For those who don’t know my history, I grew up for a large part of my life in Wynnum, a bayside suburb of Brisbane.
We settled there in 1979 after my father became the minister at the (non-denominational) Wynnum Church of Christ and I lived in the area or would hang in the area on and off until I moved to Melbourne almost 16 years ago. I would like to think that while I lived there I got to know the area and would often ride my bike around etc.
Today I discovered that there are in fact, two Wynnum Churches of Christ in Wynnum.
The one I am familiar with, and the one dad used to preach at and minister to is the Non-denominational Church of Christ on the corner of Tingal Road and Chestnut Streets in Wynnum. From my memory in was started in the 1920’s and the building etc was built with their own funds etc.
The green arrow is the Non-denominational Wynnum Church of Chrsit, and the yellow A is the other (Denominational) Wynnum Church of Christ
The other one is the Wynnum Church of Christ, part of the Churches of Christ in Australia. Very similar in many beliefs but differing to the other Wynnum Church of Christ in their use of instrumental music and denominational structures.
While I guess you could get into an argument about who was in Wynnum first, or who is having an impact on the community for the Kingdom etc — is it really worth the argument?
My point is that is no wonder the folk in the community can’t understand Christianity. When we have two churches with the same name and differing beliefs I am sure that there are more questions about why etc than there are about the Gospel. This is ridiculous!
What message does this silliness show to the local community about our faith and unity?
