God says through the author of Ecclesiastes “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die: a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,” and just as there is a time to commence new works there is also a time to end a work.
That time has come for our Iranian congregation that meets on Saturday night who will be having their last service tomorrow night, Saturday 25th May. Let me give a brief account of how we have got to this point.
Iranian believers seeking baptism first started coming to the church in 2012, just after our building opened. Later, despite the good work being done by Ben K and others in running an easy English Bible study during the sermon on Sunday mornings, it became clear that we could not adequately disciple these believers without a trained Farsi speaking bible teacher. Session therefore employed the Rev Sam to teach the Scriptures to our Farsi speaking brothers and sisters. The congregation grew and moved from Friday to Saturday night ably supported by Christine L and her volunteers running the children’s ministry while their parents met. But tensions which related to how the service should be conducted and who should hold authority in the congregation and which had their origin in the initial discipling of many of the believers in their refugee camps were always present. Eventually they came to a head in the years before Covid with a split in the congregation and the departure of a large number of people to form their own independent Iranian congregation. A smaller group continued to meet here on Saturday night but then Covid hit. This was a particularly difficult time for many in the congregation who were either on temporary protection visas or who had not had their refugee status resolved and who as a consequence were not eligible for government support even as they were prohibited from going out to work. At this time, led by our deacons and particularly David C and Christine L, the congregation established our hardship fund which generously supported our Iranian brothers and sisters through this time, giving help with rent and food bills. The Iranian congregation returned after Covid but in smaller numbers and since that time, while some new faces have joined, they have struggled to sustain their service. They have had, despite encouragement and the provision of training, difficulty in meeting the Safe Church requirements for the care of the children during the service, with the responsibility falling to fewer and fewer volunteers and so the growing weariness of those volunteers.
In light of this, and the conviction of Session, Pastor Sam and myself that the needs of the children would be better met by their participating in the children’s programs on Sunday morning, a decision was made by the leadership of the Iranian congregation to end the separate Saturday night service and encourage the believers to either come to Bundy on Sunday morning at 11 or join the Sunday morning Farsi congregation at New Hope Baptist church where the children can also attend the larger children’s program. The plan for those Iranians who come at 11 is that they would join us all for the beginning of the service and then leave for a bible study conducted in Farsi by one of their leaders, Amir A who has served faithfully in the congregation for many years. The Pastors will support Amir in this work.
The decision of the Iranian leadership to shut the congregation is a courageous one for it involves loss for the adults – loss of singing and praying in Farsi where many do not have ease in English, loss of control of their own service, of the comfort of congregating with those who share your culture and experience. But we believe it is the right one. For many their visa status has improved thanks to changes made by the current Labor government which has opened up a path to permanent residence and citizenship for those recognised as refugees. Their place in Australia is more secure, and so the future of their children is more clearly in Australia, and all their education is in English. The discipling of their children needs to be in English, and they need the capacity to participate in the wider Christian Australian community and, like our own children, to form Christian friendships with peers.
What can we do to facilitate their joining us on Sunday morning?
First of all, we can all pray that they would keep growing in the faith and want to keep meeting together with believers from all different backgrounds. Pray particularly for Amir as he takes on this responsibility, for his wisdom, patience and perseverance.
Secondly, those of us who attend at 11 can be ready to welcome these believers. We have read in Colossians that in the church “There is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” [Col. 3:11]. Here is an opportunity in the thoughtful kindness we practice to show we know this to be still true today. Perhaps you can initiate conversation with an Iranian mum who might be in creche, or introduce yourself over morning tea. Learn names. Be consistent Sunday by Sunday in greeting those you get to know. And think about whether you can go beyond welcome on a Sunday. It takes time to develop trust, and patience to understand and bridge cultural differences, but for some of us there may be opportunity for deeper relationships.
Thirdly, think about serving in our Sunday school and support the nurture of the faith of all our children, including Iranian boys and girls who may come on Sunday.
When the Iranians first joined us and we hired Sam I always felt that this would probably only be for a season while they settled in to Australia and their lives became more established here. We can be grateful that the Iranian congregation has served its purpose in giving believers access to sound teaching and an opportunity for relationships with those with whom they had so much in common, and in supporting them through that difficult time in Covid.
It is time to close it but I am uncertain about how this closure will go. I hope and pray that for some it will be a new beginning as they participate in our larger Sunday gathering. I am uncertain though about how many will make that choice but I do know that if they choose to come and give our Sunday morning service a try how it goes on the first Sunday, June the 2nd, and then the subsequent three or four Sundays will be vital if they are to start feeling they are welcome and belong amongst us. So again, please pray that we would be able to effectively support Amir in his teaching, that the children would fit in and enjoy the children’s ministry, and that we would be kind and thoughtful people, and that our Iranian brothers and sisters would have the courage to persevere in a gathering with much that is foreign to them and eventually come to know like the rest of us the richness of fellowship with believers from many different cultures and backgrounds.
