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The Early Years The Redcliffe Christian Assembly commenced in 1937 in the home of Mr and Mrs Griffiths, after whom it is reputed Griffith Road, Scarborough, was named. Another couple, Mr and Mrs Moore were meeting with them, both previously being in Conference Hall Assembly, Brisbane. Others who later joined them included Mr and Mrs Plastow and Mr and Mrs Sid Jones. The Assembly later moved to the CWA Hall Redcliffe, for collective worship and a Sunday School was commenced there. Further expansion to Kippa Ring with a pioneering work in that residentially developing area occurred in 1964, meeting in the Kippa Ring Progress Association Hall on the current K-Mart site. A property was then purchased in Ashmole Road Redcliffe, when the Church’s first permanent meeting place was built by voluntary labour and opened in October, 1967 and continued there until 1991. There has been interface with hundreds of families in the Redcliffe area during this time. Many who have been associated with the Assembly have undertaken full-time Bible College training and there have been those who have been called to local and overseas mission work. God's Plan for RCA During the 1980’s a vision for expansion was beginning to develop for the Redcliffe Christian Assembly situated in the centre of suburban Redcliffe on about a quarter of an acre. With a congregation of around 120 people and a desire to be more effective in our local community we began to prayerfully explore ways and means of providing for community-felt needs such as Christian education and social welfare to make our church more relevant to the broader community. We were particularly challenged by the example of some of the pioneers of the Brethren Movement such as Anthony Norris Groves recognised as the father of faith missions and George Mueller after whom we named our Christian College. During Mueller’s lifetime (1806—1898) he exercised faith and trust in God in building five large orphanages in Bristol, England, caring for thousands of orphans. He also founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institution which resulted in the spread of the gospel world-wide, as well as the establishment of approximately 80 day schools. It was George Mueller’s greatest desire that his record of God’s faithfulness to him would encourage other believers to develop faith and trust in God like his own, the faith that works by love and purifies the heart, the faith that takes hold of God’s strength and is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. In 1986, twenty hectares of land was purchased with the assistance of a loan from a Christian organisation and an interest free loan from one of the church families who had sold their home. The Lord honoured this step of faith and although we only had a bank balance of approximately $5,000 when we started, the entire property is valued today at more than $30M. Even our local Redcliffe mayor often referred to our campus as the miracle on Morris Road. Foundations Laid for Rothwell Campus Mueller College commenced in 1990 in rented accommodation while the first building was being constructed. In 1991 we moved out of suburban Redcliffe into our new premises at Rothwell. This new building was officially opened by Professor J Rendle-Short whose great grandfather was the first teacher that George Mueller employed for the first day school that Mueller established. There were more than 11,000 voluntary man hours of labour that went into this first building project (Block A). Assisted by Mobile Mission Maintenance under the supervision of our builder, Mr Graeme Knott, many in the Assembly worked every Saturday and gave up holidays or took long service leave. Others also joined in from other Assemblies inspired by what God was doing in our midst. The faith and prayers of many over the years were starting to become evident, especially when we saw the way that God was supplying the needs, materials, workers, finance, strength and support. As the needs arose, God supplied. Faith is never so beautiful or obvious as when it has on its working clothes. The foundational principles on which this whole ministry has been established have been our desire to learn to walk by faith rather than sight, being constant and faithful and vigilant in prayer and sacrificially serving the Lord with gladness of heart, principles that throughout history have been so well exemplified by people such as George Mueller. Recently, fifteen years after stepping out in faith, we received a special letter of thanks from a well-respected professional person in the Redcliffe Community, stating that there is consistent feedback from the community at large that “Mueller College in its preparedness to take more at risk and special needs students, also provides the additional high level integrative team management and support systems necessary for the students’ whole development, and for the support of their families. This is truly a credit to the school and a wonderful testimony to living out your vision and the ministry of Christ in its fullness in this city, through your spiritual and educative learning practices. It is also a solid foundation on which those who do not know Christ are prepared to investigate, come and accept the offer to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’, especially through your ministry and service provision, although they would not initially recognize this is what they are experiencing. I can testify to families expressing this to myself personally.” Church Growth The Church has more than quadrupled in size with a significant part of that growth being conversion growth as a result of being far more relevant to the broader community. As a Church we have always been challenged to be not only locally focused but to endeavour to see the bigger picture of global evangelism. To this end we have been amazed at the open doors the Lord has placed before us, especially through inter-school exchanges with the South Pacific Islands, Japan and more recently China. We recently had nineteen Chinese teachers with us for three weeks and capitalised on a wonderful opportunity of reaching out to them with the Gospel as we billeted them and shared our lives with them. We know of many who have become Christians as a result of this interchange with the students. Other ministries that have come on line since moving ahead with our Church’s vision, include a Kindergarten and Child Care Centre that ministers to more than 120 families, the Peninsula Palms Retirement Village, comprising 83 independent living units, an Aged Care Residential Facility accommodating 60 people, a Christian Counselling Centre, Mueller College of Ministries (Bible College) with more than 30 students enrolled each year, and the Mueller Performing Arts Centre which will seat about 1500 people. Our desire is to use it as a Christian Convention Centre facilitating the Lord’s work globally. When complete, It will also include a hospitality facility capable of serving up to 500 guests. From RCA to MCC With the transition of RCA’s church services to the new Mueller Performing Arts Centre, we reviewed our name and brought it into line with our location and with community perceptions. Thus, from the beginning of 2009, Redcliffe Christian Assembly became Mueller Community Church. Where to from here We have always been challenged to reproduce the work elsewhere and to this end we have purchased 33 acres at Morayfield approximately 15 kilometres further out in our hinterland, and plan God willing, to commence a new Christian school. Already a daughter Church has commenced in one of the local homes in the area with approximately 60 people joining the fellowship. Whereas fifteen years ago we were relatively unknown as a local church, today there would be very few people in Redcliffe who are not aware of our Church and its various ministries. We can truly testify to the fact that “our God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). |