It’s a strangely hard question to answer out loud, isn’t it?
Ask most of us what we’re bad at and we’ll give you a list. Ask what we’re good at and we go quiet, or we deflect, or we change the subject. Naming a strength can feel like boasting, so we don’t. Especially for Australians!
But this Sunday, at our Last Breakfast, we’re going to try anyway.
We’re continuing our series writing The Letter to the Church in Box Hill, and we’ve reached the letter to the church in Pergamum. It’s a church living at a hard address (Christ calls it the place “where Satan has his throne”), and yet the first thing he says to them is not a criticism. It’s a commendation. He tells them what they are getting right. “I know where you live… yet you remain true to my name.”
That’s a pattern worth noticing. Before the difficult word, the positive word. Before what’s lacking, what’s good. Christ names the strength first.
So this week we’re asking it of ourselves, and of each other. What has God actually made us good at? Not to boast. But because a gift unnamed is a gift half-received. Because the strength you can’t quite see in yourself is often obvious to the person sitting across the table.
And we’ll ask it of us together, too. What is the church in Box Hill good at? What are we like at our best? Those answers become the next line of the letter we’re writing.
Of course one thing we are definitely good at is putting the food on the table, so come and eat with us! And come and find out what someone else sees in you.
Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
We continue our series on the Letters to the Seven Churches this week, turning to the letter to the church in Smyrna. Where last week’s letter (to Ephesus) focused on identity, this week we look at the Sender: the vision John receives of the risen Jesus as “the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life.”
+ Worship Leader: Andy McCulloch; Preacher: Geoff Pound.
+ Scripture Readings: Revelation 1: 9-20, and Revelation 2: 8-11 (the letter to the church in Smyrna).
+ Theme: Continuing our series, ‘Listening to the Spirit.’ Geoff will finish the sermon by inviting us to reflect on the aspect of Jesus most needed at Box Hill, completing the line “From the One who…” — watch out for a QR code and follow-up email during the week.
+ A Church Meeting (open to all) will be held after Morning Tea, in the Barn.
Order of Service
Call to Worship — Man of Sorrows
Welcome & Community News
Reading 1: Revelation 1: 9-20
Offering & Offering Prayer
Song: Blessed Be Your Name
Reading 2: Revelation 2: 8-11
Sermon
Song: Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God
Pastoral Prayer
Benediction: Holy Spirit, Living Breath
Community News
+ Church Meeting papers: this Sunday’s meeting has a hefty agenda, to keep the meeting manageable, the Budget will be the main item for full discussion and adoption on the day; the Constitution Summary, Grievance and Complaints Policy, Eco Church Action Plan and Ellingworth Project report will be tabled and introduced, with adoption to follow at a later meeting. If you spot gaps or have questions on any paper, please speak with the person who prepared it.
+ Seeking AV/tech volunteers: we’d love a small core group to share the load of putting together the slides and other audio-visual materials that enrich our worship each week. If you have a knack for this (or want to learn), have a chat with Eddie.
+ Exploring Faith: A Journey of Discovery — a new 10-week course exploring the foundations of the Christian faith begins Fridays at 7pm from 11 September. You don’t need any prior knowledge — it’s designed for every level. Anyone interested, or wanting to know more, is welcome to have a chat with Eddie or register interest at office@boxhillbaptist.org.au.
+ Community Musicale: our next musicale (supporting local live classical music) is coming up on 20 September.
+ The next Member’s Dinner for the Baptist Union will be held at the Newhope Church on 16 October.
+ Check out the latest spirituality events at WellSpring, including a gathering with Steve Biddulph.
Upcoming Events
+ Church Meeting — 23 August, after Morning Tea, in the Barn.
+ Community Shed Bicycle Workshop — Saturday 29 August, 9am-12pm. Refurbished bikes will be on sale, and it’s a chance to bring your own bike along to get it checked, serviced or fixed up.
+ Exploring Faith course begins Fridays at 7pm, from 11 September.
+ Baptist Union Member’s Dinner — 16 October, Newhope Church.
+ Save-the-date: 125th Anniversary — Sunday 18 October: Service of Thanksgiving at 10am, morning tea/lunch at 11.30am, book launch at 12.15pm. All former members and friends invited.
This Week
Monday
+ 4.30pm-8.30pm Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Tuesday
+ 9.30am The Box Hill Community Choir. Newcomers are welcome to join — no audition needed.
+ 7.15pm The Bible & Chats Group meets for a cuppa, and at 7.30pm a study begins on Revelation 2: 12-17, The Letter to the Church at Pergamum.
Thursday
+ 11am-1pm The Social Chat Group (upstairs in the Village Well) — learning basic English, playing table tennis and other games, drinking tea and coffee and making friends.
+ 1.30pm-2.30pm Bakehouse in the Barn: saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Friday
+ 4.30pm-8.30pm Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Saturday
+ 7.30am-8.30am Bakehouse in the Barn: saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
+ 9am-12pm Community Shed Bicycle Workshop: refurbished bikes on sale, plus servicing and repairs for your own bike.
The saying, ‘What is learned in song is remembered long,’ applies to much learning — but for a church it’s important to ensure our songs in worship are teaching us well and true.
Box Hill Baptist Church runs a number of small groups which create opportunities to build friendships, study the Bible and other resources, pray and strengthen our spiritual journeys.
If you are interested in any of the groups below, feel welcome to contact the convenor, or speak to one of our pastors. (And if you’d like to be part of a group but these don’t work for you, come and speak to us and we’ll see if we can start something new!)
Bible & Chat: Currently each Tuesday, 7:15pm for 7.30pm start at the Village Well (5 Ellingworth Pde). The group normally reflects on a Scripture passage for the following Sunday service. Convenor: Geoff Pound
KYB (Know Your Bible): Tuesdays fortnightly via Zoom. Convenor: Helen Timms
Next Sunday, 30 August 2026
+ The Last Breakfast: Eating breakfast or brunch around the tables (bring food to share) — a great opportunity to discuss with others.
+ Led by Eddie Chapman.
+ Scripture: Revelation 2: 12-17, The Letter to the Church at Pergamum.
+ Theme: Looking at words of strength in the seven churches and asking, ‘What are the good things and strengths of the church at Box Hill?’
Offering details
BSB: 704-922 Account name: Box Hill Baptist Church Account number: 100005657 Please use the reference ‘Offering’ in the reference line
If you have any issues making an offering, please contact office@boxhillbaptist.org.au
In our series on the Letters to the Seven Churches (Revelation 2 & 3) we’re challenging ourselves at Box Hill Baptist to write an eighth letter based on the Patmos template.
Last week we came up with the address: “To the Church at Box Hill Baptist.”
This Sunday things get harder as we describe the Sender, “From…” and like the other letters penned by John on the island of Patmos, we include aspects of Jesus that are appropriate to the church in their context and in that time.
In Box Hill there’s the ‘Immanuel Lutheran Church.’ That’s comforting to know God with us.
In Mont Albert there’s ‘The Church of the Holy Redeemer.’ That’s all-encompassing.
In Ascot Vale there’s ‘Christ the King Anglican Church.’ Would you go if you had republican aspirations?
Does ‘Sacred Heart’ or the ‘Corpus Christi’ Baptist Church cut it?
Who gets to choose the name for a church? Some bishop a hundred years ago? Some ecclesiastical body?
At least we get to choose (with the help of the Holy Spirit of course!) the name of the Sender of the letter to our church. We get to provide some aspects of their character and action that we need at Box Hill. We’ll get it right if we have ‘ears to hear’ and ‘listen to the Spirit.’
This Sunday marks the beginning of a new sermon series on the Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation, as we listen for what the Spirit is saying to the church at Box Hill.
+ Worship Leader: Keith Dyer; Preacher: Eddie Chapman.
+ Theme: ‘Name:Address’ — Week 1: Revelation 2:1-7, the letter to the church in Ephesus. This week’s focus is exploring questions of identity: who Box Hill is, and who we are as a church in Box Hill.
+ Scripture Readings: Revelation 2: 1-7 (the letter to the church in Ephesus).
Order of Service
Acknowledgement of Country and Call to Worship (Psalm 67)
Hymn: You were in this place, but we never knew
Prayer of gathering and confession
Welcome and Community News
Offering and prayer
Song: Ballad of God’s People
Bible reading: Revelation 2:1-7 (Letter to Ephesus) — Theresa
Sermon: — Eddie
Song: Bring Many Names
Prayers for the world.
Song: Gather Us In
Benediction
Community News
+ Service and Sermon Series: This week we begin our new ‘Letters to the Seven Churches’ series from the book of Revelation, where our challenge as a church will be to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church at Box Hill Baptist. We hope that after all the looking back we have done in our Anniversary year, this series will help us look forward to what we are being called to be and do in the future.
+ This coming Saturday we have one of our regular working bees. There will be a mix of jobs to help keep our ‘address’ in good order – including replacing the lights in the Barn (great for anyone fond of heights!), and clearing some stuff out of the Village Well (#5), and assorted cleaning! If you’re free, even for a couple of hours, join us Saturday morning at 10am. We also would benefit from anyone free on Friday evening (from 6pm) to help assemble our scaffold in the Barn so we’re ready to go on Saturday.
Upcoming Events
+ Church Working Bee – 22 August, commencing at 10am.
+ Church Meeting – 23 August (after the service)
+ Exploring Faith: a new course exploring the Christian faith begins Fridays at 7pm, from 4 September. Anyone interested, or wanting to know more, is welcome to have a chat with Eddie.
+ Community Musicale: our next musicale (to help support local live classical music) is coming up on the 20th of September.
+ Save-the-date: 125th Anniversary on Sunday 18 October: Service of Thanksgiving at 10am, morning tea/lunch at 11.30am, book launch at 12.15pm. All former members and friends invited.
This Week
Monday
+ 4.30pm-8.30pm Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Tuesday
+ 9.30am The Box Hill Community Choir. Newcomers are welcome to join. No audition needed.
+ 7.15pm The Bible & Chats Group meets for a cuppa, and at 7.30pm a study begins on Revelation 2: 8-11.
Thursday
+ 11am-1pm The Social Chat Group (upstairs in the Village Well) will be learning basic English, playing table tennis and other games, drinking tea and coffee and making friends.
+ 1.30pm-2.30pm Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Friday
+ 4.30-8.30pm: Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Saturday
+ 7.30am-8.30am Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Food for Thought, Prayer and Action
+ Jason Goroncy (Whitley College) writes on ‘How Christianity Both Creates and Can Resolve the Problem of Monoculturalism,’ Religion & Ethics, 21 July 2026.
+ If you’ve ever wondered about receiving or offering spiritual direction, or wondered what it is, here’s an introduction from a variety of perspectives: Spiritual Growth Ministries (NZ).
+ A new venture in the UK linking theology and nature: ‘We Garden on Our Knees,’ Religion News, 10 August 2026.
Small Groups @ BHBC
Box Hill Baptist Church runs a number of small groups which create opportunities to build friendships, study the Bible and other resources, pray and strengthen our spiritual journeys.
If you are interested in any of the groups below, feel welcome to contact the convenor, or speak to one of our pastors. (And if you’d like to be part of a group but these don’t work for you, come and speak to us and we’ll see if we can start something new!)
Bible & Chat: Currently each Tuesday, 7:15pm for 7.30pm start at the Village Well (5 Ellingworth Pde). The group normally reflects on a Scripture passage for the following Sunday service. Convenor: Geoff Pound
KYB (Know Your Bible): Tuesdays fortnightly via Zoom. (Convenor: Helen Timms)
Next Sunday, 23 August at 10am
Also Church Meeting day, to be held after the service.
+ Worship Leader: Andy McCulloch; Preacher: Geoff Pound.
+ Scripture Reading: Revelation 2: 8-11.
+ Continuing our series, ‘Listening to the Spirit.’
Offering details
BSB: 704-922 Account name: Box Hill Baptist Church Account number: 100005657 Please use the reference ‘Offering’ in the reference line
If you have any issues making an offering, please contact office@boxhillbaptist.org.au
This Sunday we start something unusual. Over the coming weeks, together, we are going to write a letter. To ourselves. The Letter to the Church in Box Hill.
We take our cue from the book of Revelation, where the risen Christ writes to seven real churches in seven real cities. Every letter opens the same way: “To the church in…” and then a place. A name, and an address. He does not send a group email to “the church <everywhere>.” He writes to particular people in a particular place, and he tells each of them, “I know.” He knows this church, because he has been to this address. We are addressed by name. Christ knows where we live.
Which makes us ask what our address says about us. Say it slowly. The church in Box Hill. What does that stir in you? It is a place, not a preference. We are named after a suburb on a map, not after the people who happen to think like us. And a place comes with whoever else lives there.
That is where it gets interesting, because our name and our address may not always match. We know who we are. But do we know where we are? And what happens when the two rub against each other?
Over these weeks we will sit with some questions:
Who has Christ addressed us to be, here, at this particular address?
What did we once love about this place, and has some of that love gone cold?
Are we ever tempted to pick up our lamp and find somewhere more “like us,” and whose choice is that to make anyway?
How do we hold on to what we believe without letting our certainty outgrow our love?
We are not going to answer all of those this Sunday. But we are going to begin listening.
Because every one of those ancient letters ends the same way: “let anyone who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” A word spoken to one church, at one address, is meant to be overheard by all of them. And by us.
So this week, just sit with the name. The church in Box Hill. Ask what it might mean that Christ has addressed us here, on purpose.
We welcome those who have returned for another ‘Back to Box Hill Baptist’ Sunday.
+ Worship Leader: Eddie Chapman; Interview Sermon: Geoff Pound with Graeme Garrett.
+Theme: ‘Sing a New Church’ (which is the title of the chapter in our forthcoming History of the Box Hill Baptist Church, in which Lorraine Mitchell reports and reflects on the 1970s when Graeme Garrett was Pastor.
+Scripture Readings: 1 Peter 2: 1-10; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-20.
+ The Morning Tea in the Barn that follows the service will be a great opportunity for people to catch up with Graeme Garrett and other former members and friends who will be attending.
Order of Service
Call to worship
Song: Come thou font of every blessing.
Prayer of Adoration and confession
Song: Alleluia Sing to Jesus
Community News
Reading – 1 Peter 2: 1-10
Song: God who’s giving knows no ending
Reading – 2 Corinthians 5: 17-20.
Interview/Sermon
Song: Sing new church
Pastoral Prayers
Song: Fed and gathered, named and chosen,
Benediction
Community News
+ Our Bakehouse Teams: A great achievement by our Bakehouse teams was acknowledged when Lynne and Keith Dyer attended the Round at Nunawading on 22 July and were presented with a Community Achievement Award (2026). This has been a great encouragement to the two teams (Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning) who feel rightly proud to be part of this group who have been recognised in this public way. Do remember these team members in your prayers. Some of them have suffered illness recently, some are grieving the loss of a loved one while still others have been hospitalised for surgery and care.
+ Work: A Masters student who attends our church is looking for work after losing a job. If you have some ideas, please contact Geoff who will pass them on or link you up.
+Service and Sermon Series: We are about to begin a new ‘Letters to the Seven Churches’ series from the book of Revelation where our challenge as a church will be to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church at Box Hill Baptist. We hope that with all the looking back we have been doing in our Anniversary year, that this series will help us as a unique church to look forward to what we are being called to be and do in the future.
+ Our Deacons met last Monday. Some of what was discussed included:
The upcoming anniversary service and book launch.
Continuing to explore and expand the rental of our spaces
Preparations for the upcoming working bee
Considering a heritage grant to replace the front doors of the church
Some positive conversations with Christian finance around our potential property redevelopment project
Preparations for the upcoming church meeting on the 23rd.
Upcoming Events
+ Church Working Bee – 22 August, commencing at 10am.
+ Church Meeting – 23 August (after the service)
+ Save-the-date: 125th Anniversary on Sunday 18 October: Service of Thanksgiving at 10am, morning tea/lunch at 11.30am, book launch at 12.15pm. All former members and friends invited
This Week
Monday
+ 4.30pm-8.30pm Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Tuesday
+ 9.30am The Box Hill Community Choir. Newcomers are welcome to join. No audition needed.
+ 7.15pm The Bible & Chats Group meets for a cuppa and at 7.30pm a study begins on Revelation 2: 1-7.
Thursday
+ 11am-1pm The Social Chat Group (upstairs in the Village Well) will be learning basic English, playing table tennis and other games, drinking tea and coffee and making friends.
+ 1.30pm-2.30pm Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Friday
+ 4.30-8.30pm: Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Saturday
+ 7.30am-8.30am Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Food for Thought, Prayer and Action
+ Reflecting on Census Day, 11 August: F W Boreham, who was a frequent guest preacher at Box Hill, writes about the need to see people as unique human beings rather than as numbers. Link: Names and Numbers.
+ “Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate.”
— Karen Armstrong
+ On a cold June night, a group of Jewish friends gathered at Melbourne airport to welcome a Muslim family they’d never met. One year later, they share their story of friendship and hope across religious and cultural divides. ‘Sky’s the limit,’ Australian story, iView.
Small Groups @ BHBC
Box Hill Baptist Church runs a number of small groups which create opportunities to build friendships, study the Bible and other resources, pray and strengthen our spiritual journeys.
If you are interested in any of the groups below, feel welcome to contact the convenor, or speak to one of our pastors. (And if you’d like to be part of a group but these don’t work for you, come and speak to us and we’ll see if we can start something new!)
Bible & Chat: Currently each Tuesday, 7:15pm for 7.30pm start at the Village Well (5 Ellingworth Pde). The group normally reflects on a Scripture passage for the following Sunday service. Convenor: Geoff Pound
KYB (Know Your Bible): Tuesdays fortnightly via Zoom. (Convenor: Helen Timms)
Next Sunday 9 August at 10am.
+Worship Leader: Keith Dyer; Preacher: Eddie Chapman.
+Scripture Reading: Revelation 2: 1-7.
+ The beginning of a new series, ‘Listening to the Spirit.’
Offering details
BSB: 704-922 Account name: Box Hill Baptist Church Account number: 100005657 Please use the reference ‘Offering” in the reference line
If you have any issues in making an offering, please contact office@boxhillbaptist.org.au
+Theme: The Sounds of Silence, as Geoff explores the role of silence and space in our Rediscovering Worship series.
+ Scripture: Psalm 62: 1-12
Order of Service
Call to Worship
Opening Prayer
Song – Be Still
Welcome and Community News
Offering
Reading – Psalm 62: 1-12
Song – We Seek Your Kingdom
Sermon – The Sounds of Silence
Song – Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Communion
Prayers for the Community
Sung Benediction – Deep Stillness
Community News
+ Next Sunday we have another “Back to Box Hill” special event, as we welcome Graeme Garrett back to share with us. The time for proclamation in the service will take the form of an extended Interview-Sermon led by Geoff Pound with Graeme. It will involve reflections on the Garrett years at Box Hill Baptist with thoughts and convictions about faith and being the church today.
Upcoming Events
+ Church Working Bee – 22 August
+ Church Meeting – 23 August (after the service)
+ Save-the-date: 125th Anniversary on Sunday 18 October: Service of Thanksgiving at 10am, morning tea/lunch at 11.30am, book launch at 12.15pm. All former members and friends invited
This Week
Monday
+ 4.30pm-8.30pm Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Tuesday
+ 9.30am The Box Hill Community Choir. Newcomers are welcome to join. No audition needed.
+ 7.15pm for a cuppa and at 7.30pm the study begins based on 1 Peter 2: 1-10; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-20 and the theme ‘Sing a New Church.’ The Bible & Chats Group meets in the Village Well and studies the Scripture that will be the focus in the next Sunday’s sermon. Questions are available beforehand. Ask for a copy. Newcomers are most welcome. Convener: Geoff Pound.
Thursday
+ 11am-1pm The Social Chat Group (upstairs in the Village Well) will be learning basic English, playing table tennis and other games, drinking tea and coffee and making friends.
+ 1.30pm-2.30pm Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Friday
+ 4.30-8.30pm: Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Saturday
+ 7.30am-8.30am Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Small Groups @ BHBC
Box Hill Baptist Church runs a number of small groups which create opportunities to build friendships, study the Bible and other resources, pray and strengthen our spiritual journeys.
If you are interested in any of the groups below, feel welcome to contact the convenor, or speak to one of our pastors. (And if you’d like to be part of a group but these don’t work for you, come and speak to us and we’ll see if we can start something new!)
Bible & Chat: Currently each Tuesday, 7:15pm for 7.30pm start at the Village Well (5 Ellingworth Pde). The group normally reflects on a Scripture passage for the following Sunday service. Convenor: Geoff Pound
KYB (Know Your Bible): Tuesdays fortnightly via Zoom. (Convenor: Helen Timms)
Next Sunday 9 August at 10am.
+ Worship Leader: Eddie Chapman.
+Theme: ‘Sing a New Church’ (which is the title of the chapter in our forthcoming History of the Box Hill Baptist Church, in which Lorraine Mitchell reports and reflects on the 1970s when Graeme Garrett was Pastor.
+Scripture Readings: 1 Peter 2: 1-10; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-20.
+ The Morning Tea in the Barn that follows the service will be a great opportunity for people to catch up with Graeme Garrett and other former members and friends who will be attending.
Offering details
BSB: 704-922 Account name: Box Hill Baptist Church Account number: 100005657 Please use the reference ‘Offering” in the reference line
If you have any issues in making an offering, please contact office@boxhillbaptist.org.au
A woman went hiking to escape the noise of the city. As she climbed, she kept listening to music and the news through her earbuds. Near the summit, the battery on her phone died. Annoyed, she pulled out the earbuds and continued walking.
For the first time on her walk she heard the wind moving through the trees, birds calling across the valley, and the distant sound of water. She stood still for several minutes.
Later she reflected, “I thought I had come to see the mountain, but I had been carrying the city with me.”
Many congregations live with the same condition. We arrive at church carrying news headlines, phone notifications, family concerns, work pressures and internal chatter.
A moment of genuine stillness in worship is not an empty gap in the service. It is a moment when, for a brief time, we stop carrying the city and allow ourselves to become aware of the presence of God, of one another, and of our own hearts. In that sense, silence is not the absence of worship; it is often the doorway into it. The moments of silence then give us energy and perspective for taking up again the concerns of our lives.
This Sunday in our series, ‘Rediscovering Worship,’ we’re thinking of the vital role that silence can play when we come together to worship.
+Theme: It’s a Last Breakfast service , as we continue i our current series on ‘Rediscovering Worship,’ with discussions around “The Worship Wars”.
+ If you can, please bring something along to share for breakfast.
+ Scripture: Romans 14:1-9, 13-19
Community News
+ Geoff Pound is away on annual leave from 16-31 July, and Eddie will be away next week from 31 July to 2 August.
+ A thank you from Kendall Bryant, following the very successful Winter Gathering last Saturday evening:
Thank you! Not just for letting me use your building. Thank you for letting your church become a place. On Saturday evening your sanctuary was filled with music, conversation, laughter, stories, soup, strangers, friends, artists, deep questions and more than a few cups of tea. It became a place where people gathered—not because they all believed the same things, or came from the same backgrounds, but because they were looking for beauty, connection and a reminder that they weren’t journeying through life alone. I wanted you to know that.
One of the dreams behind these gatherings is to create rooms where strangers become less strange. To build little pockets of community in a world that can so often feel disconnected. On Saturday night, your church beautifully held that dream. Many of the people who came would probably never have walked through the doors of a church on an ordinary weekend. Yet they came. They felt welcomed. They felt safe. They lingered long after the event had finished. They met people they hadn’t known before. They shared stories. They laughed together. Some cried. Many have written to me since to tell me how deeply moved they were and how much the evening meant to them.
Those stories happened in your home. I find that incredibly beautiful. Buildings are wonderful things. But what makes a place sacred is what happens inside it. On Saturday night your church became a place where people encountered kindness, curiosity, creativity, hope and one another. I can’t think of a lovelier use for a building. So thank you.
Thank you for trusting someone you barely knew. Thank you for opening your doors so generously. I also hope that, over time, some of you might become part of these gatherings yourselves.
Thank you for helping make them possible.
Upcoming Events
+ Church Working Bee – 22 August
+ Church Meeting – 23 August (after the service)
+ Save-the-date: 125th Anniversary on Sunday 18 October: Service of Thanksgiving at 10am, morning tea/lunch at 11.30am, book launch at 12.15pm. All former members and friends invited
This Week
Monday
+ 4.30pm-8.30pm Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Tuesday
+ 9.30am The Box Hill Community Choir commences for the new term. Newcomers are welcome to join. No audition needed.
+ 7.15pm (cuppa) for a 7.30pm start: The Bible & Chats Group, which meets in the ground floor of the Village Well will be studying the Scripture for next Sunday’s service. Leader: Keith Dyer.
Thursday
+ 11am-1pm The Social Chat Group (upstairs in the Village Well) will be learning basic English, playing table tennis and other games, drinking tea and coffee and making friends.
+ 1.30pm-2.30pm Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Friday
+ 4.30-8.30pm: Social Table Tennis (upstairs, 5 Ellingworth Pde)
Saturday
+ 7.30am-8.30am Bakehouse in the Barn: Saving bread, fruit and vegetables from waste by giving food to those wanting to ease their weekly budget.
Small Groups @ BHBC
Box Hill Baptist Church runs a number of small groups which create opportunities to build friendships, study the Bible and other resources, pray and strengthen our spiritual journeys.
If you are interested in any of the groups below, feel welcome to contact the convenor, or speak to one of our pastors. (And if you’d like to be part of a group but these don’t work for you, come and speak to us and we’ll see if we can start something new!)
Bible & Chat: Currently each Tuesday, 7:15pm for 7.30pm start at the Village Well (5 Ellingworth Pde). The group normally reflects on a Scripture passage for the following Sunday service. Convenor: Geoff Pound
KYB (Know Your Bible): Tuesdays fortnightly via Zoom. (Convenor: Helen Timms)
Next Sunday 26 July at 10am.
+ The Last Breakfast: Eating breakfast or brunch around the tables (bring food to share); A great opportunity to discuss with others.
+ Led by Eddie Chapman.
+Theme: Continuing our series on ‘Rediscovering Worship’ this Sunday we are considering ‘the Worship Wars’ or How do we make peace in our worship?
+Scripture: Romans 14:1-9, 13-19
Offering details
BSB: 704-922 Account name: Box Hill Baptist Church Account number: 100005657 Please use the reference ‘Offering” in the reference line
If you have any issues in making an offering, please contact office@boxhillbaptist.org.au
Somewhere, right now, someone is having a very strong opinion about a fog machine. Somewhere else, someone is defending the pipe organ like it’s a hill worth dying on. Both of them think they’re being reasonable. Both of them are convinced the other side has, at best, questionable taste and, at worst, missed the point of church entirely.
Welcome to the worship wars.
They’ve been running for roughly two thousand years, and this Sunday, we’re calling a ceasefire (over breakfast).
A short, deeply biased history of people fighting about worship
The pipe organ, now treasured by traditionalists everywhere, was once denounced as “the devil’s bagpipes” for daring to bring theatre-adjacent instrumentation into sacred space. Clapping in church has been condemned as undignified and celebrated as alive with the Spirit, sometimes by the same denomination a few decades apart. Drums were once the front line of a very serious argument about whether God could be worshipped with a backbeat. Hymnals gave way to projector screens, which some experienced as liberation and others experienced as a personal loss. Incense, candles, liturgy, silence, shouting, pews, bean bags, choirs, worship bands: every generation seems to inherit a war it didn’t start and add a new front to it.
Here’s the thing nobody wants to admit mid-argument: almost none of this is actually about God. It’s about what feels like home to us. And when something else feels like home to someone else, we tend to experience it as a threat rather than just a difference.
Paul had this argument too
Romans 14 wasn’t written about guitars or organs, but it might as well have been. Paul’s Roman church was fighting over food (who’s allowed to eat what) and sacred days (whose calendar counts). Deeply, sincerely important to the people involved. Paul’s answer isn’t “here’s who’s correct.” It’s something more interesting:
“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters.” (Romans 14:1)
“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” (Romans 14:19)
Paul’s move is to relocate the argument. Instead of “who’s right about the worship style,” the question becomes “what actually builds each other up.” Instead of “my way is the true way,” it’s “am I loving the person next to me, whose walk with God looks different to mine.” That’s a much harder question, and a much more useful one.
So, this Sunday
We’re taking Romans 14:1-9 and 13-19 and putting it to the test at this month’s Last Breakfast(itself a controversial form of worship!), and the theme is exactly this: the worship wars, and how we make peace in worship.
We’ll be looking at forms of worship, old and new, the ones we love and the ones we can’t stand, and trying to figure out how it all actually fits together. Come with opinions. Come with your most-loved worship memory and your most rage-inducing one. We promise not to make you defend either.
As always with Last Breakfast, there’s no sermon and no singing, just a shared meal and honest, open conversation. Whatever your worship tribe (organ loyalist, guitar-and-drums, silence-and-candles, or “I just want to sit down”), you belong at this table.
The details:
When: This Sunday, 26 July, 10am
Where: Box Hill Baptist Church, corner of Station Street & Ellingworth Parade, Box Hill (a short walk from Box Hill Station)
What to bring: Something to share for breakfast if you can, but come regardless if you can’t. There’s always plenty.
What to expect: No sermon, no singing, just food and real conversation about worship, then and now.
Bring your strongest opinion about worship. We might not resolve the war, but we can at least share breakfast with the other side.
Box Hill Baptist Church 