HISTORY

At Bexley, Christian believers have gathered since February 1954.

It was in the year 1946, a time of social change as the war drew to an end. The military forces were being demobilised from wartime activities and society prepared for the challenges of peacetime. As a city, Sydney (and its suburbs which ended at Sutherland to the south, Bankstown and Parramatta to the west and Hornsby to the north) was on the eve of expansion which has continued to this day.

It was then, that a small group of Christians came together from four assemblies which existed closer to the city centre, and met for the inaugural meeting in the Bexley District Band Hall on Lord’s Day 15th December 1946. A Sunday School had been previously conducted in the Band Hall for some time prior to this Lord’s Day gathering. Over time this little assembly of faithful believers grew with others joining - some from other assemblies and others being local residents who were saved and added to the assembly testimony.

It was not long before that the Saints were led towards a common desire for a more suitable venue and with the approval from the Rockdale Council on 18th June 1952, a suitable site for the building of a new meeting place was bought. There was an atmosphere of expectancy, joy and willingness as the land of Lot 28, Abercorn Street, Bexley was surveyed and cleared and construction of the Gospel Hall by assembly members was commenced. The assembly met for the first time in the new hall on 14th February 1954 and later to celebrate the opening of the Gospel Hall, a meeting was held on Friday evening 9th April 1954 for praise and thanksgiving. By the grace of our Lord further extensions of the Hall were completed in 1961.

Since those early days, the believers have met together believing that the building is not the church, but the people who meet there are the ’ecclesia’, or assembly, who observe only two ordinances, the Believers Baptism as taught in the New Testament, and the Breaking of Bread or the Lord’s Supper on the first day of every week.