Steeple Church

Steeple Church Loved passionately by God to love people tangibly.... RENEW + RESTORE + SERVE + SEND
10am Sundays

We are a church with a long history in the midst of re-imaging the way we are called to 'be' in-as-and-beyond the four walls of the church building…

We’re still working out what that looks like, but we're getting closer, so if you'd like to join us, and our Master Jesus, in building His Church, then you are so invited and so welcome to come give it a try with us, at Steeple. Here is a snap-shot o

f the 'why' and the 'what' we aspire to live out at Steeple Church...

Our why is people. We are a Church that is loved passionately by God to love people, tangibly. We exist to serve and send everyday people, into their every-day; fully empowered to bring the reality of God’s great rescue and restoration plan – (accomplished in) Jesus - alive in and through and to as many as we can…

We’re continuing our Practice / Practise series, exploring the practices that shape us into people who look more like Je...
09/09/2026

We’re continuing our Practice / Practise series, exploring the practices that shape us into people who look more like Jesus.

This week, we explored worship.

When Jesus meets the Samaritan woman in John 4, he begins to shift the idea of where worship belongs. It’s no longer about a particular mountain or temple. The sacred space is expanding. Worship can happen anywhere – because our whole lives can become oriented towards God.

So what are we actually practising when we worship?

Worship gives us the gift of reorientation. Our attention is pulled in so many directions throughout the week – by work, stress, success, grief, exhaustion, relationships and all the noise around us. It’s easy to become a little out of tune.

Sunday gives us a chance to stop, listen and remember.

The sermon used the picture of a piano being tuned. A tuning fork gives the reference pitch, and the other strings are tuned in relation to it. *God is the tuning fork. We are the strings.*

When we gather, we tune our hearts back towards God’s heart and, in doing so, we begin to find harmony with one another.

That’s why singing together matters. Worship isn’t a performance we watch; it’s something we participate in. Every voice contributes. Different voices, different stories, different expressions, all resonating around the same kingdom.

And worship doesn’t finish when Sunday ends.

The songs we sing, the prayers we pray and the message we share are practices for what we are becoming. They shape how we show up at work, in our families, our friendships, our communities, our creativity and our hospitality.

We gather to re-tune our lives towards Jesus, so that together, our lives might begin to resonate with the heart of God.

What are you being tuned towards?
And where might God be inviting you to reorient your attention this week?

Practice / Practise – Week 1: HospitalityWe’ve begun a new series called Practice / Practise – exploring the simple, anc...
09/09/2026

Practice / Practise – Week 1: Hospitality

We’ve begun a new series called Practice / Practise – exploring the simple, ancient practices of the church and how, when we practise them, they begin to form us into people who look more like Jesus.

Because we’re always being formed by what we give our attention to. Our habits, our calendars, what we consume and what we repeatedly practise are shaping who we become.

So what happens when we practise welcome?

Last week we looked at hospitality – making room for another person to belong. Creating space at the table. Being present enough for someone to be seen, heard and known.

Throughout Scripture, God is constantly making room. Jesus’ ministry was filled with tables, meals and people who others had overlooked. In Luke 14, Jesus challenges us to move beyond hospitality that is transactional, inviting only those who can invite us back, and instead making room for those who cannot repay us.

Because grace is non-transactional.

We were guests before we were hosts. We received welcome before we knew how to offer it. We received mercy before we knew how to show it.

And now, we get to practise the same welcome we've received.

Sometimes hospitality looks like something big. But sometimes it’s simply looking someone in the eye, learning their name, slowing down, listening and letting them know: you are worth my attention.

At Steeple, we begin with welcome because every person carries the image of God and is worthy of dignity, honour and belonging. Our Acknowledgement of Country also reminds us that we are guests in a place where God has already been at work long before us.

So this week, we're invited to practise making room.
Who is outside?
Who is missing?
Who needs to be seen?

We don't practise hospitality because we've already mastered it. We practise hospitality because God is forming us into people who look like Jesus.

What we practise on Sunday becomes who we are on Monday.

Good News-ing –The SeriesWhat if evangelism could be something beautiful?Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring w...
03/09/2026

Good News-ing –The Series
What if evangelism could be something beautiful?
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring what it means to share the Good News and in the process, perhaps reclaiming a word that can carry a lot of baggage.

We’ve asked: What is the Good News? Who gets to participate? How do people encounter it? What kind of community are we inviting people into? And where are we being sent?

The answer – the good news is a new way of life breaking in, that we’re invited to participate in it. And the gospel isn’t simply something we explain. It’s something we embody.

We’re invited to become learners of Jesus – participating in God’s healing of all things, refusing to dehumanise others, choosing reconciliation over vengeance, belonging over isolation, and love over division.

"Come and see” – about making room for curiosity, questions and relationship rather than demanding certainty. Evangelism becomes less about convincing and more about accompanying people, listening well and walking alongside them.

Community – a place where love becomes tangible. Where we share life, carry each other’s stories, make room for the whole of who we are and discover that we need one another.

Mission – we're already sent. Not necessarily somewhere far away, but into the ordinary places we already inhabit. Our homes, workplaces, friendships and communities become places where the love of Jesus can be lived and experienced.

We see the Spirit poured out not on the impressive or the spiritually elite, but on ordinary people. Empowering a community to live differently, sharing, breaking bread, caring for one another and making the love of God tangible.

So perhaps the invitation of this series is simply:
Can we believe it?
Can we dare to imagine that forgiveness is better than vengeance. That reconciliation is better than division. That belonging is better than isolation. That the way of Jesus really is good news for the world.

Maybe your greatest gift to this community isn't a particular skill or talent. It's your presence. Your story. Your questions. Your wounds. Your compassion. Your participation.
The Good News isn't ours to keep, it's ours to live together.

Good News-ing – Week 5: Mission | Why Are We Sent?In John 20, the disciples are hiding behind locked doors, afraid and u...
30/08/2026

Good News-ing – Week 5: Mission | Why Are We Sent?

In John 20, the disciples are hiding behind locked doors, afraid and uncertain about what comes next. And Jesus comes to them with a simple word:

“Peace be with you.”

Before purpose, there is peace.

Then Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He breathes the Holy Spirit over them and entrusts them with continuing his work in the world.

But how was Jesus sent?

Towards.

Towards the people others overlooked. Towards the broken, the excluded, the forgotten and the hurting. Jesus continually crossed the boundaries we create between who is in and who is out, who is worthy and who isn't.

And now, we are sent in the same direction.

Mission doesn't always look like something extraordinary. It can look like encouraging a tired parent, helping someone after a long day, listening well, showing kindness, being present, or faithfully loving the people already around us.

Our homes, workplaces, friendships, neighbourhoods, cafés and communities aren't interruptions to our mission. They are where we have already been sent.

A healthy church isn't measured only by what it gathers, but by what it releases.

We gather on Sunday so we can scatter on Monday.

And we don't do this because we've arrived or have everything figured out. The church isn't a collection of perfect people with a quick fix. We are people being transformed – people learning to follow Jesus, learning to receive grace, and learning to embody resurrection in the world.

Jesus showed his wounds to the disciples after his resurrection. Resurrection didn't erase his suffering; it redeemed it.

And perhaps that's the kind of people God sends: not perfect people, but wounded people who have experienced grace.

So, where has God already sent you?

Who are the people already in your circles – home, work, family, friends and community – that you are being invited to see differently?

“Lord, help me see these people the way you see them.”

Maybe we don't need to keep asking God to send us.
We simply need to notice that we already are.

Join Steeple Church along with Indigenous Ministries Australia and Global Missions Partners for this year's Songlines to...
10/08/2026

Join Steeple Church along with Indigenous Ministries Australia and Global Missions Partners for this year's Songlines tour - an opportunity to hear the Indigenous story on Wurundjeri country and how that story intersects with the Church and our faith.

Meeting at Westgarth Station in Northcote at 6pm, we'll be jumping on buses to be lead by Nick from IMA. It's an incredibly rich evening of listening and reflecting.

August 26 | 6 - 10pm
Steeplechurch.com.au/links/

Good News-ing | Week 4: CommunityWhat are we actually inviting people into?Last week around the table, Jode shared the g...
09/08/2026

Good News-ing | Week 4: Community

What are we actually inviting people into?

Last week around the table, Jode shared the gospel through stories and testimony from his own life, reflecting on what it means to move beyond performing Christianity and into something more honest, vulnerable and deeply relational.

Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The early church gives us a picture of this kind of love – sharing life together, breaking bread, praying, giving what they had to those in need, and making space for one another’s stories.

Community isn’t about getting it right all the time. It’s about moving towards each other when love fails. Being present when someone can’t yet see love for themselves. Making room for the whole story – the grief, anger, longing, joy and hope.

This is the kind of community we hope to cultivate at Steeple: one where we are known, loved and invited to do the same for others.

Around the table, we reflected on two questions:

Where are you still learning to trust and receive communal love?

Where have you experienced the love of community in your own story, and how might you offer that love to someone else?

Good News-ing | Week 3: InvitationHow do people encounter the Good News? How do they experience the love, hope, healing ...
09/08/2026

Good News-ing | Week 3: Invitation
How do people encounter the Good News? How do they experience the love, hope, healing and belonging of Jesus?

In Week 3 we explored the idea of invitation - not as a tactic for getting people into church, but as a way of making room for people to encounter the life of Jesus for themselves. In John 1, Jesus asks a simple question: “What are you looking for?” And then comes the invitation: “Come and see.”

There’s something beautiful about the way Jesus begins with curiosity. He listens before he speaks. He doesn’t try to solve people, turn them into projects or convince them that they need what he has. He sees them as people.
What are you looking for?
What are you longing for?
What are you carrying?
What do you hope might still be possible?
Because people want to be seen.

We were invited to consider what it might look like to carry a holy imagination, to see people not just for who they have been or what they are carrying, but for who they might become.

When Jesus moves through the Gospels, he sees what others miss. Where people see labels, Jesus sees belovedness. Where people see the surface, Jesus sees possibility. Where people see the end of a story, Jesus sees what could still be written.
This isn’t positive thinking or pretending everything is okay. It doesn't ignore pain, brokenness or complexity. It is the hope-filled conviction that God isn't finished with any of us yet.

This is where evangelism begins: less speaking and more listening. Not trying to have all the answers, but becoming curious about the people around us and making space for them to discover.
Encounter. Curiosity. Invitation. Discovery.

Faith doesn’t have to happen in a single moment. People are often accompanied into the kingdom. They are loved into it, listened to, and invited to come and see.
That’s part of what we’re called to do, to notice the tiny signs of hope, courage, generosity and grace already at work in someone’s story, and gently call them into the light.

Because God is already there. God is here for everybody.
And if it’s true for any of us in here, it’s true for everybody out there. Come and see.

The other week in Good News-ing, we explored Participation - The Great Permission.Jesus' final words to his disciples ar...
08/08/2026

The other week in Good News-ing, we explored Participation - The Great Permission.
Jesus' final words to his disciples are often called the Great Commission.
But what if they're less about going somewhere to convince people, and more about learning to participate in the way of Jesus wherever we find ourselves?

The disciples are told to go back to Galilee.
Not to the centres of power.
Not to Rome.
Not to the places where the powerful gather.
Back to the place where Jesus had taught them what the kingdom of God looks like.
Back to the people who were experiencing injustice and oppression.
Jesus sends them towards solidarity, not power.
Towards people, not platforms.

And there's something else we noticed.
The disciples worshipped Jesus...
and some doubted.
Their doubt didn't disqualify them from participating.
Faith isn't about having complete certainty, it requires enough trust to take a step.
Enough courage to risk becoming part of something we can't fully see yet.

Jesus then says, "As you go, make learners."
Not recruiters.
Not people who have all the answers.
Learners.
People who are learning the way of Jesus and putting it into practice.
And perhaps that's the great permission:
You don't need to have it all figured out before you participate.
You simply need to keep learning how to love.

The invitation is to embody good news.
To love our neighbours.
To stand alongside those who are hurting.
To protect dignity.
To participate in the healing of people, communities, cultures and creation.
Because if our version of good news causes harm, exclusion or domination, we've missed the way of Jesus.

And through all of it, Jesus promises:
"I am with you always."
The presence of God isn't something we have to manufacture.
We're invited to notice it.
To join in.
To become people through whom that love can be felt.

We've recently begun a new sermon series: Good News-ing.You could say it's about evangelism. Or perhaps more simply, abo...
05/08/2026

We've recently begun a new sermon series: Good News-ing.
You could say it's about evangelism. Or perhaps more simply, about sharing the Good News.
For many of us, the word evangelism carries a lot of baggage.
Pressure. Persuasion. Having all the right answers. Feeling like it's our job to convince someone else.
But what if we've misunderstood it?

Jesus begins his ministry by announcing good news.
Not simply a promise for one day.
But good news for today.
Good news for the poor.
Freedom for the oppressed.
Hope for the hurting.
A world where restoration is already breaking in.
This is how Jesus defines the gospel.
Not as an escape from the world…
But as God's life renewing it.

We were reminded that sharing good news isn't about having the perfect words.
Think about the last café you loved, the holiday you couldn't stop talking about, or the meal you insisted your friends try.
No one taught you how to share those things.
You simply wanted others to experience something that had been good for you.
Perhaps following Jesus is more like that.

In Acts, Peter doesn't begin with a sermon.
He begins by seeing someone.
Calling them to lift their eyes.
Helping them stand.
And it was the transformed life of the healed man that became the greatest witness of all.
So maybe the most compelling good news isn't something we say but the kind of people we're becoming.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle isn't a lack of courage but a lack of wonder.
Do we still believe that hope can change lives?
That healing is possible?
That love can restore what feels broken?
Because good news was never meant to be kept to ourselves.
It's something we embody.
Something we share.
Something we invite others to experience.

Who comes to mind when you think of hope?

Who in your world might simply need to know they are seen, welcomed, and loved?

What might it look like to become good news for someone this week?

This Sunday is Table & Testimony.Over the past few months, many of you have shared thoughtful feedback about this rhythm...
31/07/2026

This Sunday is Table & Testimony.

Over the past few months, many of you have shared thoughtful feedback about this rhythm, and we want to say thank you. We've been listening, reflecting, and making some adjustments along the way.

At its heart, Table & Testimony is about sharing life together. Gathering around a table, making space for stories, connection, and community.

Our hope is that it feels welcoming, natural, and accessible for everyone – whether you've been part of Steeple for years or you're joining us for the very first time.

Come as you are. Pull up a seat. There's room for you at the table ❤️

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208 Whitehorse Road, Balwyn
Melbourne, VIC
3103

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