About us
About us
We are a community of people who, having been transformed by God’s grace, are seeking to build a community of hope in the Lake Macquarie region.
We do this through speaking the truth about God’s grace in a loving manner.
Our Story
We’re a local Presbyterian Church where the Good News of Jesus is taught and expressed in a loving community leading to real change.
We provide a stable, welcoming and caring community that teaches God’s word in a way that’s clear, meaningful and practical.
We seek to point others to the life-changing hope found only in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We always seek to let the Gospel truth of Jesus and God’s love shown in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection lead to real change in our lives. Our reformed, evangelical faith helps us see that real change is possible as God works through the power of His word and through his Spirit led people.
What We Believe
We are a Reformed, Evangelical, Missional church, or in other words we’re focussed around God’s Son, Jesus, the life-giving hope found in God’s Word, the Bible, and the life-changing work of God’s Holy Spirit in people’s lives.
Our core beliefs can be summarised in 9 statements:
Holy Scripture
We believe in the divine inspiration and infallibility of Holy Scripture and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
Holy Trinity
We believe there is one God in whom there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus is Lord
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternally existing, only begotten Son of the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
People are subject to God's judgement
We believe all people are sinful by nature since the Fall and are thereby justly subject to the judgement of God.
Grace
We believe that salvation from the penalty of sin is found only through the substitutionary atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his one true sacrifice that we can have forgiveness of sin and receive the gift of eternal life.
The Resurrection
We believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Holy Spirit
We believe it is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of sin and brings them to faith and repentance. Only through the work of the Holy Spirit is the believer able to live a holy life that is pleasing to God.
One Church
We believe in the one holy universal church, the body of Christ, to which all true believers belong.
Jesus will return
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ will return in person and that he will then bring the full consummation of the Kingdom of God.
These 9 statements are a summary of Evangelical or Bible-based Christianity.
The official statement of faith for the Presbyterian Church of Australia is the Westminster Confession of Faith which presents these truths in a more detailed form.
What we do
At the heart of what we do is four key categories:
Worship the Lord
We believe every moment of our lives should be to worship God, to know, honour and enjoy Him. As part of that, we have weekly gatherings to worship God together, including a traditional service at Swansea (8am), a family focussed service at Charlestown (9.45am) and youth oriented service at Charlestown (6pm). At these meetings we hear from Gods word, pray, sing and spend time together over morning tea or supper. Why not join us?
Teach the Word
During the week we run numerous home groups, which help us grow as we read the Bible and prayerfully encourage each other. Groups are on at various places near Charlestown, Wallsend, Eleebana and Swansea, at various times, days and evenings. We have mixed groups, men’s and women’s groups, as well as face-to-face and online options, so you’ll be sure to find a group that fits you.
Serve those in Need
We seek to serve the community that God placed us in through SRE (Scripture) in Schools, helping those with disabilities through the Crossroads ministry, providing food and practical help for those in need and in partnership with churches in rural NSW.
Reach the World
We want the whole world to know about the good news of Jesus and we do that by partnering with four missionary families in Australia, Africa, and Asia. We run a yearly mission trip to two communities in Vanuatu giving physical, relational and practical help and support and through our members we support a large number of children through Compassion and Operation Christmas Child.
