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The Only Way Forward Is to Remember Who We Are

Jun 04, 2025
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The Only Way Forward Is to Remember Who We Are

Standing at the Crossroads

We’re standing at a crossroads. Not just as individual churches, but as a movement. And not just in theory—right now. In Tasmania. In our generation.

There’s a word from Isaiah that won’t leave me alone: “Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance, all who seek the Lord. Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined.” (Isaiah 51:1)

And Jeremiah says it even more starkly: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path and you will find rest for your souls.” But then the people respond, “No, that’s not the road we want.” (Jeremiah 6:16)

That’s the choice before us. And it’s not just abstract. It’s personal. Will we follow the road that leads to life—even if it costs us—or will we quietly choose comfort and drift?

This weekend marked my first since being appointed the incoming Mission Director for the Baptist Union of Tasmania. I spent it in Perth. The birthplace of the Baptist Union. A little church built on the faith of a woman most of us have never heard of—Mary Ann Gibson.

Faith That Built Something Real

Before we go forward, we need to look back. And what we find is both a warning and an invitation.

The very first Baptist church in Australia was here in Hobart. But it died. It became a Europe Car Rentals. The reason? It was part of a group called the Particular Baptists—strict and closed. They believed only those who agreed with them could take communion. and they believed evangelism wasn’t necessary because God had already chosen who would be saved. They turned inward. And eventually, they disappeared.

But another story was unfolding—not far away.

Mary Ann Gibson had come from Britain to marry William Gibson, a wealthy sheep breeder whose father had arrived in chains. William was clever with sheep, but it was Mary Ann whose faith would change everything. She loved Jesus. And she didn’t keep that to herself.

She opened her home, invited the whole town into worship, hosted ministers, fed strangers, and built a small chapel in Perth that would become the centre of a movement. When they couldn’t find a pastor, she sent her son all the way to England to speak to Charles Spurgeon.

That decision changed the course of Baptist history in Tasmania.

Perth Baptist Tabernacle
Perth Baptist Tabernacle

Spurgeon’s DNA and the Heart of the Movement

Charles Spurgeon didn’t care about pedigree or credentials. He cared about the call of God. “We never dreamed of making men preachers,” he said, “but we desired to help those whom God had already called.” He gathered ordinary people with extraordinary hearts and trained them—starting in his home, eventually through a college. He taught them logic, mathematics, preaching, pastoral care, and biblical languages. But most of all, he taught them to love Jesus and love people.

And that’s what Mary Ann wanted for Tasmania. Her son brought back Spurgeon’s first preachers, and they lit a fire. They planted churches in Blackwood Creek, Perth, Deloraine, Longford, Latrobe, Launceston, Sheffield, Devonport, Burnie—and yes, Hobart. Within 20 years, the map of northern Tasmania was dotted with churches born out of love for Jesus and the courage to respond to their time.

They weren’t just preaching sermons, they were shaping communities.

They held public lectures, like Spurgeon’s famous Sermons in Candles, where everyday objects became powerful metaphors for life with God. And they taught people to read— not just Scripture, but poetry and philosophy. They hosted debates on real-world issues— Should vaccines be mandated? Should women propose to men?—in 1903!

They created youth savings banks to teach financial wisdom; they responded to poverty. They wore blue ribbons to stand against alcohol abuse. And they weren’t afraid to try something new if it meant loving their neighbours better.

They weren’t just replicating the past. They were building something real, for their time, in their place.

The Hooks in the Pews and the Heart in the Walls

Today, 150 years later, you can still see the little hooks in the pews where Mary Ann and William hung their hats. Their Bible is still there, with William’s handwriting inside. You can walk the path they walked to church. And the spirit they lived with still echoes in the walls.

And it’s not just history.

Perth Baptist Church is alive. Last week, their Mother’s Day high tea was so packed they had to turn people away. Hundreds show up at Christmas for carols and their community picnic. They’re planning a kids club and Alpha course this July—not because they’re confident, but because they’re courageous. They’re stepping out.

And that’s the invitation for all of us.

Don’t just preserve the past. Don’t get lost in nostalgia. But also—don’t forget where we came from. Don’t forget what faith looks like when it’s real.

Leslie Newbigin, one of the most insightful missiologists of the last century, said churches fail in four ways:

  1. When they copy forms from another time or place, instead of responding to their own.
  2. When they become indistinguishable from the world.
  3. When they stand in constant judgment of their community, rather than seeing where God is already at work.
  4. When they refuse to change and become static, outdated relics of the past.

The Particular Baptists made all four mistakes. But the Gibsons didn’t. Perth Baptist Church didn’t. And we don’t have to.

The Church That Loves Jesus and Loves People

It’s easy to drift. It’s easy to focus on keeping the lights on or winning the theological argument. But the early Baptist movement in Tasmania wasn’t built on safety. It was built on sacrifice. On hospitality, on courage, on the belief that Jesus really is the way, the truth, and the life. Not just for the church, but for the world.

Hebrews 12 says, “Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down… and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus.”

For me, that cloud of witnesses includes Mary Ann and William Gibson. It includes the preachers from Spurgeon’s college. It includes every unknown saint who taught a child to read, fed a hungry neighbour, or quietly prayed for revival in a town no one else noticed.

We’re not here to play church, we’re not here to take up space.

We’re here to love Jesus. To love our communities. And to live our lives for the audience of One.

That’s the only way forward.

Matt Garvin, Citywide Levendale

Matt Garvin is the incoming Mission Director at TasBaptists. He is currently working as Senior Pastor of Citywide Baptist Church and sits on the Tasmanian Baptist Council. This post also appears on his blog here.

The Only Way Forward Is to Remember Who We Are

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