December 31 - Multiplying Mission Hubs

[Male #1] Talofa lava,
my name is Aitui Fanene,

a pastor of nine churches
in Melbourne, Australia.

It didn't start with me.

It started with a small group
of dedicated church members,

with the leadership of Pastor Eddie Erica
about 27 years ago.

[Male #2] I serve the community,
I serve other people,

I serve God,

and for me, that is the major part
of what I do.

I'm a third-generation adventist.

I grew up in the church,
served God and the church,

but as I continued to live my life
and go and travel

I started to see some things
that were not in harmony

with what I believed at that stage.

I still believed in God, but I went wild.

It was during that time

that I came out of a pub in Wellington
and I heard a voice.

The voice said,

"What are you doing here,
this is a Friday night."

The voice was not judgemental.

I just heard this voice
which was connected with me,

so I turned around and I said,

"Well, God, I know I've left you,
so I'm coming back to you,

but not necessarily to the church."

When I came here,

called to be a minister or a pastor
here in Melbourne,

I found myself in a type of
hierarchical system.

I found the picture that Paul
has presented in Phillippians 2

clearly says that Jesus
decided to be a servant.

When you're there, you are connected.

I found it to be something that makes you
connect with all the people.

[Male #1] So this church started off,
geographically, not here,

but somewhere else.

Then they decided to plant
their first church,

North Melbourne Church.

[Female #1] I've been a Christian
all my life.

At the end of 1992, we discussed
with Pastor Eddie Erica

and some of the elders in the church

that we need to plant another
Samoan church here,

on the north side of Melbourne.

Now our church planted two more
mission hubs.

Out of those two mission hubs

they planted another two mission hubs.

From my experience, the way I look at it,
with all these hubs,

instead of a pastor doing all this work,

we work together to make disciples

and God is leading everywhere we go.

That's how we have all these hubs
and everything going.

[Male #1] We have one on the southside.

we have one on the northside of Melbourne,

and now we have three
on the westside of Melbourne.

Now we're covering all three corridors
of Melbourne.

They continue to change the culture
as a result of the training.

Leaders got equipped,

and they realised that there is not

one way of doing church or ministry.

A lot of Discovery Bible Reading groups

emerged out of these churches.

I think this story relates
to all other cultures,

and I think these small ministries
and new church plants

are trying to reach and bridge the gap.