We write the story…
25 years ago, as part of a learning and sharing experience, members of the Frankston Congregation were invited to record their testimony including a brief outline of their life story. The project proved more challenging than many had first thought. However, they also found it was much more rewarding than they had anticipated. The testimonies were compiled into a 68 page book which records 32 brief stories of Frankston members’ individual and shared experiences of their encounters with the love and the presence of God in their lives.
On our journey together, we each carry a part of our heritage with us as we create our own story and a shared history of God’s loving care for us today and into the future. Here are a few excerpts from some of those stories:
“One of the biggest highlights this year was our trip to Sydney for the Leaders’ Conference at Vision Valley. At the end of President Grant McMurray’s sermon “Claim Your Sacred Place” and as we were singing the closing hymn I looked around and saw all the faces of people I have known throughout the years, faces of saints from different places in Australia, and in our own congregation, and I strongly felt the love of the Spirit to claim my sacred place.” - Deanna Ayres
“I have found sometimes that as doors have closed in my life, others have opened. Always there is a pathway to take to service. I have been blessed abundantly. Being a member of the church has changed my life for the better, has given me purpose and a reason of being and as I reach out and touch the lives of others, I am abundantly blessed.” - Shirley Davies
“My life has been a walk with God through good times and bad. My year in Sydney in 1988 was a life-changing experience. With my fellow students…, I spent the year studying, running school holiday programs in various congregations, visiting children in hospital, the aged homes, attending camps with Camp Quality, working with pastors and many other assignments.” - Myra Horton
“The Zion’s League program for youth was excellent. The duties of president, secretary, treasurer and commission leaders was taken very seriously and was no doubt a training ground for us as we moved into other church leadership roles. My heritage has motivated me to serve in numerous branch and district leadership roles. These responsibilities have taught me the value of diversity in people that we all have different values, abilities and interests. There are different external forces which act on us so we should not expect the same responses from everyone.” - Eric Judd
“Ruth and I became an ideal team for missionary outreach, and what started in our home emerged into the Frankston congregation. Fifty years on we are still honored to be able to serve in our diverse and respective roles of ministry. While I am very conscious of God’s presence in my life from earliest times, my testimony is not of earth-shattering experiences but rather an assessment of how Divine Providence has touched, guided and otherwise influenced my life over nearly eight decades of time.” - Fred Winterton