Our Community has done various things throughout its history, and at one stage we had three properties and as many as 150 people who fellowshipped each week. We began because of the response of one woman to Matthew 25:35-40
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
She opened her home to people in need. Later a formalised program called Training School ran in the 1970s and 1980s at Bundeena House: this provided a live-in course in practiced Christian living. Since the mid-to-late 1980s we have utilised Bundeena House for our hospitality ministry which is another expression of our original calling.
One aspect of our life together is that we do not have a clergy person or ordained minister or pastor. Originally, our Community did not set out to be a church, or to offer worship services and teaching. But traditional churches were ill equipped to accept people in need, and so worship and teaching series began. People who joined the fledgling ministry brought with them gifts of teaching and music and service-leading.
