A Minute with Maranda
Pastor for the Cantonese Congregation
Thursday 2 October, 2025
As the gentle warmth of spring unfolds around us, painting our world with fresh colour and life, we are reminded of God’s enduring promise of renewal and growth.
Here at Syndal Baptist Church, this sense of joy and hope feels especially bright in October, as we gather to celebrate a remarkable milestone—our 71st anniversary. It is a sacred moment to pause with grateful hearts. We reflect on God’s unwavering grace as well as honoring the faithful foregoers, who served with love, and built this community through prayer and dedication. Their faith, sacrifice, and service have laid the strong foundation we stand on today.
The faithful forebearers reminded me the story of Abraham in Genesis 21. After making a treaty with Abimelech, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called on the name of the Lord—an act of worship and remembrance of God’s faithfulness.
Tamarisk trees grow slowly, taking nearly 80 years to fully mature. Those who plant them do so knowing they will never sit beneath their shade. They plant not for themselves, but for future generations—a quiet, powerful symbol of hope and trust in what God will do beyond.
In 1954, Syndal began with just four families. They committed not only to worshipping together but also to reading and living out God’s Word. From those humble beginnings, God has grown this church into a vibrant, multicultural, and multigenerational community, devoted to sharing the love of Jesus with our neighbors. Just as Abraham planted with faith for generations to come, those who came before us at Syndal have written a beautiful legacy. Through every act of love and every step of faith, they sowed seeds for a harvest they may never have seen—but which we now enjoy.
As a community, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Let us continue sowing seeds of hope, investing in the future, and blessing others through sacrificial love and generous hearts. For we belong to a story far greater than ourselves—a legacy of faith spanning across nations, cultures, and generations, all rooted in unwavering trust in God.
To give glory to our Lord, here we come and proclaim: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalms 90:1-2)
Maranda Ng
Feature News
Celebrate 71 Years of SBC
On Sunday October 12th we'll celebrate Syndal Baptist Church's 71st Anniversary together.
After morning services (no 5pm services on this day), there will be free food and drink to enjoy together, so we hope you'll plan to stay and celebrate with us.
Can you help?
We'll need help on the day with set up and pack up, serving food, helping in the carpark and welcoming people. Please consider signing up to lend a hand in one of these areas.
Can you bring a plate to share?
Something different we're doing this year is inviting people to contribute food to the celebrations - a pack of biscuits, a slice...something that doesn't need refrigeration or heating and is easy to serve.
If you would be happy to contribute you can find out more and sign up via the serving form.
Sign up to help
Save the Date: AGM
Our AGM is taking place on Wednesday 12th November at 7.30pm and is an important opportunity for the SBC community to gather in thanksgiving for what God has done in the past year, and look ahead to 2026. On this night we will vote on new council members and the church budget and so we encourage you to put this date into your calendars.
Budget ForumOn Sunday October 26th at 2.30pm, you are welcome to come along to this special forum to discuss the 2026 budget. We will be presenting and voting on the 2025 budget at our AGM on the 12th of November.
We wanted to provide an opportunity for people to ask questions about the budget and the Constitution as the AGM doesn't always allow sufficient time. This forum will not be a formal church meeting and no voting will take place.
The budget documents will be sent out with the eNews on the Thursday prior to the meeting (23rd October).
What's been happening?
The Bible Course
The Bible Course ran for 8 Tuesday nights during Term 3, and was enjoyed by 25 participants and 6 facilitators. Using a unique story line, the course helped us to learn how all of the books, characters and events in the Bible are part of God's big story, from Genesis to Revelation. With video content hosted by Andrew Ollerton, an ordained pastor and theologian from the UK, The Bible Course consists of 8 interactive sessions, as well as discussion time, personal reflection, and a Bible plan for daily readings during the week. The discussion times were a highlight, with the opportunity to explore portions of the Bible in smaller groups and share our different insights and perspectives with one another. Many participants also commented that they loved reading books of the Bible they had never read before, and that the course had helped some of the seemingly less accessible parts of the Bible become more accessible to them! It also provided them with the tools and skills to help apply the Bible to their everyday life. Whether you’re new to the Bible or just want to increase your understanding of it, why not consider signing up for The Bible Course in Term 3, 2026? You'll be glad you did!
Fuel Attends Prayer Gathering
Our Youth Ministry, Fuel, visited a Prayer Event For the Global Prayer Week in September.
50 of the older youth from Fuel took the train into the city for a prayer event at St Paul's Cathedral hosted by 24/7 Prayer. The youth and leaders were able to engage with 12 different prayer stations where they learnt about and actively prayed in different ways than what they were not normally used to. They were able to connect with others and God in a way that was mind and soul shaping. It was an awesome experience that saw many different youth have fun and understand more about what prayer is and how to pray in new ways.
A Story from Sam, Year 9
A few of our Fuel students who go to school at Vermont Secondary College have been attending a Christian group on Monday's at lunchtime.
This term we have been looking at a new Youth Alpha series, which explores the fundamentals of Christianity and what it means to be a follower of Jesus, in a way that us teens can relate to and understand easily.
We have seen many new people join, with people bringing friends along, not always Christian, and have seen the love of Jesus move throughout the school.
Birth Announcement
We're happy to share the news that Mike & Zoe Riddell welcomed their 3rd child, Bridie Riddell, on Saturday 13th Sept. Zoe & Bridie are in good health and the family wish to express their gratitude to God, and appreciation to the Syndal Baptist Church community for their prayers, support and encouragement. Mike will be taking some planned leave and will return to work on Sun. 19th Oct.
Other News
The Lounge Room
Saturday October 25th, 2pm
At our next Lounge Room event, there will be some beautiful food to enjoy, and some great opportunities for connection with other women. We have a guest speaker, Edi Stephenson, who will wrap up our 2025 theme of 'Purpose'. We hope you can come along and bring a friend or two!
Please register via the button by Sunday 18th October. $15 fee (to cover food) payable during registration or on the day.
Register Now
Carpark Team Needed
Our 11am services have grown so that our car park is at full capacity on Sunday mornings. We know this can make attending church quite stressful for many of our people and for visitors alike as they struggle to find a car park. We want everyone to have a great experience at Syndal, from the first moment when they arrive in the Church Car Park. This is why we would like to start a Car Park Team. Can you join the team?
You would be required from 10:45-11:10am on a Sunday. If we can get enough people on the team, it would be probably rostered on once a month. You won't need any specific skills or previous training, we will run training for those who are able to join the team. You can sign up via sb.org.au/serve (linked below).
Sign up now
Prayers and Squares - Pray for Robyn Moresi
Please join our team by praying for Robyn Moresi and tying a knot in her prayer quilt this Sunday. A few weeks ago Robyn was found to have a brain aneurysm, requiring surgery. This has been scheduled for October 9 but another medical issue must be brough under control before it can proceed. Please pray for Robyn and husband Bruce at this time, as well as all involved in her medical care.
If you or someone you know would like the Prayers & Squares team to be praying for you, and to make a prayer quilt please contact Rosie via the church office Ph98039144 or rmerrigan@sb.org.au
Philippines Trip Trivia Night and Silent Auction
11 October 2025, 7-11pm, SBC, $25
In December/January a team, including some who attend syndal will be heading over to the Philippines for a building trip. Come along and have a great night of fun and help us raise money for the Jenelle Duncan Memorial Kids Learning Centre project. We will be raising money to cover some of the building costs for the team. Help us buy bricks, steal and rock. Help us put a roof on this bulding! On the night there will also be a silent auction. If you have any items that you could donate. Please contact John Tucker. Book a ticket via the link below.
Book now
Ping-Pong-A-Thon
October 4th, 9am-9pm, Mt Waverley Uniting Church
The Pingpongathon is a fun table tennis event raising awareness about human trafficking. Join people from churches of all different denominations working together to see young people freed from Modern Day Slavery, by either registering to play for 2 hours on the Pingpongathon website of donate to support someone already registered to play at the October 4th event.
Find Out More
Parenting Seminar
17th October 2025, 7-9pm, SBC East Auditorium
$15 registration online, $20pp at the door
An evening for parents of school age-children (esp 9-17yrs), "Raising Digital Natives with Confidence" Struggling to set screen-time boundaries? Feeling overwhelmed by the digital world’s influence on your child? You're not alone—and you're not without support. Parents, let's journey together! Join us for an empowering workshop designed for today’s parents navigating life in the digital age, and gain practical tools for healthy device use at home.
Find Out More
End of Year Lunch
Our 60+ End of Year Lunch is happening on Thursday, 20th November from 12pm in Café Salt, SBC.
Cost: $15/- per person, inclusive of a 2 course meal and coffee / tea. Invite your friends to come along!
Meal Choices
1. Main — Fish & Chips with salad or Grilled Chicken with veggies or Spinach & Ricotta Quiche with salad
2. Dessert — Fruit Salad or Apple Crumble or Sticky Date Pudding
Registration available from October at Thursday Friends or the church office (03) 9803 9144).
Looking for visually creative people
There are a number of areas involving the visual arts which we'd like to grow at SBC.
Stage Design and/or Construction for Christmas/Easter
Help us come up with or execute concepts for our stage at Christmas and Easter services. Learn about how to work with the unique space and resources we've got at SBC. Contact Fi Brown fbrown@sb.org.au
Photographers and Videographers
We use photos and short videos of church life to communicate who are via our social media and website. If you love taking photos and/or videos (even on your phone) we'd love you to join the team - even if it means simply taking photos and/or videos of the ministries you are already attending. Contact Fi Brown, fbrown@sb.org.au
Visual Art
We're interested in building a stronger culture of visual art at SBC, so if you love to create art of any form, we'd love to hear from you so we can get a sense of who is around and interested in being involved into the future. You can email/chat to Kerry kwalmsley@sb.org.au or Fi fbrown@sb.org.au.
Next Sermon Series
This four-week series will explore the Bible’s ancient songbook – the Book of Psalms. This collection of 150 poems and songs has long given words to the human experience – in all its joy and sorrow, anger and praise. Join us as we explore the beauty of this part of the Bible and how we can let it speak to us and for us today.
Starts October 19 in English Services
Application for Membership
When someone applies to become an official member at Syndal Baptist Church, we communicate this to the church for two weeks. If there is any reason the membership should not be approved please contact Chris Danes via cdanes@sb.org.au with any concerns.
The following people have applied for membership:
Sheahan Dhason
Apply for Membership
Congregation Spotlight
Cantonese Congregation
With Hans Chow, Pastor for 5pm Cantonese Congregation
"Presenting Jesus, we aim to nurture and develop disciples in the Cantonese congregation to influence culture and co-create with God in the world."
WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING RECENTLY IN THE 5PM CANTONESE CONGREGATION?DIFO (Drift-in & Flow-out) seminars have just completed their third session this year, where we discussed emotional friends. On average, 60 people participated during the three consecutive weeks.
A baptism service will be held on the afternoon of 12th October. So far, we have 9 people confirmed, and 5 are attending the preparation class to ensure they are ready for baptism.
HOW HAVE YOU SEEN GOD AT WORK?
At the 5pm Cantonese service, we are seeing more and more young professionals attending. Due to the nature of their jobs, many of them are unable to make it to the morning service. We pray for and encourage UP Group, our young adults' Life Group, to shift to the 5pm service in order to support and serve. We feel that God is moving in these individuals' hearts, encouraging them to step out of their comfort zones (the morning service) and join us at the 5pm service. Although this might seem difficult from a human perspective, we believe that God is working in amazing ways for the 5pm service.
WHAT CHALLENGES ARE YOU FACING OR WHAT NEEDS DO YOU HAVE?The challenge and/or need for us, the 5pm service committee, is that we keep asking for more contextualized character in the 5pm service. We are praying for more creative possibilities and asking God for preachers who are directly from the 5pm.
WHAT'S COMING UP?Other than baptism on the 12th of October, we still have the fourth DIFO seminar on city mission is approaching.
Our Men's Group will gather on the first Wednesday of the month. This time, we will discuss life's concerns that direct our energy toward things that are fleeting. We also have a Love Feast to be held on the 26th of October.
HOW CAN WE BE PRAYING FOR YOUR CONGREGATION?Pray for the 5pm service; we need wisdom for more creative and contextual ways to pastor young professionals.
Green Tip of the Month
Green tip, sourced from “the Green Book” by Rogers & Kostigen:
"If the weather’s right, consider giving the threadmill a rest and taking your walking or jogging routine outdoors. A 25% shift in time on the treadmill to time outside (based on an hour per day of walking or running), would conserve about 60 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. That amount of energy is enough to run a 1000W appliance for 60hours."
Member in Service Spotlight
Stephanie and Richard
Director of Missions Discipleship Training in Ghana / Coordinator for Teacher Training across Africa
Northern Ghana
Both Richard and Stephanie work in training to help prepare and equip followers of Jesus to share the gospel among least reached peoples. They also help mobilise the Church for global missions.
What has been happening in your ministry recently?The 5 month training program is on a break now, so we have been more intentional about going into the community to build relationships and share the gospel. We have been focusing on the Fulani people and are so encouraged by the conversations we've been having with different groups, sharing the Bible and praying with them. We are healing well from the accident that happened in April. Richard is still undergoing physio therapy for his shoulder and Stephanie is working on strengthening the muscles that were injured. We are trying to rebuild the team since the accident and are thanking God for the new people he is bringing to partner with us in the work.
Where have you seen God at work?
The students from the training went into several communities to practically apply all they had learnt. Having learnt about the Fulani people, they went to two Fulani communities to learn more about the culture and look for opportunities to share the love of Jesus. One trainer had previously travelled through one of these communities and saw a shop. From the outside it didn’t stand out from the other shops, except that it had a Fulani name on it. That was enough to catch his attention and go inside. This year, the owner reached out, asking the team to pass by. “I want to get to know you and your people. In fact, I want my sons and daughters to also get to know you!” What a man of peace! They visited, bringing a Fulani Bible with them. The family was excited. “This is the first time I’ve seen my language in a book!” The team was able to help them read their language and left some portions of scripture. Over 3 nights, the team visited this family to read and explain the scriptures to them. They were so open to hearing the word of God...especially in their heart language! We visited the family a few months after this and were so happy to share the gospel with them, pray and encourage them to attend school. We've since heard that they've sent their daughters to school! Their hearts are very open to hearing about Jesus! We've also started visiting other Fulani families in a nearby community and hope to visit more often to share the love of Jesus.
What's coming up in your ministry?We are slowly building the new training team after losing 2 staff members. The next training will begin in March 2026, and we are hoping to have them in place and ready by the end of the year. We are using the time before then to build the team and visit Churches to mobilise students for the next training. We are excited to see new church partnerships happening here.
What are your greatest needs at the moment?Our greatest need at the moment is for passionate, missional believers to join the team - ones who have the heart to live in this place and serve through training. We are trusting God to bring people in either the short term or long term to help out and be a part of the team. We need people for both the missions discipleship training and the teacher training.
PRAY
Please pray for us as we build the new team and get students for next year, that we wouldn't rush the process and would trust God to bring the right people at the right time. Pray for us as a family as we work out a good balance of family and ministry and what family ministry looks like.
GIVE
If people would like to give to support the ministry, they can give through their local OM office or online via the link below. We also really value prayer support and notes of encouragement. We are so grateful for the support of SBC after the accident. Your financial generosity and encouragement helped so much at a difficult time.
CONNECT
We send out a newsletter every 6 weeks or so. You can contact the SBC office if you would like to be added to the newsletter mailing list for recent stories and updates about ministry and family.
Want to get to know our other Members in Service?
Visit our missions page via the link below.
Giving this week
Week ending: 29/9/2025
Weekly target: $55,000
This week actual: $39,396 (72% of budget)
Year to date actual: $1,734,817 (91% of budget)
Sunday Service Information
This Sunday
Series: Philippians
Sermon: Prize
Preacher: Micah Evans (AM) Clay Tucker (PM)
What we prize most highly in this life says a lot about what we believe about ourselves, our world and our life.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he challenges them about what they prize most highly and how that shapes how they live. This week, Micah Evans (9am and 11am services) and Clay Tucker (5pm service), we help us take a closer look at Paul’s words in Chapter 3 of the Letter to the Philippians.
Coming Up
Sunday 12th October ANNIVERSARY
Today we'll be celebrating Syndal Baptist Church's 71st Anniversary in our morning services with free food and drink afterwards. No 5pm service today.
Series: Philippians
Sermon: Peace
Preacher: Chris Danes
Even though Paul was writing from prison, his words to the Church in Philippi reflect a great sense of peace. How does that work? How does someone feel peace when faced with such difficult circumstances? What advice did he give to the Christians in Philippi as they faced their own challenges?
Join us for the final week in our Philippians series as Chris Danes helps us better understand this extraordinary peace and how we might experience it ourselves.
Sunday 19th October
Series: Psalms
Sermon: Psalms of Wisdom
Preacher: Tim Dyer
You may know that there is a whole book of wise sayings in the Bible, called ‘Proverbs’. But did you know that within the Book of Psalms there are also poems and songs of wisdom? How we do identify a wisdom psalm and how do we let them speak into life today? This Sunday, Tim Dyer will help us better understand the role and beauty of these songs of wisdom.
Sunday 26th October
Series: Psalms
Sermon: Psalms of Justice
Preacher: Andrew Bawden
There are moments in life where we find ourselves craving justice for those who have caused harm in some way. Moments where anger and frustration at the evil in the world almost feels like it could burst from us. In the Bible there are whole poems and songs that do just that – they pour out the anger and frustration of human experience and call on God to enact justice. But some of these Psalms are pretty dark and intense. Are they still ‘right’? Are we allowed to pray those sorts of things?
This week, Andrew Bawden will help us better understand these types of Psalms and where they fit in scripture and in life.
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