Reaching out for miracles

For Susie Taylor, the LCA/NZ church plant at Pakenham’s Lakeside College in Melbourne’s outer south-eastern suburbs has been an answer to prayer – and a place where God is working miracles in people’s lives.

At the small but friendly Pakenham Lakeside Church, Susie has found a community where she and her family thrive on belonging.

Having grown up in the Orthodox tradition and having been formerly involved with both Baptist and Pentecostal churches, she had been looking for a way to reconnect with a church family. When she met her partner Vince, whose background was in the Lutheran Church, he considered himself an agnostic. For years she prayed that they could practise faith together.

Then, about three years ago, Vince’s daughter was invited by a friend to worship at Pakenham. She felt welcomed and cared for by members of the church and decided to have her young children baptised there, inviting Vince and Susie along.

Around that time, Vince had some health problems. Pakenham’s Pastor Nathan Hedt visited Vince in hospital, ministered to him and prayed for him, which Susie believes was critical in Vince coming back to the church.

Building relationships created connections for Susie and Vince, and church worship and volunteering at Pakenham became a regular thing.

‘It’s been a real answer to prayer’, Susie says. ‘I never, ever thought I’d see Vince in church, ever. The fact that my partner and his family are going to church is nothing short of a miracle, so God is at work in this church.’

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