This issue of Heartlands features Elysia Cunningham, one of the Tasmanian Baptist Council northwest representatives. She is a psychologist from Penguin who attends Penguin Baptist Church.
I am a born and bred Taswegian, having been born in Hobart and living in various places around the state, including St Helens, Smithton, Launceston, and Hobart. Most of my life has been spent living along the North West Coast, with a foray to Launceston and Hobart for a few years while studying at university. I now live in Penguin with my husband, Warwick, along with our dog, three cats and goldfish. All my family also live in Penguin, which is lovely to have them close by.
A Christian Heritage
I was very privileged to grow up in a Christian family, with strong Christian faith back through the generations on both sides. I remember going to church on Sundays, going to Christian camps over the school holidays, and attending youth groups and Girls’ Brigades throughout my childhood and teen years. All this helped me to develop my own faith at a young age, around seven years old.
ABOVE: Elysia with Husband, Warwick.
I remember asking my mum how to ask God into my heart and then kneeling behind our couch, for a bit of privacy in a busy house, to pray for God to become a part of my life.
I now attend Penguin Baptist, a small church on the hill. Being a small church, I assist in most roles within it, speaking, leading, communion, cleaning, morning tea and so on. I love the sense of family that comes with a small church, along with the opportunities to learn and grow in multiple ways.
Working with Others
In my day-to-day life I work as a clinical psychologist. It’s not what I would call an easy job, often leaving me mentally exhausted at the end of the day. My poor husband then must put up with me being short-tempered by the time I get home – it’s something I am continuously working on! Many days I have to pray to God to “give me the words to say”, as I sit with people through some of the toughest times in their lives.
I’ve worked in various places as a psychologist, including schools, forensic mental health, and private practice. In 2024 year I ventured back to working for the Department of Health in the Diabetes Service, a space close to my heart after my diagnoses with Type 1 Diabetes as an 11-year-old.
Living with Chronic Disease
A few years ago, I never would have wanted to spend my days working with diabetes, as it wasn’t something I got along well with in my own life. But now I feel I can sit comfortably with a chronic disease and help others to learn to do that too.
When I was first diagnosed, I remember crying on my bed and asking God why he had to give it to me. It felt unfair I was lumbered with this disease, when no one else in my family had it. It took nearly 30 years to reach a place of acceptance of diabetes; not that I blamed God that whole time, as I quickly came to realise that God doesn’t want us to suffer but suffering is a part of the world as it currently is. I have been on a journey with God as I’ve worked this through.
In Awe of God
Despite the suffering in the world, there is also beauty throughout. Living in Tasmania, where we can enjoy the beauty of creation all around, is such a blessing. It leaves me in awe of God and helps to restore my soul!
The Big Penguin at sunrise.
Short ‘n’ Sweet
I am looking forward to…having holidays soon.
I am worried about…time going too quickly while I’m on holiday.
I‘m confident that… nothing is impossible for God!
I am joyful about…summer and sunshine.
I would like to change…the world!
I‘m at my best when…I’m asleep (or so many people would say!)
Here’s our end of year wrap from Baptist churches around Tasmania. This time we hear from Latrobe Church, Ulverstone Baptist, City Baptist, The Point, Riverlands, Citywide, Claremont and Hobart Baptist Church.
NORTHWEST
Latrobe Church
During National Baptism week, Latrobe Church was thrilled to see three people baptised on Sunday, 20 October. Andrea, Felix and Sarah all publicly declared Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour as they followed His example through the waters of baptism. It was a wonderful service and a blessing to everyone who was there.
Ulverstone Baptist Church
Pastor Louis’ sabbatical Over the months of July to September, Pastor Louis took eight weeks of sabbatical leave. This extended time away from ministry was for the purpose of rest, soul nourishment, a deeper relationship with the Lord, family renewal and a clearer understanding of God’s vision for the Church.
UBCs Operation Christmas Child Once again UBC participated in packing boxes for Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child. With help from our Kids Church children, we were able to send off a total of 230 boxes.
Carols by Candlelight Collective This year an invitation has been extended from the Apex club of Ulverstone to the combined churches of Ulverstone to present a program at the Carols by candlelight. Collectively, as believers in Christ, we are excited and honoured to have this opportunity and to be able to bless our town during this season of celebration and joy. Several of our UBC members are involved in the program with momentum and excitement building.
UBC in the Christmas Parade UBC will also be participating in this year’s Christmas parade. Our float will represent the movie “Inside Out” with the words “Jesus is your source of joy this Christmas” (Joy being the main character of the movie) on each side.
Christmas Events The Christmas Eve service will be held at 5.30pm. The evening will feature carol singing, musical items and a message of hope from Pastor Louis.
The Christmas Day service: UBC will host another Christmas day lunch for those in our community who are either alone or in need.
NORTH
City Baptist Church
City Baptist members enjoyed participating in Walk the World (Baptist Mission Australia initiative) in November, intentionally praying for those in the city of Launceston.
The BDC (Building a Discipling Culture) intensive brought City Baptist together with other churches in Tassie, to learn about simple and reproducible discipleship.
In December, Friday Frolics lunch provided a great opportunity to gather together outside of structured Sunday services.
Christmas Events City Baptists’ Christmas service will be on Sunday 22 December.
On Christmas Day, a casual Christmas gathering will be held at 9.30am in a congregants home. Contact Anthea (antheamaynard1@gmail.com) for details.
The Point Baptist Church
In October, the marriage seminar “Building a Better Marriage” with Bruce Challoner (formerly of Focus on the Family) went really well with members from the community attending. This was part of the Men’s Support Mission visit from Melbourne who earlier in the week shared testimonies and music. The testimonies from the men were an important step for one man listening, who decided to follow Jesus the following Sunday – praise God.
The Point is still looking for a part-time pastor with youth focus since previous youth leader Dempsey Horton returned to Texas. It has been wonderful to see many young people getting involved in church services
Riverlands Community Church
Building Discipleship Culture Intensive As Baptists we have spent the past ten years grappling with the necessity of change for our systems and missional strategy, acknowledging the wealth of experience we have in our congregations, but also noting the lack of people who can carry on that experience. Building Discipleship Culture is a system designed to equip people to simply share the Gospel within their context and develop those around them into coaching clusters so they not only feel equipped but get the strategic lens for identifying people who may be open to the Spirit of God in their lives.
The intensives for this program took place on 28-29 October at the Riverlands Community Church. Headed up by the team at Crossway Baptist in Melbourne and including teams from around the Launceston Baptist churches and Kingsborough Family Church, the two-day intensive was focused around how to best put the mission of God into the hands of the regular people of a church. This group is not focused around making an academic statement or a professional development course but is actively seeking to build up church members so they can best meet the spiritual needs of those around them.
This was an edifying time for those gathered discussing the key tool of the Bible Discovery Method and how it integrates with mission, curating a church culture to being one that is accepting and acceptable to all people, and encouraging one another as we seek the Kingdom of God in our communities. More intensives will happen next year, the nearest one being in March, where we intend to dive deeper into these subjects. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to look forward to God’s kingdom coming into the lives of new people.
BDC (Building a Discipling Culture) intensive
Longford Kids Week Children’s week is a fantastic opportunity for churches with Childcare programs or child focused endeavours to join with the community in celebrating and engaging with the local children and families. Held on the fourth Wednesday of October events across the country all base themselves around the theme ‘Children have the right to a clean and safe environment.’
For the second year of our participation with Children’s week, Riverlands Stay and Play, in co-operation with Longford Primary school’s Launch into Learning (LiL) Program, put on an obstacle course event for parents within the community. With several church members stopping by, families and kids all participating in the obstacle course and other games and toys in our children’s area. It was a wonderful day in community with families and friends we don’t normally have at our Stay and Play.
The kids had the opportunity to test their climbing, balance, and gross motor skills in a safe well watched environment. Given our age group is between 2 and 5 the cleanliness was limited, but all messes were easily dealt with! These events are only possible through the support of Playgroups Tas, Longford Primary’s LiL and the organisational skills of the team at Stay and Play. Thank you to all those people who do this work.
Christmas Events Riverlands Christmas Carols service for the community is on Saturday, 14 December at 5.30pm, followed by supper.
Christmas Day service is 9.30am
SOUTH
Citywide
Big Day Out Instead of our annual camp this year, we held a Big Day Out on 12 October, hiring the premises and grounds of Emanuel Christian School. The weather smiled upon us, the Nepali team won the annual soccer match, and all enjoyed great food, fun and games. Matt Sharples (Head of Tas Christian Churches and Pastor of Abundant Church in Lauderdale) was guest speaker, bringing God’s word to challenge and bless us.
Operation Christmas Child We dedicated our service on 20 October to packing and praying over 250 shoe boxes to be distributed to children in Ukraine, Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia.
Month of Prayer and Fasting in November November was set aside for a strong focus and challenge to be praying and pressing into Jesus more – both personally to grow our relationships with him, and corporately for the church. We had four special encouragements for our people – Pray daily and specifically beyond our normal quiet times – Fast one day a week – Give, reassess our giving of money and time – Invite a non-Christian to church each week. As we submitted ourselves to spiritual growth and sacrificial discipline we are trusting God to speak into us and effect some breakthrough for us.
Visit of Annie Seeba Annie is the Founder and Director of REHOCH (Renewed Hope Children’s Home) in Zambia. This is a mission focus Citywide has had now for over a decade – supporting the children in their education and living, as well as helping with building projects and women’s industries. Citywide sponsored Annie to visit Hobart and share her faith journey and her work for God with us.
Support from Baptist Mission Australia We are delighted to report that BMA has extended grant support money towards our Nepalese Outreach Programs, and Jivan Thapa has joined the staff of BMA. Our Nepalese congregation is super active in meeting, supporting and sharing Jesus with all the Hindu people who come to Hobart. They run a free Learner Driver Mentoring program, which helps many new arrivals to obtain their licence and thereby be equipped to seek work or attend studies. They also run a community bus in support of new arrivals, helping them from airports, in housing, in local community services, in outings for the elderly, etc. Another active area is in running a very popular soccer competition. All these activities come with information about the love Jesus has for them.
Youth and Children-led service On Sunday, 24 November the kids and youth led the church service for us. They did such an amazing job of walking us through ‘weakness’ and how God’s strength can be seen in us as we submit to him.
Citywide Celebration Dinner We will hold our annual Celebration Dinner on 30 November, again with thanksgiving and honour to God for all he does for and in us. Annie Seeba was our guest speaker this year.
Our Recycled Christmas A local artist more used to working with sculptured wood and an engineer who does creative lighting for a hobby teamed up to produce a unique Christmas Tree and stage display out of recycled materials for the annual Carols service on 15 December. 610 cans make our massive 12-foot tree, with each can boasting individually controlled LED lights. As if that wasn’t enough, the two enlisted the help of forty volunteers to construct hundreds of meters of paper chain half a dozen smaller Christmas trees for the stage.
Christmas Events Thursday, 12 December – Christmas Shop, in partnership with Mission Australia. We set up, stock and invite eligible families in our local area to come and ‘buy’ (with tokens) items for their families at Christmas time.
Saturday, 7 December – Carols in the Park at Lenah Valley. We give some lead to the community carols in the park.
Saturday, 14 December – Carols at the (Bellerive) Beach. Joining with all the Eastern Shore Churches we together put on the Eastern Shore Carols.
Sunday, 15 December – Special Carols Service – a combined service at Mornington, Levendale Lunch and Carols from 12 noon.
Saturday, 21 December – Christmas in the Paddock – this is Citywide’s special gift to our local community in Mornington – a time of fun and togetherness with the neighbourhood.
Wednesday, 25 December – A short Christmas Service keeping Christ at the centre of Christmas, held at both Lenah Valley and Mornington at 10am.
Claremont Baptist Church
What a wonderful time of blessing at Claremont! There has been a steady flow of new people bringing with them their talents and experience. How wonderful to grow the Kingdom together.
September Through our combined efforts, we were able to pack 40 well stocked Samaritan Purse boxes.
October We held what is now an Annual Plant and Craft Sale. The sale of tomato plants, other vegetable seedlings, succulents and annuals is now anticipated and well supported by the local community. The weather was kind to us, so we were able to set up the sausage sizzle BBQ and Devonshire Tea tables in the sunshine. This gave a wonderful atmosphere and opportunities for chats with both church friends and locals from our neighbourhood. Everyone knows everyone in Tasmania and many old friends were reunited!
Baptism Week We were thrilled to baptise Anna Clark and Jack Murtagh. We look forward to these two young people growing in faith and fellowship.
November We held a Christian Diwali Service. A truly special service with Hindi and Malayalam hymns and even some dancing followed by a traditional Indian food lunch. In Acts 17, Paul connected with the Athenians by using their own language and cultural references to reveal the truth about God. In the same way we used the concept of light over darkness to point to the true light, Jesus, and to share His love with others in a meaningful way. There were a few visitors. It also helped us as a congregation to gain more knowledge of the traditions of some of the newer members of our church who come from diverse cultural backgrounds.
This month we will have a special service for the Persecuted Church with a focus on the Voice of the Martyrs.
Christmas Events Drive by one evening to see the Nativity Scene as you do the rounds to view the Christmas Lights in Hobart.
Christmas Carol Celebration is on Saturday, 21 December at Claremont Baptist from 6:30pm. Sing along as the Christmas Story is presented in Scripture and Song.
Christmas Day Service is 9:30am
Hobart Baptist Church
It was wonderful to celebrate Hobart Baptist Church’s 140th anniversary together as a church family, with an historically themed service with well-known hymns accompanied by the organ and choir along with stories from the rich history that HBC uniquely holds. It’s exciting to think about the opportunity HBC has ahead in the next era. What will they be talking about at the 200th anniversary celebration?
HBC Youth & Young Adults (aged 16-25) have started meeting from 6-7:30pm each Saturday night at HBC and ‘The Battery’ prayer meetings continue Thursdays 6-7pm at HBC in the Soundy Lounge.
Christmas Events
75th Anniversary for ‘Empty Christmas Tree’ Sunday 15 December, the Empty Christmas Tree will be up during the church service ready to receive gifts. This long-standing HBC tradition , is in fact now in its 75th year! Attendees are invited to bring a gift, such as a book, toy, game, clothing, non-perishable food item, gift card, voucher or financial donation to place under the tree. Gifts should be new, unwrapped and can be for all ages. Come and experience the joy of giving.
All gifts and donations are delivered to Hobart City Mission for distribution.
Also on Sunday 15 December, HBC will hold a Christmas Market in the foyer during morning tea after the service. Donations of baked goods and Christmas treats welcome. Money raised will boost donations to the needy through Hobart City Mission.
Andrew Turner of Crossover writes about the remarkable story of Florence Young in his Sacred Agents blog.
Recently at a gathering of Baptist leaders from around the Pacific, I was privileged to meet Eric Maefonea and Thomas Weape, leaders of the Baptist movement in the Solomon Islands (the South Seas Evangelical Church). They spoke of their movement of over 600 churches, and 100,000 members. One in seven Solomon Islanders is a SSEC member. ‘But did you know how we got started?’ asked Eric.
Who is Florence Young?
In 1882, Florence Young was 25 years old and still a relatively new Christian.
Invited to visit her brothers, who’d bought a sugarcane plantation in Bundaberg, she was ready to set off from Sydney when a couple of friends offered to pray for her. They all knelt together, and after her friends had prayed, she went to stand up. ‘Why don’t you pray, too?’ they asked.
This was not something she was confident to do. In fact, quite the opposite. She desperately tried to put words together, but nothing would come out, and after a couple of agonisingly awkward minutes, one friend finished for her.
Being A Blessing
She journeyed north feeling acutely embarrassed, but also unable to shake off of one her friend’s prayers – asking God to make her a blessing to everyone she saw on the plantation.
On arriving, she saw a housekeeper with four young children and decided they must be her mission field. She offered to teach them Bible stories – and even managed to pray in front of them! But she realised that she also saw 80 indentured Melanesian labourers, rough, uneducated, without English, and most of all, without the gospel. Should she offer to help them too?
To her surprise, ten showed up to her first lesson, where she used a chrysalis as an object lesson to describe the transformation God brings. It took weeks to get beyond ‘God – so – loved’ in her Bible lesson. But already more and more workers were attending, some returning to learn every evening. Gradually friends and connections joined in the work, which spread to other plantations and towns.
When the Federal Government eventually outlawed such overseas labour schemes, over 2,000 workers had been baptised and taught the Bible essentials!
Undeterred
But would they keep their faith upon returning to the Solomons? To find out, she bought a boat, didn’t she?
And to her delight she found that the faith was not merely being kept, but shared. Churches and mission stations multiplied – 179 by her last visit – despite the very serious dangers of disease, ship-wreck and cannibalism.
It’s a great story, worth reading in more detail. I’ve not even mentioned Ms Young’s two stints in China and one nervous breakdown. But I love how powerfully God works through even the weak and shy – especially through them – when they pay attention to the sacred agent’s assignment to be a blessing to all they see. And to really seeing!
Who do you see?
Andrew Turner is Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. Photo: missiology.org.uk
Andrew Turner of Crossover reflects in his Sacred Agents blog.
Sacred agents have a strong sense of responsibility – or at least we should have. I’m sure you’ve noticed how many of Jesus’ stories are about whether agents will be found faithful when an absent master returns. So we have an eye on that day as we go about doing what we can with what’s been entrusted to us.
But there may be times and seasons where we feel we’re not kicking goals or making much of a difference. It may simply be that the Spirit is giving us a season of rest between assignments – in that case resting is the assignment we’re to be faithful with! But still there are times when we feel we’re just spinning our wheels, and not bearing much fruit (like some bogged and barren motorised citrus tree).
Multiplying Talents
What to do with our talent in such a season? The bottom line, says Jesus, is to put it in the bank and at least make some interest. Better than burying it, anyway. But if you’re looking to do a bit better, here’s an idea:
Find someone who is bearing ministry fruit, and help them out.
One of Jesus’ lesser-known sayings is this: ‘Whoever receives a prophet because they are a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous person because they are a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because they are my disciple, truly I tell you, they will never lose their reward.’ Matthew 10
Doing Laundry for the Kingdom
It makes simple sense. If you do something practical to enable someone with a fruitful ministry to produce even more fruit, then that extra fruit happens because of your action. If Billy Graham came to town and was planning to do a day of laundry, wouldn’t it be a no-brainer to do it for him, to enable him one extra speaking event? You might bring dozens of people into the kingdom just by standing in front of a washing machine.
But it takes some humility, doesn’t it? It might be tempting to look at Billy and think, ‘When was the last time you hung out washing, Bill? This will be good for you. And give me some platform time for a change.’ It’s only when we realise that it’s not about us, that all the talents belong to the Master, and all that matters is that his ministry bears fruit, that we’ll open our eyes to see the creative opportunities we have – even when it feels like nothing’s happening.
What ministries are flourishing in your neck of the woods? And how might you get a piece of their reward?
Andrew Turner is Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. Photo by Scottsdale Mint on Unsplash
