What is the history of North Gate?
North Gate Christian Church was first launched at the Albury Public School Hall, 10am October 28, 2001 with four people: Jason and Treena and their two daughters Anna (5 at the time) and Hollie (2 at the time).
# September 2000, Melbourne: God began to reveal to us a pattern that He had for a new church in the twin cities of Albury Wodonga. At this time, we were the Assistant Pastors to our very good friends, Ps Shane and Georgie Baxter at Brimbank Christian Church (Now known as Enjoy Church) in Melbourne. After much discussion, prayer and consideration, we accepted God’s call to cold start a new church in Albury Wodonga.
North Gate is a part of the Australian Christian Churches that has over 1,100 churches in our beatiful nation.
# July 2001, Days of Preparation: When we arrived in Albury, we didn’t have a church planting team or a budget. It would have been great to have started with a team because we're team oriented people, however, my wife and I look back and believe that it pleased the Lord for us to start out this way, because not only was God building a local church, but a story, that is still being written!
Before we gave birth to this church plant, we prepared as much as we could. We prayed, we had a corporate church logo designed, we purchased a small sound system, a 20 litre hot water urn, a 1 x 3 meter church banner, and we hired the Albury public school hall as our church venue, which was built in 1850. We were also very grateful to receive an overhead projector, communion tray and cups that were donated. :)
# September 14 2001, Public Interest Meeting: A public interest meeting simply gives others the opportunity to come along and hear about what kind of church we are and what our vision is. At this meeting, we shared what our values were and that these values are reflective of whom Treena and I in God and form the kind of church that we desire to be a part of. 12 people attended this night of which 3 of these are still with us today, some 9 years later. (Successful night!)
Special mention goes to Ps Daryl Marshall from Life Church in Benalla who came along to especially encourage and support us. I remember Ps Daryl saying at the end of this evening. 'Yes, I was at the very first North Gate public meeting!' (You're a champ Daryl. Thank you!)
# Saturday Night, October 27, 2001: Finally it was the weekend of our first service. We set up church on the Saturday night and prayed. All the months of preparation were finally coming to fruition. North Gate was about to be birthed... It was both very exciting and rather scary at the same time as we considered the countdown of a new beginning was about to dawn for so many lives including us!
Special mention goes to Ps Shane and Georgie Baxter and Ps Anton and Louise Arioka from Enjoy Church in Melbourne who came to help us set up on the Saturday night and support and encourage us at our Sunday launch. (So love the ongoing relationship and connection that we have with you and the people at Enjoy Church.) Good times!
# Our 10am Sunday Launch, October 28, 2001: And so Treena launched the journey with 'WELCOME' and leading us in singing along with split tracks. (She always made it sound so much bigger with her beautiful booming voice.) Members of my extended family came to offer support and we also had 11 new comers. (34 in all including us.) That day, 2 people recommitted their lives back to Jesus having wandered from faith and another man asked the Lord's forgiveness for the first time... That man was my father Bob Mannering. Not only was my dad our first convert, but he was also the first person we had ever water baptised. It’s not unusual for us to come home Sunday afternoons and find messages on message bank from dad, telling us how proud he is of both of us. Our church refers to my dad as “Pa Bob,” and he is still very much a part of our church today.
# Our 2 nd Church Service, November 4, 2001: At our second service, I was standing at the door at 9.40am with 30 freshly printed newsletters in my hands with my daughter Anna (5) along side me as we waited for people to arrive.. We waited and waited and now it was 9.58am with no one else in church. At that moment, Anna looks up at me so innocently and says... "You know dad, I don’t think anyone is seeing our church banner today." For some reason, I knew I just captured a moment in time and it actually gave me a lump in my throat. (I still remember it so clearly today.) Anyway, it was 10am and no one in church except us. I said to my wife. "Well its 10am, time to start church honey, let's show God that we are moved by what we believe and not by what we see!" So we did! My wife passionately welcomed the masses to church that day and with the 4 of us, we worshipped. I’m so glad that we did, because before the first song ended, 2 families walked in and they and we were so blessed and encouraged. But even if no one showed, we still would have ministered to 1,000s by faith and just do lunch later! :)
# Our 3rd Church Service, November 11, 2001: At this service, something much unexpected happened. You see, we began church this day with 12 people and concluded with 11.. You heard right! What happened is this... A 28-year-old man who had a long history of heart problems died in our church service that day. This man responded to the gospel at our very first service by seeking the Lord's forgiveness and getting his life right with God. Thankfully!
We had just finished receiving communion this day and as I looked over at this man, he gave me such a radiant and beaming smile, that I couldn’t help but smile back... And then, he died within seconds. The ambulance came and worked on him for over an hour but this man’s spirit had already departed to Paradise.
We had only met this man twice in our lives and now we were meeting his wife and members of his family at hospital for the first time. We comforted them with God’s love and word. I left them my card and they contacted me the following day asking if I could please conduct the funeral service. So... 3 weeks into our churches history and ministry, I'm now conducting my very first funeral service to over 250 people. I asked the Lord what I should share at the service and the Lord said to share with the people some of the last words that this man ever heard before he departed earth, which was my communion message and I was like, "Ahh yes, good one!" Treena sang at the funeral and we had a great opportunity to communicate a message of comfort, hope and that where he is, we can be also.
# Where did the name "North Gate" come from? North Gate comes from the bible in Ezekiel 44:4, which says: "Then He brought me by way of the North Gate to the front of the temple. I looked in and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown."
Well, that's a little bit of our history. We have lots of great stories to tell and as I mentioned earlier, the story is still being written. Thanks for reading it.
If you have any questions at all regarding North Gate, our philosophy of ministry, or questions about life after death and eternity, then either we or
or one of our pastoral team members would love to make a time suitable with you over a latté or 2. Hope to chat with you soon!
Love and blessings, Jason Mannering
