Friday 1 December 2017

St Luke's Ellinbank - the History


There has been a Church on the junction of Korumburra and Hazeldean Roads, Ellinbank, for nearly 100 years, in fact since 1915.
Records show that the site was occupied by an hotel from 1880 but it is unknown how long the Hotel operated or what became of the building. It became evident after St George’s Church was built that the site had indeed held an hotel, as the ground at the front of the Church constantly subsided - probably into the cellar of the hotel!
In 1914 the Church of England community decided that they had enough support to build a church in the district. The land for a church was donated by Mr Lionel Gilbert.
St George’s Church of England was built and officially opened on the 15th September 1915 by the first Bishop of Gippsland, Dr A. W. Pain and assisted by the Rector of Warragul, Rev  L. M. Nancarrow.
Golden Jubilee celebrations took place in 1965, with many former parishioners and clergy returning on that day. Three years later, on the 10th June 1968, St George’s Church was burnt to the ground. There was no official cause for the fire;  it was recorded “as may be an electrical fault”.
In October 1969 a Co-operating Committee was formed with the intention of building a new church. The committee comprised members from St.George’s Church, the Ellinbank Methodist Church and the Tetoora Road Methodist Congregation, which at that time met at the Tetoora Road Public Hall. The Committee decided that the new church be named St Luke's Anglican-Methodist Co-operating Church.
Building commenced soon after and the new church was officially opened on March 28th 1971 by the Bishop of Gippsland the Right Reverend  D. Garnsey, and the President of the Methodist Conference of Victoria Reverend H. MacKay, assisted by Reverends R. Elliot, J. Richards and N. Marshall.
On the 4th June 1971 – just 2 months later - the new St Luke's was destroyed by fire, this time as a result of an arson attack. Services continued in the old Methodist Church building at Ellinbank until the church was re-built, and re-opened on the 5th December 1971.
To finance the first building the committee canvassed the district for funds and also arranged for interest free debentures to be taken out. The debentures were repaid and the building was free from debt by the end of 1973.
After the second fire, the committee had to find another Insurance company.  St Luke’s is now insured with the Anglican Diocese of Gippsland.
The co-operating venture between the Anglican and Methodist, now Anglican and Uniting, churches was one of the first to be trialled, and worked well for Ellinbank for over 40 years.

On 30th April 2017, a service was held, of celebration and thanksgiving for over 100 years of ministry in this location, and services ceased.  The remaining members have joined other congregations around Warragul, Nilma, Darnum and Drouin.

To our great joy, the building was quickly taken up as the home for a new local gathering of God's people:  Warragul Presbyterian Church.  We give thanks that the name of Jesus will be proclaimed and honoured in this place into the future, and pray for God's blessing on their ministry. 

Friday 16 December 2016

Christmas Service at Ellinbank

Join us for Christmas Eve 
at St Luke's Ellinbank, 7pm 
A relaxed service of Holy Communion, 
with plenty of carols!
Big candles with word Noel
There will be no service at St Luke's 
on Christmas Day, 
or New Year's Day.  
We'll see you again on 
Sunday, 8th January, at 5pm.

Wednesday 7 December 2016

Evening Services at St Luke's

We've decided to try something new - meeting each week at 5pm, over the summer months.  While the days are long and warm, let's spend them in the beautiful Ellinbank outdoors, then meet for encouragement and fellowship at the end of the day.  Join us - everyone's welcome!

Sunday 4 September 2016

Ellinbank Special Service: Sunday, 2nd October 2016, 5pm

At our October meeting we look forward to welcoming Eric Wieckmann from CHIPS (Christians helping in Primary Schools) as our guest speaker. 

Eric is a committed Christian and was trained in evangelism with the Church Army in Sydney under Reverend Graeme McRobb.

Eric has focussed his ministry on children (and adults) who have suffered trauma, and has reached out to thousands of children in schools in Casey. He has also run programs for boys with behaviour problems and had success with sailing schools and windsurfing schools which build their self-esteem and change their behaviour.

The name CHIPS arose from the situation that many schools in the city of Casey are starved for parental involvement.  With both parents working to pay mortgages, etc., schools find it difficult to get parents to volunteer, so Eric has marshalled local Christian people, retirees and others to help schools with simple programs such as reading, library and administrative backup.

CHIPS also conducts “Life Gets Better” camps for children who have suffered trauma.  The purpose of these camps is simply to give children who have suffered trauma some happy memories. Each child has an allocated adult “buddy” who supports the child in all activities.  Buddies are trained and have the required Working With Children Checks for protection of the children.  Children are from broken families, or where other trauma exist, like abusive situations, or families where siblings have committed suicide.  CHIPS also conducts short day-away programs for children with disabilities.

CHIPS has been accused of secretly trying to convert children to Christianity, but their aim is not to evangelise, but to help children, regardless of their faith background;  many children helped are of other faiths.

At our meeting, Eric will be focussing on talking to adults.  We look forward to seeing you at Ellinbank on October 2nd.  Supper will be provided.