Narwee Baptist Church prides itself on its strong vision and purpose, and how they work to see these lived out in every area of church life.
It all starts with their vision: “To see lives transformed through Jesus Christ to the glory of God”. Ange Gratsounas, Senior Pastor, explains that this means seeing transformation in the lives of people who are believers already, as well as outsiders coming in.
Flowing from this, their purpose is “to Magnify God by bringing people to Jesus and Membership in his family, leading them to Christ-like Maturity, equipping them for loving Ministry in the church and effective Mission in the world.” And being in a multi-cultural community, focusing on how to reach the people around them is a key priority.
Every year, the church has a launch series where they preach, teach and train on their purpose and the focus for the year. Their launch series for 2024 was “Go… to see lives transformed”, and in 2025 their launch series will be “Walk Assured”. The series is engaged in across the church – through all four church services, in homegroups, and in their youth and kids’ program.
“We’re trying to build it into the church’s DNA,” explains Ange, “the launch series is about equipping all our people to see ourselves as missionaries in our own community, going out to proclaim the Gospel”.
Narwee has sought to embed a culture of mission across their church. They have large weekly kids and youth ministries, with over seventy in attendance at both each week. Their youth are asked to support the running of a yearly evangelistic holiday club in July, helping to prepare them for running a holiday club at Wellington Baptist, in rural NSW, when they are in years 10 and 11.
A young adult team of eight people are serving in SE Asia for 3 weeks, partnering with cross-cultural workers to share the love of Christ. This mission helps people to have a world missions perspective and is often a catalyst to pursue both local and global engagement in mission.
They also run a computer literacy course and have had five people recently join their Christianity Explained group from the course. “If we’re running a computer course, it’s to make disciples,” explains Ange, “or if we’re running a kid’s program, it’s to make disciples.”
This year, having not run an evangelistic course since pre-COVID, Narwee decided to use the new Alpha Australia material. In May, a team of ten team members ran the course with twenty participants. Many of the participants had started attending church recently or were connected in through good friends who were part of the church.
“God seemed to be going before us bringing people who were hungry,” reflects Ange.
For six weeks, Narwee ran Alpha on a weeknight over coffee and dessert, followed by Back to Basics from Matthias Media for seven weeks. Then, for anyone who is interested, there was the option to continue for five weeks of Lessons on Assurance from Navigators. Some of the participants continued through all three programs, others just came for Alpha, and still others joined just for the later studies.
Narwee also emphasises baptism as part of “see[ing] lives transformed through Jesus Christ to the glory of God”. They do this by keeping the conversation around baptism open and running regular baptism courses and baptism weeks. “Baptisms remind people that God’s at work,” explains Ange, “it reminds people that we have to keep our eyes out for those God is bringing into our path”.
Surya and Sumi appeared at church a year ago after having been reading a Bible. They wanted to know more about Jesus so were invited to Alpha. Surya came to Alpha, and he was taking what he learnt home to share with Sumi. They kept growing and growing in their understanding and faith. Surya and Sumi were baptised, inviting many of their Hindu friends and family.
Soon after, they asked Ange to lead their Christian wedding. Ange presented the Gospel and unpacked the meaning of the vows that were being made, with many Hindu family and friends in attendance.
Some of Surya and Sumi’s friends approached Ange after the wedding to say thank you. They said they were also Christians, and it was good to know about, and now support, Surya and Sumi’s faith.
Anthony, a man in his 40s, was told by a friend that he should try going to church, so he simply walked into church one week. He joined Narwee for Alpha and Back to Basics and was baptised a month ago. Anthony’s mum, a committed Christian, flew over from New Zealand to be part of the baptism and hear Anthony share his testimony.
Similarly, Emma started attending the church after watching their online services during COVID. She made the decision to follow Jesus and came to Alpha to learn more. Emily brought her Jewish husband along and was also baptised recently.
Narwee has also had people walk in off the street wanting to be baptised or to have their baby baptised. For one family, a mum and her three daughters, Ange said he couldn’t just baptise them, but then spent two hours explaining the Gospel to them and they chose to join the church’s Back to Basics course.
“God always does the unexpected,” reflects Ange, “and we need to keep our eyes open for what God is doing.”
