Impact Australia 2010

Ministry visit by Mark Hobafcovich
Atlanta-July 2010

Many of you know that I've spent the 80's and early 90's in Australia before we've arrived in the United States in 1993. This was the first visit to Australia after a 17 years absence. Here is an overview of my visit for you to know how to pray for our brethren in Australia. I've visited three of the main cities in Australia: Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. I will give an overview of the cities and the Romanian churches in each city. I will also include some information on New Zealand and the Romanian work there.

AUSTRALIA
Australia officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Neighboring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast and New Zealand to the southeast.

MELBOURNE-Victoria
Melbourne is the capital of the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. It has a population of 4 million people and is the city with the most number of Romanian Baptist Churches.

First Romanian Baptist Church in Australia
139-149 Reema Boulevard
Endeavour Hills, Victoria 3802
Contact: Savu Matei
SavuMatei@hotmail.com
The church was started in early 1950's. It has about 300 people and is the largest Romanian Baptist church in Australia. The church has its own building in Endeavour Hills, an Southeastern suburb of Melbourne where a large concentration of Romanians live about 31 km (19 mi) south-east from Melbourne's central business district. The church is ministered by Pastor Belciu Busuioc who came to Melbourne from Caransebes, Casar-Severin. Over the years this church was instrumental is the development of many young people who were called into the ministry including the author.

Maranatha Romanian Baptist Church
905 Heatherton Rd
Springvale VIC 3171
Contact: Ovidiu Buzgau
AdrianBuzgau@gmail.com
This church is ministering in Springvale which is a suburb in Melbourne,approximately 20 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. The church is the second Romanian Baptist Church in Melbourne and it was started in mid 80's. They have their own building and are currently about 70 members. They are waiting for their newly called pastor Cornel Ghita from Sega Baptist Church, Arad to arrive from Romania.

Grace (Harul) Romanian Baptist Church
Meeting at: Auburn Baptist Church
597 Burwood Rd,
Hawthorn, Vic 3122
Contact: Dorel Brandas
DBrindas@hotmail.com
This is the third church is Melbourne. The are meeting on Sunday night at Auburn Baptist Church building in Hawthorn. Hawthorn is a suburb in Melbourne, 8 km east from Melbourne's central business district. The church has about 30 people. The church is served by Pastor Dorel Brandas.

Western Melbourne Hope (Speranta) Romanian Baptist Church
Cnr Ormond & Glamis Rds,
West Footscray, Vic 3012
Contact: Daniel Nicolici
dany@alphalink.com.au
West Footscray is a suburb 7 km west of Melbourne. This church focuses on the Romanian population of the western suburbs of Melbourne. It is the 4th Romanian Baptist church in the city and is served by Pastor Daniel Nicolici from Timisoara.

SYDNEY-New South Wales
Sydney is the largest and most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. It is located on Australia's south-east coast. With an approximate population of 4.5 million in the Sydney metropolitan area the city is the largest urban area in Oceania.

Dulwich Hill Baptist Church
MacArthur St,
Dulwich Hill 2203
Contact: Ovidiu Oprea
oaoprea@hotmail.com
Pastor Ovidiu Oprea serves the English speaking Baptist church at Dulwich Hill. The church has the model of one church, two congregations since the afternoon service is conducted in Romanian language and the morning service is in English. There are about 40 people worshiping in the afternoon in Romanian.

Western Sydney Romanian Baptist Fellowship
Sydney-Western Suburbs
Contact: Ilie Martinovici
(+61) 024-759-3784
A newly started fellowship is ministering in the western suburbs of Sydney with Ilie Martinovici as the leader. Twenty plus people are gathering each week for fellowship and ministry.

BRISBANE-Queensland
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has an approximate population of 2 million.

Bethel Romanian Baptist Church
363 Kingston Rd (Cnr Alice St. & Kingston Rd.)
Kingston QLD 4114
Contact: David Toma
dtoma@bethelchurch.org.au
This church is the first church in Australia which started an English service for the purpose of reaching out to the non-Romanian community surrounding the church. It has about 50 members and they have their own building. On Sunday afternoon they have a service in English reaching out to the community. They also are hosting a Vietnamese congregation on Sunday afternoon. David Toma, an Australian born, second generation Romanian is serving the congregation as pastor.

ADELAIDE-South Australia
Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia, with a population of more than 1.28 million. The suburbs reach roughly 20 km (12 mi) from the coast to the foothills but sprawl 100 km (62 mi) from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south.

Romanian Baptist Church
Mile End Baptist Church,
12 A Victoria Street,
Mile End, SA 5031
Contact: Pastor Geoff Bondor
(08) 8356 4842

Seaton Baptist Church
183 Trimmer Parade, Seaton 5023
Contact Pastor: Alois Schneider
aloisder@dodo.com.au
Pastor Alois is from Romania and a number of church members are of Romanian descent.

PERTH-Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of 1,659,000.The metropolitan area is located in the south-west of the continent between the Indian Ocean and a low coastal escarpment known as the Darling Range. The central business district and suburbs of Perth are situated on the Swan River.

Romanian Baptist Church
451 Guildford Road
Bayswater WA 6053
Contact: Gavril Crisan
CrisanGavril@yahoo.com

NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island), and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation: it is situated about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. The majority of New Zealand's population is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority. Asians and non-Māori Polynesians are also significant minority groups, especially in urban areas. The most commonly spoken language is English.

CHRISTCHURCH-New Zealand
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, with a population of over 386,000 and the country's second-largest urban area after Aukland. The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848. It was suggested by John Robert Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand. Here is a growing Romanian population and in the last few years the First Romanian Baptist Church in Melbourne began ministering though regular visits to the group of Romanian Baptist believers in the city.

Christchurch Romanian Baptist Fellowship
Christchurch, New Zealand
Contact: Dorel Brandas
DBrindas@hotmail.com

Summary: As of 2010 there are 11 churches/missions/preaching points in Australia and New Zealand. We pray that many Romanian speaking people will be reached through these ministries and through them many will come to faith in Christ and receive eternal life for the glory of God.