning this ‘faith adventure’ before them. And so the journey began.
At this time the church was meeting in St Albans Community Centre and continued to meet there for the following 3 weeks before moving to Keilor Downs Primary School for a fresh start. The church grew consistently and they found God lifting their vision from the local suburb to the greater area and so they responded by changing the church name from ‘Keilor AOG’ to ‘Brimbank Christian Church.’
During the first two years they moved the church office from their lounge room to a shopfront in Delahey, which also doubled as a small Christian bookshop which gave them a ‘public face’ and personal contact with the community. Also at this time, they began to raise & appoint leadership and establish departments.
It was in the third year God began to place a desire in their hearts for a permanent building. During this time God connected them with a local business man, who was building a church building ‘for the glory of God.’ By Aug 2001 they began a lease arrangement for their current building – a phenomenal provision from God!
At this time the church was about 150 strong and had a great sense of life and vision for the future. On their first Sunday in the new building they farewelled their Assistant Pastors, Jason and Treena Mannering, were planting a church in Albury. Jason & Treena had served alongside Shane & Georgie for 15 months and still continue to be a great part of their lives.
Having been in the new building for 6 years, grown from 150 to 1750 people who call Enjoy Church their home, and from one Sunday morning service to three, the pressing need is to move into a larger venue. Shane & Georgie believe God in His incredible timing and faithfulness is opening the way for Enjoy Church to purchase the entire property to accommodate this growth.
We have always enjoyed great favour from God as He has been exceedingly good to us. One thing that we have loved seeing is the favour that is upon our own lives and Church coming upon all those who connect and serve with us in this journey. This has certainly been God’s hand towards us as a church, taking us from strength to strength and glory to glory.
Aware that we want to continue seeing the heavens open over our lives, we must continue to be active about our Father’s business – reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ and the love of God, and then seeing them become strong, mature disciples of the King.
NOW
Now we are more excited than we’ve ever been. With the church continuing to grow we’re currently looking to move into our new facility. The opportunities and challenges that are before us on every front are both exciting and confronting, but with the help of our God, we believe we’ll achieve everything that God has placed in our hearts and go where no church in the west of Melbourne has gone before
VISION
Every Church needs to have a Vision and the vision of Enjoy Church is simple:
“To be a large, strategic, Christian church full of life and hope.”
LARGE
Not small, but roomy and spacious and taking up room. Numerically, what does this mean? I believe it will continually change as we move forward. But one thing it won’t mean, is shrinking or going backwards.
STRATEGIC
Vital and significant in God’s plan being outworked on the Earth. There is a sense of activity connected with this word. Also of purposeful planning.
CHRISTIAN
Disciples and followers of Christ. This should be obvious in all we do, say and are, both as a Church and as individuals.
CHURCH
This is what we are. We are not a club (joined to get some benefits), a university (a place we go to learn knowledge) or a place of entertainment (a place to fill our time). We are the living breathing Body (1 Cor 12:27), Bride (Rev 19:7), Army (2 Tim 2:3) and CHURCH (Matt 16:18) of the Living God.
FULL
The aim of all we do is that we would be FULL of life and hope. Not half-full or having just a faint ‘taste’ of it, but complete and full to overflowing with all that God has to offer!
LIFE
Christ took on death so that we might have LIFE, and we are here to live it out with purpose. Never let it be said that we have just a façade, or appearance, of life, but carry none of its power. Instead, let us be ‘alive and dangerous’ to the enemy so that we can bring life to a dying world.
HOPE
This is part of the plan of God for all of us – that we would have ‘hope and a future’ (Jer 29:11). Our vision is that our church, and all those who are part of it, would only enjoy hope themselves, but would be HOPE to a lost and hurting world, just as Jesus is to us.
MISSION
The Mission statement reveals the basic strategy of this Vision being outworked:
“Through evangelism and discipleship, to lead people closer to Jesus Christ, bringing about real spiritual change, benefiting the lives and families of our church, community and beyond.”
Evangelism
We do this through our regular weekend services and other meetings. As well as these we have our special Sunday services such as Christmas Family Service, Easter Family Service, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We also have fortnightly Street Evangelism on Saturday mornings.
The other way this is outworked is through the structure of our church calendar. Most meetings, with the exception of weekend services and Youth, are run fortnightly. This is purposefully done to enable our people time to connect and relate to their unchurched workmates, schoolmates, neighbours, family and friends.
Discipleship
To this end we run our New Christians, Maximum Impact, Youth, Men’s and Women’s meetings. PCOM (Paradise College of Ministries Melbourne) is also encouraged to those who want to know and understand the Bible better. Added to this are the Life Key Courses we have available to those both within the church and the wider community.
THE CHURCH I SEE
I see a Church full of life and hope. A Church filled with people from all nations, touching all nations.
I see many salvations every week, people being healed and made whole.
I see the Kingdom of God advancing through our Church, changing our city, impacting our nation.
I see huge finance being released to resource whatever God puts in our hearts.
I see a huge auditorium that’s filled over and over.
I see a platform that hosts and releases the greatest speakers on the planet.
I see the Church growing every week.
I see new congregations being planted in strength, and the Church continuing to grow.
I see Church departments growing and expanding and being the leading edge both in church and community life.
CORE VALUES
Relationship
These is nothing that God wouldn’t give to ensure strength of relationship with His people, and that’s how He wants His house to be – founded and built upon relationships.
Integrity
One of the things that made David a stand out man and leader was his integrity of heart (Ps 78:72). We can have the best music, preaching, building and ministries, but integrity of heart is what is crucial to God.
Commitment
Nothing worthwhile in life is built without commitment. Enthusiasm is great but if it is not followed through with consistency, then ultimately it is just wind and noise. But we value the substance of commitment.
Life
If we don’t have life then we have to wonder if God is in the place. And as individuals, if we don’t have life we have to ask the same question. Although we appreciate the power of a healthy, godly habit, may nothing we do just stem out of ritual and religion.
Faith
To please God we must be people of faith. Not just faith in anything and everything, but faith in God and His word. Our words must reveal it and our lives need to back it up. As a church this is one of our core values that is seen in every arena of church life.
Excellence
Daniel distinguished himself in the land because of his excellent spirit. God has graciously given us the most excellent Spirit of all – His Holy Spirit. Therefore, in giving God our best, we should in all things be excellent.
Vision
The Word of God warns us that without it we wander aimlessly and ultimately perish. As a Church we understand the vitality and power that accompanies Godly vision. Vision is the personal word of God to a believer or company of believers to lead, guide and direct them into God’s plan for their future.
