What do you do when you’ve heard God’s call but everyone else thinks you’re crazy? (Well, to be fair they are remembering you have 6 kids to care for, and also a penchant for jumping out of your comfort zone…) But if it really is God’s call, you trust God, pray, and step out in faith – this was Ash Buchanan’s approach as he felt God drawing him towards overseas mission work.
Ash and his wife Jo have lived in (and for short stints, out of) West Gippsland for years, building strong connections with many local churches of differing denominations by being involved in community, teaching at the local Christian School and speaking at churches when the family went to West Africa on mission.
With a heart for mission and having had their time in West Africa cut short due to political instability, the family came back to Warragal to regroup, with both Ash and Jo taking on teaching work at Ciro Christian school.
The nudge to missional work was still strong.
Warragal is a growth corridor and Ash felt that this would be a good place to plant a church, but that the financial commitment would be too big.
Yet God moves is mysterious ways. Partway through the year and while in full-time work at Ciro, Rev Robert Hayman from the BUV Support Hub’s Pastoral Leadership, Support and Development team discussed with Ash Rokeby Baptist Church being in need and potentially on the brink of closing. Through a time of prayer and discernment, God laid a deep passion on Ash’s heart to work alongside the believers at Rokeby because “it would be really horrible if it closed down”.
With 6 members, the church held a vision of being a place of baptisms and weddings. Together, Ash and the church decided it was important for those in the small leadership team to transition from doing large amounts of church work to becoming the welcome team (they took on board the statistics that say having an older person in your church remembering the new people’s names encourages positive retention.) The importance of older people mentoring new people breathed a new optimism.
Rokeby is a small community that sits on the edge of a growth corridor, with a population of 213 as at the 2021 census. There are no shops, just a hall that hosts a farmer’s market once a month. Ash and his family felt called to take the step of faith and begin working at the church one day a week.
They asked one other family to join them – they have stayed, and other friends have come to the church. More people came for various reasons such as the church’s lovely relationships with other nearby churches, or new people moving into the area. In June there was a special meeting as there were 12 nominations for new members! In the next few months there will be 3 baptisms. At the end of July there were 50 people turning up to services and people would linger for a long time over morning tea afterwards, building friendships. A youth band has occasionally led the worship.
Time, relationships, prayer, listening to and hearing God’s nudge, and trusting God for provision all go together and Rokeby Baptist Church is a growing multigenerational church that is enthusiastically embracing God’s call.