Vision
We long to see new life in Jesus come to every home in Oran Park and the growing South West for their salvation and maturity, the good of the community and the glory of God.
About Us
Who We Are
New Life Anglican is a group of Christians who live in and around Oran Park. Starting in 2011 we began a brand new church with the express goal of seeing new life come to every home in Oran Park and the growing South West.
We'd love you to find your place with us.
Mission
To find joy in bringing glory to God by:
Giving the message of new life and living new life for Jesus.
Our Distinctives
NewLife is founded on the message of new life presented in the Bible: that Jesus Christ is Lord of all things, and Saviour to all who call on his name.
We are committed to God's Word read and preached as the authoritative, true, & sufficient source for knowing God and his will (cf. Article 6).
We delight in giving the message because our desire is that others would hear the news of Jesus, repent, and might be saved.
You'll experience this in the way we encourage you to open your Bible's as we preach and as you find it at the centre of our mid week LifeGroups where it is opened and studied.
Being Anglican means that you'll notice things about how we conduct our services. Founded on the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) our services will include a prayer of confession, prayer for the Church and the world, two readings from the Bible, and we will celebrate the Lord's Supper monthly (on the first of the month).
You will also note that we have an elected Parish Council and Wardens who work with the Rector to govern and guide the Parish. We have a local Bishop (Peter Lin) who oversees our churches in the South West Region and we are part of the large Sydney Diocese (270 churches) that are under the Archbishop (Kanishka Raffel).
We believe the historic creeds (Apostles, Nicene, Athanasian) and practice baptism of adults and infants of believing parents as well as confirmation services.
We believe you shouldn't have to time travel to worship God. Our building and our service style is designed to serve God's glory and our growth in a way that is aware of, but not enslaved to, contemporary culture. We will value our heritage and speak to the challenges and joys of everyday life.
As a church we have four foundational values - they are: Faithful, Adventurous, Compassionate, and Enduring.
We seek to grow and develop Faithful apprentices to Jesus.
We seek to Adventurously share our life and faith.
We seek to Compassionately show the love of Jesus to the lost and the least.
We seek to Endure as believers in community until the day we see Jesus face to face.
We love seeing men and women, young and old, children, and adults worshipping and serving God together. With a retirement village across the road we celebrate every opportunity for intergenerational encouragement between retirees, teens, parents, young adults, and kids.
We aren't global - we're local. We want to be your local church. Close to your place. Aware of what's happening in your life. Churching with the people you'll bump into at the shops, at school, and on the weekends. We're local because we want to reach out locally - to see new life in Jesus come to every home in Oran Park and the growing South West. Local too? We look forward to meeting you on a Sunday soon.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’d love you to come! Although we’re an Anglican Church you’ll find that we welcome everyone who’s interested in Jesus. This means that whether you’re someone who’s never darkened the door of a church building, someone who’s practiced another faith, or are a Catholic who’s curious to see what happens you will be welcome.
For us being Anglican has three dimensions; what we believe about God (the theological), the way we do church (the ecclesiological), and how we are held accountable (the pastoral). Let’s unpack each of those:
What we believe about God (Theological) As a church we believe saved by faith in Jesus alone. We believe in the bible as the highest authority and guide for all things relevant to getting right with God and living to please him. We believe in one Church that Jesus died and rose again for and lots of local expressions of that church in places all over the world. What we believe is summed up in two documents the Apostle’s Creed (an ancient and global confession of the things Christians hold dear) and the 39 Articles (the formative document that defined and created the Anglican church). It’s also our conviction from the bible that every member plays a role in making church happen and that it’s not just the responsibility of the paid staff. This is sometimes referred to as, “the priesthood of all believers”. In practice it means we’re thankful for those who serve full-time but view them as brothers and sisters amongst equals rather than as elevated to a position closer to God.
How we do church (Ecclesiological) The structure of our meeting together is based on the outline contained in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. This form of service was originally conceived almost 400 years ago and continues today to point us helpfully to prayer, repentance, singing praise, and most importantly, the place of the bible in our services. It is also teaches us the way we most helpfully celebrate the Lord’s supper, baptisms, weddings and funerals. Although we have updated the presentation this foundation is very formative. Being Anglican also informs the way that we run our church. In our tradition this means that the Pastor serves the congregation full-time with a team of non paid members who oversee the daily running and organisation of the church. As we grow these forms of governing will become more evident.
How we are held accountable (Pastoral) Not only does the Anglican church envisage a model of leadership that includes elected members from within the congregation it also provides oversight of each church to ensure that they are on track with speaking the truth about Jesus and holding to the way of living that’s appropriate for those who bear the name pastor. Those in oversight are called bishops and ours is Rev Peter Lin.
Stuart Starr is the Lead Pastor at NewLife and oversees the church together with a group of key members of our congregation. You can find Stuart’s profile and our staff team here.
NewLife reflects the suburb around us. We’re predominantly young families with kids in local schools including Oran Park Anglican College and Oran Park Public School. As the Anglicare retirement village in Oran Park grows we have been blessed to have more members from there come to join our NewLife community and so to see it reflect the breadth of life experiences around us.
Of course – come along and find out for yourself. There are services at 8:30am, 10:30am, and 6pm so take your pick!