Latest News

ANZAC Day Weekend April 2022

Ahead of ANZAC Day on Monday April 25 we reflect on the costly courage and sacrifice by our armed forces and the families left behind since the 1915 landings at Gallipoli.

God of love and liberty,
we bring our thanks today for the peace and security we enjoy.
We remember those who in time of war faithfully served their country.
We pray for their families, and for ourselves whose freedom was won at such a cost.
Make us people zealous for peace, and hasten the day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither learn war any more.
This we pray in the name of the one who gave is life for the sake of the world:
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.

At our Sunday service  this Sunday April 24, we will remember and give thanks for our freedom, and to particularly pray for the people of Ukraine.

St Alfred's Livestreaming Has Started!

If you cannot attend our Sunday services in person, you can now watch our partner church St Alfred's 10AM service live!

The service is also recorded, and you will be able to watch the recording at any time

https://www.stalfreds.org/stalfreds-online/

The audio recording of our sermons will continue and is available on our https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/sermons

Easter Services at St Luke's

We were delighted to have about 90 to 100 people join us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Good Friday April 15  9.30AM      Witness His Death

Easter Sunday April 17 9.30AM    Witness His Resurrection

We looked at Matthew's Gospel account of the death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus on the 3rd day.

You can view the recorded livestream of our partner church St Alfred's

Sunday March 27 Welcome To Liz Bolton

We welcome Liz Bolton, Youth Minister at our partner church St Alfred's to our service.

Liz will be our guest preacher, continuing the sermon series from the Old Testament book of Joshua

Everyone is welcome!

As always the audio will be available for later listening or download, and you can also see our Partner church St Alfred's online You-tube service.

Sunday March 13 - We Welcome Mike McNamara

We look forward to welcoming Senior Associate Minister Mike McNamara from our partner church who will continue our sermon series called "The Promised Land - The Book of Joshua"

All are welcome!

As always the audio will be available for later listening or download, and you can also see our Partner church St Alfred's online You-tube service.

Sunday Feb 20 - We Welcome Rev Rene Pfitzner

This Sunday we welcome Rev Rene Pfitzner, the new Associate Minister of our partner church, St Alfred's in Blackburn North.

Mark Simon will lead our Holy Communion service, and Rene will preach.

We have commenced a new sermon series from the Old Testament book of Joshua called "The Promised Land"

Everyone is welcome!

Sunday January 16th 2022 - Andy Little (MAF) To Preach

We look forward to welcoming Andy Little (MAF) who will preach from Psalm 100.

Andy and his wife Mif are members at our partner church St Alfred's in Blackburn North.

Andy has worked as a Pilot for MAF in Arnhem Land and in PNG before moving to Mareeba, North Queensland where he is  helping to train student pilots.

All welcome!

Sundays in January 2022 - God Our Rock - A Series from Psalms

Welcome to church in January 2022!

We are holding our regular 9.30AM public worship services, welcoming everyone!

Our theme is "God - Our Rock" and we will be looking at different Psalms

As the covid19 pandemic continues, we acknowledge that God is our Rock.

Sunday November 28 - Peace and Hope

This Sunday we begin  Advent. 

Advent is a vital season in the church calendar when Christians focus on the coming birth of Jesus. Properly understood, Advent is about preparing ourselves in heart and mind to understand the significance of Jesus coming into the world.

Hope, love, joy and peace are the traditional themes of this season.

The first week we focus on Peace and Hope.

Our Associate Minister Rev Mark Simon will preach.

We continue to produce our weekly pre-recorded on-line service, and worship at home printed notes.

May you find time to reflect on the deeper meaning of Christmas this year.

Video Service

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/worship-at-home

Audio Sermons:

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/sermons

Promoting The Gospel - Sun November 21

Great news! We resumed public worship services  on  Sunday November 7, in accordance with the current covid19 restrictions.

We continue with our on-line recorded services.

This week our Senior Minister Rev Peter MacPherson preaches on the theme Promoting the Gospel

"How To Grow in Faith"

Video Service

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/worship-at-home

Audio Sermons:

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/sermons

Sunday October 3 On-Line Service - Living In Challenging Times

We continue to record the video services at our partner church, St Alfred's. You can watch or listen each week.

We conclude our series from the Old Testament book of Esther with the apt series title, “Living in Challenging Times.”

Rev Dr David Williams, preaches from Esther 9-10

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/worship-at-home

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/sermons

Covid19 Update - September 19 News

The Victorian State Government has continued the lockdown for Melbourne, for a further 6 weeks, and the plan to come out of lockdown will be cautious and gradual.

We are blessed to have the technology to connect on-line and continue church in this way.

We look forward to when we will meet in person, but until then, on-line it is! We invite you to listen to the audio sermons or watch the videos.

Victorian lockdown continues - on-line services only

On Monday August 16, the State Government extended the lockdown for another two weeks, with a further extension likely.

Therefore our services will remain on-line only. We continue to record the video services hosted on our web site, worship at home notes, and post the sermons as audio files.

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/worship-at-home

https://www.stlukesvermont.org.au/sermons

On Sunday Aug 22 we will begin a new series in from the Old Testament book of Esther with the apt series title, “Living in Challenging Times.” Why study Esther, you might ask? Here are some thoughts...

AUGUST 11 - Services remain SUSPENDED due to continuing Covid19 lockdown

Melbourne remains in covid19 lockdown - so we cannot hold public worship services Sunday Aug 15.

However, we will have our on-line video services and worship at home resources

We conclude our sermon series from Acts on the early church, entitled Jesus Is Lord, this week the theme is Peter Escapes, taken from Acts 12:1-24

9.30am Sunday Service resumes onsite from 1 August

With the easing of public health restrictions, St Luke's is resuming our 9.30am service.

This Sunday we continue our series on the Early Church, with Senior Minister Peter MacPherson preaching from Acts 11 where the Apostle Peter explains his vision.

ANZAC Day 2021

This Sunday April 25 we mark ANZAC Day during our 9.30AM service.

We pray that we, and all the people of Australia and New Zealand, gratefully remembering those who fought for our freedom, their courage and their sacrifice, may have grace to live in a spirit of justice, of generosity, and of peace.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   

(from Charles Sherlock, ‘Australian Anglicans Remember’ p.51).

A Great Celebration after Dedication of our New Facilities!

At long last, the day has come when we gathered together in worship and our new facilities were officially opened by our Regional Bishop Paul Barker.

After the ribbon cutting, prayers were offered to our God to give thanks for the new facilities.

We will soon have some more photos to share of this occasion.

The attached photo is from today's service (April 11 2021) with Bishop Paul Barker preaching.

Easter Services at St Luke's

9.30am Good Friday (Reflective service)

9.30am Easter Sunday (Communion service)

We enjoyed being able to meet and worship together in person this year after the long covid19 shutdown in Victoria last year. We are grateful to God and praise Him for our freedom to meet together.

Some 90 people attended our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services.

Church Working Bee Sat March 20

After the church park has been a building site for many months we are now restoring and replanting garden beds.

Saturday March 20 was a beautiful warm sunny Melbourne day, and with the kind help of our partner church St Alfred's we had a team of forty hard-working people to restore old garden beds and to create new garden beds, and general maintenance work on the property.

We were served a wonderful morning tea by equally hard-working people in our kitchen, and it was served in the proper covid19 safety approved manner.

Car Park Now Finished

We are delighted to report that the car park is now open and being used for parking for church services and by the ballet school parents.

Traffic management on site is much safer by having clearly marked one way direction arrows.

Enter from Canterbury Rd, and exit onto Mitcham Rd.

We have two large spaces for disabled access.

We invite you to come along to our Sunday 9.30AM services!

Moving Forward Building Project

St. Luke’s is undergoing a property makeover to provide better community facilities. Construction work is about to start on what is being called the Moving Forward project to enhance people’s experience of coming to St. Luke’s.  

The car park is being expanded and paved. New indoor toilets are being built providing disabled amenities. As well there will be easier access to the building for wheelchairs and those with disabilities. It’s hoped the works will be completed before the end of the year.

Moving Forward Building Project

Improving our facilities for the Vermont community.

Prayer And Scripture for This troubled time

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, healer and friend, come and care for all of us through the danger anduncertainty of the coronavirus epidemic. To people who are sick, bring healing. To people who are displaced, isolated, or cut off from family, friends or work, bring comfort andcompanionship.

Sunday March 15 - Lent Sermon Series

We started our short series called "The Young Jesus" as recorded in the Gospel of Luke 2-3.

You can listen to the sermon by clicking the link below

We looked Jesus as a baby being presented to the Lord in the Temple, as required by Old Testament Law, and how the devout Simeon, full of the Holy Spirit recognised the child as the long-promised Messiah.

BBQ Dinner February 22nd with Greg Sheridan

On Sat February 22nd about 250 people enjoyed a wonderful evening at St Alfred's with a BBQ followed by a fascinating talk from noted journalist and The Australian Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan.

Greg spoke about his latest book: God is Good For you: A defence of Christianity in troubled times

A Prayer For Australia Day

We bless you, God of the Universe, for this land, for its contrasts of landscape and climate, for its abundance of wealth and opportunity. We bless you for our history, with all its struggles in adversity, its courage and hope. Give us in our diversity tolerance and respect for each other and a passionate commitment to justice for all. Bless us so that we might be a blessing to others. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

A Prayer For Australia in Drought and Fire

A Prayer For Australia In Drought And Fire
Our heavenly Father, creator of all things and especially the creator of this land and its original peoples, we call out to you in these desperate times as fires have swept across several parts of our country. Our hearts cry out to you for those who have lost loved ones, and those who have lost properties in the wake of these ravaging fires.
 

New Sermon Series - Solomon and The Kingdom of God

Sunday January 5 2020 we began a new sermon series called "Solomon and the Kingdom of God" based on 1 Kings 1-11

King Solomon takes over from his father King David and Israel is at a critical time in its history.

What's That Got to do with Christmas? Sun Dec 22 5PM

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, about 125 adults and 35 children enjoyed a wonderful drama and carols service - a terrific cast of 13 talented kids told the story of Christmas

You can still see this performance at our partner church St Alfred's on Christmas Eve at 5PM

Explore Christmas

Welcome to Church! This morning we begin a new  series called "Explore Christmas ". This series will focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

Our Associate Minister Rev Mark Simon will lead the service and our Senior minister Rev Peter MacPherson will preach from the passages Luke 1:1-4 and John 20:24-31 with the theme of Is Christmas Believable?

Everyone is welcome! We have refreshments after the service, and we would love to spend time with you.

Sunday October 20th St Luke's Day

We had a wonderful morning to celebrate St Luke's Day!

Our Associate minister Rev Mark Simon (both pictured) led the service and our Senior Minister Rev Peter MacPherson preached from the passage Philippians 3:10-21 with the theme of Transformed In Christ.

Sunday September 15th New Sermon Series - The Christian Life

Together with our partner church St Alfred's at Blackburn North we began a new eight week sermon series called The Christian Life  based from Paul's letter to the Philippians.

We will consider what it means to be a Christian and what changes occur in life when you become a Christian. You are encouraged to use the "Discipleship Explored" resource which goes through Philippians

Saturday September 14th Men's Brunch

On Saturday September 14th about 50 men of all ages met over a wonderful breakfast at St Alfred's Anglican church, our partner church,and then heard an inspiring and challenging discussion on the Lobbe family's story of living with mental illness.

It is an amazing story of resilience and at times was raw with emotion but ultimately a great story of family, friendship and community support

Men's BBQ Grill Sat September 7 5pm-7pm

As part of the Explore series  at our partner church St Alfred's, we  joined with the men of St Alfred's for a Men's BBQ Grill! 

We heard from Andrew Grills during the evening. Andrew has spent most of his life as an officer in the Australian Army. Graduating with the Sword of Honour from the Australian Defence Force Academy, he served in Infantry and Intelligence, including several visits to the Middle East, operations in East Timor with the commandos and a postgraduate degree in International Relations from Oxford University. Andrew later became an Army Chaplain at the Australian Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka, before leaving the full time Army in 2013 to plant a new church in Geelong with City on a Hill. The church began with 8 adults and in God's grace has now grown to a community of more than 400 people and is in the process of planting a new church of its own. Andrew has been married to his beautiful wife Danna for 20 years and has five young children. He loves the ocean, travelling, playing with his kids (including attending their innumerable sporting matches) and reading military history. 

Life Explored

On July 21 we started a special new 7 week series called Life Explored. 

Life Explored is an informal and relaxed seven week course. Its for anyone who wants to find contentment and happiness in life. Its run by ordinary Christian people local to you and is completely free. You don't need to know anything about the Bible, and you won't be asked to pray or sing. You can ask any question you like, or you can just sit and listen. Whoever you are, whatever you're thinking Life Explored is a place for you to discover the greatest gift in the Universe.

Men's Brunch Saturday May 25

Sixty five men, ranging from 15yo to 90yo met over a delicious brunch and then listened to an energised and inspired Max Meyers talk about "lessons from Life"

We met at our partner church St Alfred's in Blackburn North.

Stay tuned for details about a weekend Men's camp in August at Marysville.

The next Men's brunch will be 14th September.

See the attached file for upcoming dates!

You can listen to the talk here:  https://www.stalfreds.org/sermons/mens-brunch-with-max-meyers/

New Sermon Series-Sermon on the Mount

Our new sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. These chapters are often thought of as containing the essence of Jesus’ teaching. People who are not Christians will sometimes refer to Jesus as a great teacher, thinking about his emphasis on mercy, love, peace and turning the other cheek. But how many have actually read the Sermon on the Mount and heard the call to “the narrow road that leads to life” (Mt 7:14)? What does he mean about building your house on rock? Or storing up treasures in heaven? These are challenging chapters indeed. This will be a great series for anyone thinking about Christianity.

Evening with Ken Fish - Saturday April 27

Evening with Ken Fish, Healing Evangelist with Kingdom Fire Ministries USA

Ken preaches all around the world and is a frequent visitor to Australia and to St Alfred's, in particular

Our partner church, St Alfred's Anglican Church, Blackburn North, hosted this special event.

There was an open invitation to hear Ken speak and to take part in a time of worship, teaching and ministry.

Ken has a background in Vineyard Church and leads conferences on Healing, Inner Healing, Deliverance, Healing Sexual Brokenness, Prophecy, Signs and Wonders and Hearing God’s voice. He is passionate about Healing and Evanglism.

Explore Easter - Sunday April 21 - Easter Sunday!

Welcome to St Luke's this morning. Easter Sunday  is a special day in that we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Our Associate Minister, Rev Mark Simon led the service and preached on Why Does The Resurrection Matter? taken from Mark 16 : 1-8

We were treated to a laughter and fun filled I Spy Children's holiday program presentation during the service!

Good Friday April 19 - Explore Easter with Bishop Paul Barker

Easter is a special time for the Christian churches!

 For Good Friday  we especially welcomed Bishop Paul Barker to our service, who preached on the topic Why the Cross Matters - taken from Mark 15: 1-47

Rev Mark Simon Commissioned!

The Rev Mark Simon was commissioned as Associate Minister for St Luke's Anglican Church, Vermont on Sunday April 14 2019 by our Senior Minister Rev Peter MacPherson.

Today was a special service in the life of our church, and in the partnership with St Alfred's.

Mark is pictured on the right.

FINAL Service for our Associate Minister Rev Brian Westaway

Last Sunday, Feb 24th, our service was led by Rev Brian Westaway, and the sermon given by our Senior Pastor, Rev Peter MacPherson.

Some 70 people attended a wonderful service, where we heard a great message from Peter about investing your skills and time for the furthering of God's work, and the great joy that brings.

We farewelled Brian and Judy Westaway after the service with a special morning tea. It was really a lunch - lots of food to share.

We  presented them with a gift and a large card, to thank them for their wonderful leadership, faithful Christian ministry and their friendship to us all.

New Sermon Series - Essentials for life.

Sunday February 10th we commenced a new five week series called "Essentials for Life".

You might describe these essentials with words like belonging, growing, serving, reaching out and loving. They could also be described with words like connectedness or membership, maturity, ministry, mission and worship.

 This series will lay an important foundation for the rest of the year. It will remind you of why we are church and what really matters. We strongly encourage you to attend or listen to the sermons of each of the five Sundays. We think you will find it refreshing, challenging and encouraging.

A Wonderful Week At Raymond Island!

Fri Dec 28 2018 – Fri Jan 4 2019

About 30 adults and 7 children thoroughly enjoyed  our week away in the magnificent grounds on “The Abbey” Raymond Island, Gippsland Lakes. It wasa  great opportunity for relaxation and fellowship for all ages – everyone is always made welcome. The Abbey is set on several acres of open bushland where koalas, echidnas and kangaroos are frequent visitors and the birdlife chorus provides the island’s soundtrack.

New Sermon Series - The Beginning of the Gospel

Following our lead-in to Christmas 2018 with our Surprise! series, we have begun a new series called The Beginning of theGospel, with the text from Mark.

All our sermons are available on our web site Sermons page and we encourage you to listen to the whole series.

100th Armistice Day Prayer and Reflection

From Peter MacPherson, our Senior Minister

This Sunday marks the centenary of the end of World War 1.  The Armistice was signed at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 thus bringing hostilities to an end. Historians estimate that 15-20 million people had died because of the war. The scale of death is beyond comprehension.

We rightly pause to mark this centenary in 2018. It’s a moment to give thanks but also a moment to reflect. Sadly the last 100 years suggest that humans continue to find it impossible to live at peace with one another.

You might find it helpful to pray the following prayer:

St Luke’s Day Was A Great Celebration Sunday 21 October, 2018!

We as the current church community at St Luke's Vermont, together with about 12 past members celebrated together St Luke's Day - the 111th at Vermont, from our beginning in 1907 to the present

St Luke’s Working Bee Sat July 7

Thanks to everyone who came along! Despite the wet and cold weather we had an enthusiastic group of people come and share the load.