A Church Scatters. What next?

One of the more sad moments of my time in Bendigo was seeing View Hill Fellowship cease to exist.I pastored this Fellowship for all but the first 2 years and last 7 years of its 20 year life, pouring my life into it. It was sad to see the end of what was once a very vital church, pioneering the life of the Holy Spirit, which was taken up by others in the area. The end came with a whimper rather than a crash.

This has caused me to wonder about many things, not least of which was my role in the Fellowship. From the perspective of distance, both in time and retirement from Parish ministry, I can see things I would have done differently, such as move more slowly in some of the changes. However there are far more things to rejoice in as the ethos of VHF was taken up by other churches, not necessarily Anglican.I can see people that were equipped and released into their ministries, people brought to faith, and many released from sickness and other burdens in their life.

However the fact remains that the Fellowship reached the end of its life.

In prayer and meditation on this fact, several scriptures have stood out to me.

Act 8:1,4 NIV  ……. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  ……… (4)  Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Joh 12:24 NIV  Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Mat 28:18-20 NIV  Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  (19)  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  (20)  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."


The first church was in Jerusalem. All the Apostles were there together with those saved at Pentecost (3000+) and other converted Jews. It had grown large and complacent.

The last words of Jesus to this infant church were “Go and make disciples …”. They didn’t go. They stayed where it was comfortable.

It was not until there was persecution and Stephen was martyred that there was any real threat to them; certainly not any threat serious enough to scatter them. However now it was becoming impossible to remain. A “great persecution” broke out. People were suddenly faced with the seriousness of staying in Jerusalem. Their comfort had been shattered.

All except the Apostles were scattered far and wide.

It must have seemed like a real death to them. Once they were secure and comfortable. Now they are scattered and in fear of their life, especially now that Saul (later named Paul) was expending all his effort to root out and kill all members of this new sect, as he saw it. It was his religious duty to kill all he could who had joined this sect of the Nazarenes.

What are they to do now? In some way they remembered the words of Jesus about a grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying to itself before it gave a harvest of many grains. There were certainly many other things they remembered such as the call of Jesus to spread His Name wherever they went, and many other words of Jesus.

They were now forcibly scattered. They had indeed been forced to “GO”. Now they had to do the rest of what they knew they should have been doing all along. They began to multiply their own lives as they made disciples of all they contacted. The Word of God now spread rapidly throughout the region and beyond.

In their comfort they refused to “go and make disciples …”.  Now they were forced to go and obey Jesus.

I hope (and believe?) that this is what has happened to VHF. The Fellowship certainly became comfortable. In the last few years of my tenure there this was already becoming evident.

The scattering has begun, now that the Fellowship has been dissolved. It is to be hoped that each member of the Fellowship will act in the way the infant Church of Jerusalem acted.

There are two ways of seeing the closure

⦁    Loss
⦁    Opportunity

I see the closure very much in terms of an opportunity. Here is an opportunity to demonstrate that the church is not a building. It is a group of people committed to the task of disciplemaking by going wherever the Lord Jesus directs. It may take many forms: going overseas or to another location, going to your neighbours and friends, going into a task (ministry) that the Lord gives you, such as fervent prayer, or whatever. You need to find what GO means for you, but GO you must.

Now is the opportunity for VHF to complete the task given to it when Bishop Oliver Heyward authorised the Fellowship. It must be a “going” church, making disciples who can discover their own task within the Kingdom of God. VHF was never meant to be a place of rest and comfort. It was, and must be still, people of mission, with the fire of the Holy Spirit in their bellies, doing “Whatever It Takes.”

Where do you fit into this? Let me know your thoughts.