Parish Office: 11 Byron Street, BANNOCKBURN, Victoria, 3331, Australia
membership
Thinking about joining us?
The Anglican Communion is a world-wide denomination defined by its relationship with the Diocese of Canterbury in England, under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury (yet to be elected in the Church of England). In some places the Anglican Church is called the Church of England or the Episcopal Church, however, there are some churches called Anglican that do not come under the unity of The Archbishop of Canterbury. Here in Australia the focus of unity for the Anglican Church of Australia is the Primate, The Right Reverend Mark Short, Bishop of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulbourn.
In the Anglican Church each Diocese is a unit in its own authority led by a Bishop. In the states with a number of Diocese, the Bishop of the capital city is known as the Provincial Bishop and Metropolitan Bishop given the title of Archbishop. Here in the Diocese of Melbourne it is Archbishop Elect Ric Thorpe (to be installed in November 2025) in St Paul's Cathedral.
The Parish of St Paul's Inverleigh with St John's Bannockburn and the Church of the Epiphany Meredith has had a name change and is now called Golden Plains Anglicans still comprising those three worship centres. The Parish is within the Oodthenong Episcopal Area of Melbourne Diocese. This Area is overseen by The Right Reverend Bradley Billings, an assistant bishop to the Archbishop, and the Parish is led by The Revd Dr Timothy Smith.
The Anglican Church is a church rich in symbol and ritual, all designed to express the mystery of God. The belief is based on tradition (what has been revealed to us by those in the past including the Bible), our experience of God in life, and our reasonable reflection on both those things. Fundamental to our belief is the Bible as we have it in the Old and New Testaments, by which nothing can be taught as necessary for being right with God (salvation) if it is not supported by the Bible.
Worship in the Anglican Church is as varied as there are people in relationship with Jesus. Here, in this Parish, we acknowledge that people are moving into our communities from oher places where they have experienced, and would like to continue, worshipping in a particular way. Each of our worship centres will be provding different worship styles and we encourage you to choose the centre that meets how and when you want to express your relationship with God in worship.
Membership of the church is fundamentally about making a commitment firstly to Jesus Christ and also to the congregaation that is present. This means contributing financially to the needs and ministry of the parish and participating in the activities of the church in discipleship, worship, mission and service.
Assuming that you have made a commitment to Jesus, baptism is the rite of passage to become a member of the one Church. If you have already been baptised, but are from another denomination, then you are invited to be formally received into the Anglican Communion. Reception enables you to have all the privileges and participate in positions of reponsibilities in the church both locally and diocese.
Being baptised is the gateway to all other aspects of church life including sharing in Holy Communion. However, for those who have been baptised as infants, Confirmation is the opportunity to make a public confession of faith in Jesus before a Bishop during which you are prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit for ministry within Christ's church.
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Do you have more questions about faith and membership of the Church. Please contact us so we can answer your questions.