Mentone Baptist Church celebrated our 70th anniversary yesterday (November 19).

It was a great morning. Our auditorium is often fairly full, but yesterday it was very full and dozens of people spilling over into the foyer and hall to be part of this thanksgiving service. It was encouraging to have former pastors and former members visiting and local MPs giving their time to celebrate with us. Many thanks.

The theme for our celebration was giving thanks for the past and looking to the future. Our Bible text was Philippians 1:3-11 (there is a link to the sermon below). 

As we live in the present to worship God, to proclaim Jesus Christ and to show our community the reality of Christ, we give thanks to God for the last 70 years and we are looking to the future. 

In recent years aspects of Melbourne’s culture have made much hay out of churches and negative press toward Christianity. Let’s be honest, sometimes Christians deserve the bad press given the awful things committed by some religious figures. At the same time, we might be forgiven for believing that Christianity in Melbourne is on the way out. To be sure, ‘progressive’ forms of Christianity are declining, but the real picture on the ground and in many local churches suggests new growth and new hope.

I want to share a brief history of Mentone Baptist Church that was presented at the anniversary service (it’s impossible to capture every story from 70 years!). There is also the link to our anniversary sermon. I hope you’re encouraged.

Mentone Baptist Church: church for the future

Beginnings

Mentone Baptist Church is known as the church with the sign: ‘Jesus Saves’ and ‘Christ our Hope’. 

The original sign was replaced in 2009, and the buildings, people, and times have changed, but our message remains the same.

Mentone Baptist Church was formally constituted as a Church on November 19th 1953, but the origins came earlier. As far back as 1945, there was a desire to start a Baptist church in the area. At that time there was no Baptist church in Melbourne south of Oakleigh.

It wasn’t until 1950 that a group of 10 people living in Mentone and Cheltenham began discussing the possibility of a church. They first met on 9 Nov 1950, in a home on Nepean Hwy. Rev. Hawley led the group which included Reg and Ruby Ward, Jim and Grace Sutherland.

9 months later this group of 10 men and women began praying and searching for a property. A site on the corner of Warrigal Rd and Harpley St was purchased in February 1952 by the Baptist Home Mission Society, although some of the land, including what is today the cark park, was purchased years later. 

Horace Jeffs commenced as the first pastor in April 1953, on a part-time basis with a stipend of 1 pound and 12 shillings per week. While waiting for the build, which is what today is known as the church hall. Mentone made news in The Age newspaper, for the novel story about a church meeting in a house and with their own organ! Sunday attendance reached 30-40 people. 

On 1 November 1953, the church building opened. But of course, church isn’t the building, it is the people, and so on November 19 with a membership of 23 people, Mentone Baptist Church was formally constituted and the first members meeting conducted. Baptist Churches highly value the priesthood of all believers and so congregational involvement and ownership matters to us. Hence, our (in)famous members meetings! 

A manse was purchased in 1955. Today this house is known as the church office, where it is used as office space, meeting rooms and children’s ministry.

Over Mentone’s first 10 years, the church grew to 60 members and always with a strong emphasis on the ministries of prayer and word. 

A season for growing

Mentone’s evangelical roots and desire to start new churches continued with a team planting Beaumaris in 1959. This has continued over our history and most recently, Mentone sent out a team under Stephen Tan to plant Regeneration Church, next to Monash University. Over the years we experienced a trickle of university students travelling to us from Monash, with many being baptised at Mentone. We however saw the need and benefit from us moving closer to the university. 6 years later, there are more than 170 students and young adults calling Regeneration Church home (and growing every year). 

A key turning point for Mentone took place in 1961 when Alcc White accepted the invitation to become pastor. Alec White was an effective preacher and communicator. He was rightly convinced the Bible is God’s word good and sufficient word, and that Jesus Christ is the way to know God. Under his leadership, and with many folks including the Foxes, the Lees, Betty Boase, the Platts, and the LePage family, the church grew in number and maturity. The Church invested in connecting with the local community, including ministering to the sick at the Kingston Centre and providing RE classes in local schools. Boys and Girls Brigades provided opportunity for local children to enjoy mid-week activities, gain life skills and learn about God. Dorcas commenced, a women’s group providing practical help to disadvantaged people around the world. 

For 50 years Rex and Shirley Wills have been faithful members, serving in almost every part of church life. Betty Boase is our only member today who has been part of the church for 60 years.

A right emphasis on the good news of Jesus Christ raised up a generation of men and women who were trained and sent out to serve overseas on mission: Jim and Pam Sterrey, Daphne Smith, Fred Stoll, Chris and Carole Hebert, David and Sim Senator, Roger and Ruth Alder, and more. In the late 1960s, Marsali Ashley joined Mentone while studying at the Melbourne Bible Institute. Following a term in Papua New Guinea, she returned and married John Campbell at Mentone in 1972 (Murray’s parents).

Our current auditorium was built in 1968, with member Don Platt drawing the plans and his company constructing it. Originally, the seats faced north, with a stage in front of the northern window.  The space was renovated in 2013 to accommodate more seating. Internal walls were knocked down and the old parent’s room was removed, thus increasing the space from 150 to 230 seats. 

In 1981 Ross Prout was inducted as the new pastor and served here for 10 years. Under Ross’ leadership,  the church experienced significant growth, especially among young adults. He continued the church’s emphasis on Bible teaching and a  heart to see people coming to know Christ. 

With Ross and Bronwen moving to Mitcham Baptist in 1991 after 9 years of fruitful ministry, Leigh Diprose commenced his ministry here, with Helen his wife and their 4 children joining. The Church continued to support ministry in the local community and worked alongside Youth Dimension to reach teenagers. Leigh concluded in 2000 and has since served at Altona Baptist and helping rural churches with preaching. Today Leigh serving at City on a Hill at their Melbourne West Campus.

Every church experiences difficult seasons and challenges, and Mentone is no exception. At the start of the new century, a significant number of the Church moved away as housing prices squeezed out young families and the Church lost a sense of direction and what it was about.

The congregation had shrunk to a Sunday attendance of 30 people by the end of 2004.

A new chapter

In 2005 Murray and Susan joined, following 4 years studying at Moore Theological College and gaining pastoral experience at Chatswood Baptist in Sydney. After several years away from Melbourne, the Campbells were excited to return and to make Mentone Baptist Church home for their young family.

The Church started to grow and saw growth of 10-20% each year for several years to come.  In 2010, Murray suggested to the church that to help facilitate further growth, it would be advantageous to employ an associate pastor. To see whether the church could finance this, he asked if members would commit to increasing their giving.  The Church was able to employ an associate pastor full-time from the first day! The Church called Phil Ninness and he commenced in 2011. Phil is an excellent preacher, and we also began an evening congregation, which attracted university students, and saw many becoming Christians and baptised and joining the church. 

Phil and his wife Heather finished after 2 years to take on the Senior Pastoral role at a Baptist church in Tasmania. Mike Veith, who was serving as a student pastor while studying at Ridley College, became the new associate pastor.  Mike has served in this role for 10 years, with his wife Camille and daughters part of the church family. 

Over the past 18 years, the church has developed strong links with the Christian Union at Monash University. Stuart White and Dan King are both members at Mentone and they work on campus with AFES.  We might assume that in our secular society, intelligent university students are disinterested in God; the campus ministry is experiencing quite the opposite. 

The church continues to have a heart for mission both locally and overseas. In the past 6 years, several members have been sent out for church planting, pastoral ministry, and mission.  We pray that God will add to those numbers in years to come. 

The vision that began all those years ago in a Cheltenham house hasn’t been forgotten or lost but continues in 2023: ‘Christ our Hope’ and ‘Jesus Saves’. 

70 years ago a tiny church moved from meeting in a house to this property on Warrigal Road. The year 2023 may look and sound very different from 1953. The streets and suburbs look very different today. 70 years ago this area was dominated by small farms and market gardens. There were a few schools and a train line. Southland didn’t exist. There was no McDonalds or KFC! The cars and cricket bats, the coffee and fashion and phones have changed, but the underlying issues and questions and longings of the human heart remain the same. 

Our vision and prayer is to see the good news of Jesus Christ growing more and more and lives being transformed by God’s grace, love and truth. We thank God for the past and we look forward to the future and seeing how God continues his good work.