A brief history of Pakenham Lakeside Church
2007 - The state-level Lutheran Church of Australia Victoria District (LCAVD) established Lakeside Lutheran College in Pakenham with plans for a future church plant based out of the school’s facilities.
October 2014 - Pastor Nathan Hedt was called to be the Lakeside College Pastor and Church Planting Pastor with four local Lutheran families involved in the church plant. This fledgling church community met monthly in people’s homes for worship on Sunday afternoons and evenings.
Pentecost Sunday 2016 - The first ‘regular’ (fortnightly) public worship service was held at the College in the afternoon with an adult baptism. ‘Walking with the risen Jesus’ was adopted as the church’s tagline'.
October 2018 - Worship services moved to weekly morning services with attendances averaging about 30 people.
Early 2020 - A local church leadership team was established, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. PLC began to worship and conduct Bible studies remotely using Zoom and used social media to reach a wider range of people.
October 2020 - The Pakenham Lakeside Church Transition and Growth Plan October 2020 - December 2024 was approved by the LCAVD.
February 2021 - Pastor Nathan accepted a position with the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand as the Pastor for New and Renewing Churches.
May 2021 - Pastor Eugene Minge began ministry at PLC and as Lakeside College Pastor.
Dec 2022 - Pastor Eugene Minge ends his ministry here .
Jan 2023 - Continuing to meet regularly studying the word whilst encouraging and supporting each other in faith.
Many people have been involved in planting and watering this young church, and we thank God for all of them. It’s important to remember that this is God’s church, and each of us is a part of it. It’s not ultimately dependent on, or tied to, a single person.
We read in 1 Corinthians 3:5-7, where Paul writes of the church that was planted in Corinth:
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
We praise God for the vision and hard work of those who planted the seed of the new church at Pakenham. We rejoice in the sometimes ordinary and sometimes miraculous ways God has been at work among us. We give thanks for the watering and the trellis provided by the wider church. And we pray that God will indeed make our young church grow.