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Redeemer Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Sydney, Australia. Redeemer Baptist Church held its first worship service in the lounge room of one of the church elders on Good Friday, 1974. Baulkham Hills Shire Council then provided Council community facilities for Sunday worship services from 1974 until 2011. Sunday services are now held at Redeemer Baptist School in Sargood Hall each Sunday at 10am. Most of those who originally formed Redeemer Baptist Church were formerly members of Castle Hill Baptist Church in Sydney, Australia. Since its formation, Christians from different denominational backgrounds have joined the Redeemer community. Redeemer has been an intentional suburban Christian community since its inception in Castle Hill from 1974 to 2003, and then in Oatlands / North Parramatta since 2003. ==History== Redeemer Baptist Church was born in 1974 in the context of the charismatic renewal sweeping across Australian churches at that time. In the renewal, Christians described experiencing the presence of God in a more intimate way when they came together for worship. A number of churches or groups of Christians formed themselves into intentional communities or extended households with a commitment to serve Jesus Christ in this new way of living. There were reports of miraculous answers to prayers. Many spoke of responding to the love of God more fully than a formal church structure could accommodate. At Redeemer, members of the church formed a response to follow Jesus Christ in everything - like the disciples in the early church, but in a twentieth century setting - by forming an intentional suburban Christian community which provided opportunity for members to continually serve Christ and neighbors in daily life. The Christian community lifestyle of Redeemer Baptist Church — and the willingness of Church members to help strangers in need — provided a shelter for some who had been affected by the rise of the drug problem among young people in the sixties, coupled with a significant increase in the rate of family breakdown in the early seventies. The innocence of childhood was being eroded. Young adults, saddened by the consequences of wrong and impulsive choices, were in the grip of hopelessness. In different ways, people started to find out that Redeemer Baptist Church was a group of people who were willing to help in times of crisis. Sometimes a family would seek to place a child, temporarily, in the care of a Redeemer family. The Church community was a safe place for young adults to grow into the responsibilities of freedom. The love in Christian community provided a place of healing for those with physical, emotional and relational difficulties. Community members were not trained experts offering professional help, but they spoke of God's love for the world and they stepped out in faith. They trusted God to give the resources needed to help those in need who were sent by friends, family or the NSW Government’s Department of Community Services. These elements of renewal and household ministry combined to impress on church members the need to live in geographical proximity. A community of some twenty five adjoining homes in the vicinity of the Castle Hill shopping centre (in suburban Sydney, NSW, Australia) was established as individuals and families spoke of God calling them into the ministry of the church. Most of those attending Redeemer Baptist Church services became members of a Protestant religious order known as the Ministry Order of Redeemer Baptist Church. Each member of the Ministry Order individually articulates their response to Jesus Christ's call to them to serve Jesus in this Christian community. As younger members of the church begin to mature, many have come to believe that God has a call on their lives to contribute to the ministries of Redeemer through becoming members of the Ministry Order. Members of the community meet together regularly for prayer and worship, and they support each other in times of hardship. There is mutual encouragement to live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Living in Christian community, members could easily meet to plan or work together on various ministries or projects that the Church was involved in from time to time and help was available for households that were involved in the sometimes demanding task of providing a boundary filled with love for those in need of healing. This church community in Castle Hill — which in many ways resembled the early Christian community described in the New Testament book fo Acts — was unique. After thirty years in Christian community together in Castle Hill, in 2001 all the members of the Ministry Order signed a document affirming their commitment, obligation and lifestyle as disciples of Jesus Christ. This occasion, and subsequent occasions when new members are welcomed into the Ministry Order, are approached with much prayer and celebrated with much joy. In 1981, as a natural progression of the Church's work with young people, Redeemer established the ministry of Redeemer Baptist School. The school started in the St David’s Presbyterian Church on Pennant Hills Road in Thornleigh. That site is now a large McDonald's restaurant. The School moved into the old Burnside Homes in North Parramatta in 1983. Redeemer Baptist School grew to occupy, under lease, all of the Burnside Homes along the northern side of Pennant Hills Road between James Ruse Drive and Masons Drive. In 1994, Redeemer Baptist Church was given the opportunity to consider purchasing the leased Burnside buildings. The purchase price was $11,750,000. This was not a simple undertaking for a relatively small, independent Church congregation. Church members simply did not have this amount of spare cash. In March 1995, the community met one Saturday morning in Sargood Hall at Redeemer Baptist School to see whether it was possible to buy the Burnside site. At that meeting all the members stood up, one person after another, to share how their lives had been revolutionised by God during the time together as a Church. All spoke of the need for the Burnside site as a School campus where the Church community could continue to share life and hope with successive generations of young people. On that morning everyone decided to sell their homes in Castle Hill as a development package and move the Church community into the vicinity of the School in North Parramatta. All who agreed on that course of action in 1995 helped to relocate the Church community in 2003 into the Burnside Gardens area, a small residential estate near the North Parramatta campus of Redeemer Baptist School. Just as when a family moves into a new neighborhood, this move for the Redeemer Baptist Church community opened up a new chapter but with the same rhythm of worship, prayer, work, encouragement, healing, education, right living and ministry. In 2004, some members decided to leave the church due to differences with the leadership. This led to a great deal of media coverage, and two years of legal dispute in the Supreme Court of NSW as the Church attempted to sue a media corporation for defamation. The action could not proceed because of a legal technicality. Some former members also attempted to sue the Church in the Industrial Relations Court of NSW. Christian Democratic Party leader, Fred Nile, spoke in support of the church in the NSW Legislative Council. Greens member, John Kaye, spoke against the church. All cases were settled and the church has not been the subject of negative media since then, rather, it has enjoyed a great deal of positive media due to the achievements of students at Redeemer Baptist School who have excelled in academics, athletics, and community outreach. The ministries of the Redeemer Baptist Church community are varied, including: ministry to school-aged children through Redeemer Baptist School; publishing a small range of theological texts and popular study guides through Redeemer Baptist Press; worship leadership alongside other Churches and at various Christian gatherings throughout Australia through Redeemer's Music Ministry; sharing hope and love with others in need through extended family households in Christian community; providing for physical and spiritual needs of indigenous communities both in Australia and PNG, including more than thirty years of support for the PNG Bible Translation Association. The Redeemer Baptist School named their library the N F Cannon Library in tribute to the founding principal and Church leader in August 2011.〔School Opens Library http://www.hillsnews.com.au/news/local/news/general/redeemer-baptist-school-opens-new-library/2266278.aspx〕 Noel Cannon died on 25 February 2012 with tribute being paid to Cannon in NSW Parliament.〔TRIBUTE TO PASTOR NOEL CANNON http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20120522013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Redeemer Baptist Church」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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