In contrast
to the exclusivity of the Particular Baptists and the relative grandeur of
their church, a General Baptist congregation was established in the valley
below St Kilda Hill amidst poor working-class homes. General Baptists
believe Christ died for everyone. For thirty-five years, this group met in
halls rented from various organisations such as the Australian Natives
Association, and in the St Kilda Town Hall. In 1907 a new minister, acting
against the advice of the church leaders, bought a block of land in his
own name. Eight years later, a Sunday school hall was built on the block.
The foundation stone was laid by George Doery, the president of the
Baptist Union of Victoria, on 27 March 1915. W. Rain was the architect and
H. R. Stewart was the minister. The building was intended as a precursor
to the church that would be built when there was sufficient money.[1]
There never was enough money — the congregation consisted mainly of poor
workers and Baptists rejected any government assistance for the
construction of churches.
Although
built as a hall, the simple red brick church had a stained-wood cathedral
ceiling and a high pulpit, although it lacked an organ or stained-glass
windows. The builder was a Mr Brett. His son Mervyn built the adjoining
back hall some years later, which has been used by many youth groups and
play groups over the years. After World War II the numbers declined
dramatically and Mervyn’s daughter Edna was one of the stalwarts who
sought to keep the church open, serving as church secretary and treasurer
and running a youth group.[2]
By the 1980s the congregation had had no regular minister for more than
twenty years and relied on a series of student and interim ministers to
survive. The church remained open and determinedly held a morning and
evening service where a handful of worshippers would attend. Members also
developed a special relationship with Scottsdale Special Accommodation
House at 51 Alma Road, holding a monthly service there for the residents.
In 1981 Dr
Peter Broughton agreed to an interim ministry of three months and remained
for three years at the ailing church. Despite a primarily elderly
membership of only about fifteen, they were ‘low in numbers but not in
spirit’. Broughton observed young couples would come to services but drift
away because there were no other people their age. The church was about to
be shut down when he persuaded the church leaders to acquire the adjacent
block of flats with the idea that this would attract young families who
were saving to buy their own homes. Funds came from the sale of the old
manse and its very large block of land, which had occurred in the early
1970s ‘at a give-away price’.[3]
The congregation was also assisted by the Legion of Donors, a fund to help
struggling churches, which covered the cost of renovating the flats. It
was an attempt to attract and retain young families and thereby revitalise
the congregation.
In 1984 Tim
Costello was called to the St Kilda Baptist church. He and his wife
Merridie had been studying theology at Rueshlikon College in Switzerland
and expressed their interest in church-planting or re-building in a
neglected part of Melbourne. Costello rebuilt the congregation, opened a
drop-in centre and a legal service for those for whom the law is normally
inaccessible. Elected mayor of St Kilda Council in 1993, he gained a
reputation as a champion of local democracy. In November 1999, Costello
became National President of the Baptist Union of Australia. One of his
books, Streets of Hope: Finding God in St Kilda,describes
his mission in St Kilda and the characters who made the ministry so
special — and challenging. By 1988 the church had grown to capacity with
more than 100 people involved in home groups. This created its own
problems, trying to absorb new people and integrating young people into an
elderly congregation.
Some of these
‘old timers’ were fondly described by Merridie Costello in a booklet
marking the couple’s ten years at the church and in Costello’s Streets
of Hope. They represent the ‘battlers’ who struggled financially and
were often socially disadvantaged, yet were sustained by their faith and
dedicated to their church and their community. Freda Ellingham had been
the church pianist and attended the church all her life and lived for more
than eighty years in the one street, Inkerman Street. Barbara Ramsay
worked tirelessly for the church as a musician, running the Ladies Drop-in
and helping at the Op Shop. Ces Swinson served as a deacon and spent much
time at the Op Shop and in helping others. Ada Jackson was born in 1910
and spent most of her life in St Kilda, attending the Baptist Church with
her family since 1916. She loved being part of the tennis team. (The
tennis court adjoined the church and was replaced by the flats.) Ada was
married in the Baptist Church in 1935 but was widowed and raised her three
young children alone. In the 1970s she was heartbroken at the thought the
church would close and watched the developments of the 1980s with
enthusiasm. She enjoyed the friendship of Prime Timers, one of the groups
established. Having vowed never to leave St Kilda, she collapsed and died
there on 26 June 1992.[4]
Important
initiatives that have been part of the revitalisation of the Baptist
presence in St Kilda include Machaseh House (the name is Hebrew for
refuge) at 86 Brighton Road, Elsternwick, bought in 1986. This was
envisaged as a community house for people who needed special
accommodation. It now houses secondary students who need supportive
accommodation. An Op Shop called ‘Everything But’ was opened in May 1988
at 162 Carlisle Street. By mid 1994 it had earned over $90,000. The House
of Hope, the West St Kilda Baptist Mission, is located in a disused
Uniting Church manse at 1 Princes Street. It was formerly run by the
Presbyterian Church and called ‘Life Exchange’. It was developed as a
drop-in centre with living quarters for the co-ordinator but closed in
1997.
In
1995 the St Kilda Baptist Church took responsibility for the management of
Scottsdale, a large rooming house in Alma Road. This was converted to a
Supported Residential Service (SRS) and has been managed by the church
community ever since. It is the only not-for-profit SRS in Victoria and
provides housing for nineteen adults with psychiatric disability. The
residents have high needs of support and supervision. Most are living with
a psychiatric illness and require significant medical and domestic
assistance. The church community provides a range of volunteer assistance
and a board of management.
Digby Hannah
was appointed pastor in 1998 and is now serving his fifth year in this
capacity. The church maintains its commitment to social justice principles
and continues to understand Jesus as having modelled a way of life whereby
power is shared with those who are weak and dignity ascribed to those on
the margins of society. Many people who first joined Tim and Merridie
Costello during the 1980s remain in the church community. Many of these
people are married with young families and have settled in an inner suburb
that has now become thoroughly gentrified. The tensions of living in such
a materialistic and upwardly mobile community are evident within the
church community. The challenge to maintain a commitment to the
disadvantaged within this locality is as difficult and as pressing as
ever. Under the church’s auspices, Machaseh House continues to provide for
four teenagers who would otherwise be homeless and Scottsdale continues to
care for people with psychiatric illness. The church also conducts an
evening called ‘Saturday night mayhem’ designed to provide social
opportunities for intellectually disabled young people.[5]
[1]
Tim Costello, Streets of Hope: Finding God in St Kilda, Allen &
Unwin and Albatross Books, St Leonards, 1998, pp. 77-9.