2023 ANNUAL REPORT

G’day Lifestreams family,

I hope that this Annual Report finds you and your family well. In this report I would like to give you a snapshot of some of the milestones and achievements, thank some people and also look ahead to a new year.

THANK YOU…

I want to start by thanking all of the people that make up the heart and soul of this place.  The people who embody, resource and seek to live out the core values and the mission of our church.  Our Servant Leaders (the Board), thank you!  You govern diligently and it’s a pleasure to serve Jesus alongside you.  The Shepherding Elders, thank you! Your, physical, mental and spiritual care of our people is beautiful and inspiring.  My staff, thank you!  Your sacrifice and hard work does not go unnoticed.  Thank you for playing your part in the bigger picture of what God is doing in and through this place.  Our Vision Partners and leaders (You), thank you!  In a time when commitment to a local church is waning I honour you for your willingness to turn up, serve, pray, give and live out the mission of this church.  Without you all, Lifestreams would not be.  THANK YOU!

MILESTONES & ACHIEVEMENTS: 2023

• We enjoyed a year of not being too interrupted by Covid;
• We had 6 baptisms.  Please continue to pray for revival renewal and more baptisms;
• Our campus continues to be alive with the hustle and bustle of people, not only on a Sunday but also during the week. We are blessed to share the South Perth Campus with fantastic organisations like Bethanie Aged Care, Masters and Co Psychology, Sonshine FM, Alta-1, Lifestreamers Early Learning, The Loop Café, Lifestreams Global Family and Lifestreams Karawara;
• Lifestreams Community Services met the needs of many in our community through the programs that it offers throughout the week.  Thank you for your generous over and above donations to this vital ministry;
• Our Beyond Ministry serves a number of missional partners throughout the world.  Again your over and above generous offerings makes this possible;

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES ACHIEVED:

• Helping People Find Jesus:  Bedding the B.L.E.S.S framework down into the life of the church and in our Ministries.  We also ran ALPHA in Term 2;
• Helping People Follow Jesus:  Appointed and empowered Brian Durand to lead discipleship in the life of the church.  We finished a review of our discipleship framework and relaunched it in October;
• Helping People Lead like Jesus: Our intern for 2023 was Josh Riches.  Josh was an outstanding intern who was very intentional about getting the most out the internship and he also blessed the church in the many ways that he served;
• Breaking New Ground:  We continued to explore the possibilities of refurbishing our bathrooms and foyer. Continued to chat and pray into our next Church Plant.  Bull Creek is flourishing under Mel Crothers’ leadership and her team; and
• Creating a Healthy Leadership Culture: As a ministry team we visited Bassendean Church of Christ to hear their expansion story and their hearts for inspiration and ideas.  We were also intentional about having our Leadership Culture front and centre in our conversations;
• A Church of Kingdom Influence: A number of our staff serve the wider body of Christ in our state.  Grace Cook directs “Edge Camp” (state youth camp) and is on the Next Gen Committee at Churches of Christ in WA,  David Stanford convenes and champions the South Perth Ministers group, Brian Durand serves Lifestreams Karawara and oversees Lifestreams Bentley, Liz Roberts preaches regularly at Eagles City Church, Daron Crothers is the Church Planting Coordinator at Churches of Christ in WA, Mel Crothers is a Compassion Australia Advocate and in 2023 I accepted the role of Chair of Churches of Christ in WA;
• Christmas Festival which included our basketball wind-up and our Lifestreamers Early Learning concert was once again a fantastic space to connect with our community;

STAFFING UPDATE:

• Michael Ellery resigned as our Multi Media Co-Ordinator;
• Tam Jones was appointed as our Creative Ministries Director;
• Daniel Kitlar was appointed as our Facilities and Technical Co-Ordinator;
• Rick Pekan resigned as the Beyond Minister and Luke Tassell recommenced in the role in January 2024; and
• At the end of 2023 and early 2024 I took some long service leave.  This marked 28 years of being on staff here at Lifestreams.  Thank you for this opportunity to refresh and recalibrate.

LOOKING AHEAD: 2024

• Praying for renewal, revival and for more people to Find and Follow Jesus;
• Turning up the temperature of Prayer in the life of the church.  Praying and working with our intercessors to figure out what 24/7 prayer looks like here at South Perth and working towards an accessible dedicated prayer space on our campus;
• We hope to make some progress on our bathroom refurb and start to dream about our next major development on our campus;
• We will be running Alpha in Term 2 and making available Alpha Marriage and Alpha Parenting;
• Recruiting Lead interns;
• Praying into our next Church Plant; and
• Continue to pray and discuss specifically with Mel Crothers, Bull Creek Leadership team and congregation about what they are sensing moving forward.  Options are to stay as we are, be open to God doing something that we haven’t thought of yet or to cut the cord and Bull Creek to go alone.

I would love to leave with you this Scripture from 1 Peter 4:7-11
"Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!" (The Message)

Peter is urging us the church to take nothing for granted, to PRAY, LOVE and LIVE, so that God’s Bright Presence will be evident in everything.  In other words, HE gets all the GLORY!

Let’s seek to continue to live this way as we embark on another season of what God has in store for us here at Lifestreams.

Praying God’s best for you and your family.

Rod Thom

Disciple of Jesus, Husband, Father and Senior Minister

SERVANT LEADERSHIP TEAM CHAIRPERSON’S Report

CREATIVE MINISTRIES Report

"We were encouraged by the story of our friend Sam Wainaina, who tuned into Church Online in Africa with his family and then, when he moved to Perth for studies, joined our congregation in the room.  This makes all our technical efforts worth it and our team definitely celebrated!"



- Tam Jones, Creative Ministries Director

PRAYER & PASTORAL CARE Report

"I thank God that many of you pray, either alone or in groups, for so many different areas of our church and beyond; for people to find and follow Jesus. Prayer is crucial for building up the body and for the conversion
and transformation of people and our community."



- David Stanford, Associate Minister

GENERATIONS & YOUNG ADULTS Report

"The young adults were also encouraged to commit to a Belong group; a place where they could grow and be encouraged in a smaller context."



- Brian Durand, Generations & YA Minister

DISCIPLESHIP Report

After two years of prayerful review our ministry team finalised and presented the refreshed discipleship framework to the church. We’ve maintained the imagery of a tree and streams of living water, and simplified the concept into three areas: Being Vitally Connected, Being Spiritually Formed, and Living Our Mission. We trust that this language and imagery will serve our church for the current season as we go about our mission of helping people find and follow Jesus.

Throughout the year we facilitated a number of activities to help our community in their discipleship to Jesus.  We ran three retreats which explored the topics of prayer, spiritual formation and the Holy Spirit. We also hosted a number of courses on Wednesday evenings during the school term: the Prayer Course, What to say after you say hello, Alpha, Soul Care and Thrive.

With the refreshed framework in place, the plan for 2024 is to focus on resourcing and equipping our congregation. There’ll be an emphasis on Being Vitally Connected to Jesus; the source of life- the author and perfecter of our faith. 

Brian Durand

Minister Generations and Young Adults

YOUTH MINISTRY Report

"New faces became part of our community, and those who had been with us for a long time graduated into new chapters of their lives. Our dedicated leaders served with passion, intentionality and love, exemplifying the privilege it is to be part of youth ministry and witness God's transformative work in our church."

- Grace Cook, Youth Minister

SPORTS MINISTRY Report

"We had 20 teams and approximately 160 children participating in the junior basketball competition over the course of 2023 ranging from Under 9’s right through to U17’s. Whilst there are some families from our church community, the majority are from the wider community."



- Deb Barnes, Basketball Ministry Coordinator

CHILDREN'S MINISTRY Report

"It's such a joy to witness families coming together, offering each other support and encouragement as we guide our children in their journey to find and follow Jesus. As we look to the year ahead, we're excited to welcome many new families into our community."



- Bec Ellery, Children's Minister

LEAD Report

'The LEAD Community offers leadership development opportunities for those leading in Lifestreams ministries and in the marketplace, equipping people for leadership as they go and encouraging them to live out His calling in their current sphere."

- Grace Cook, LEAD Coordinator

COMMUNITY Report

"Our community ministry area is definitely gaining more presence in our wider community. This area is made up of both Community Services and other Community outreach initiatives including our BLESS outreach strategy. I would like to say a big thankyou to the great staff and volunteers who work to love and bless our community every day."



- Liz Roberts, Community Minister

BEYOND Report

"One of the biggest highlights was finally welcoming some of our overseas family to visit us in person. In September, we held the first LGF (Lifestreams Global Family) face-to-face meetings, where Min Raj from Nepal and Efren from the Philippines joined us and shared at both of our South Perth and Bull Creek campuses."

- Luke Tassell, Beyond Minister

LIFESTREAMS GLOBAL FAMILY Report

"We have come to adopt the expression that LGF is the Church Planting Movement of Lifestreams; One family, many locations. By God’s grace, we have networked 366+ churches in 7 different nations. Thank you to all who have prayed and sowed financially into the ministry of LGF."

- Daron Crothers, LGF Team Leader

LIFESTREAMERS EARLY LEARNING Report

"Five of our families welcomed new babies and we are looking forward to having them join us in 2024. We also welcomed over 20 new families into our community and have enjoyed getting to know all the little personalities, that keep us on our toes."

- Jen Hamilton, Centre Manager

2023 was yet another fantastic year of re-establishment and the beginning of new growth for Lifestreams Bull Creek.

COMMUNITY & BEYOND

• The year started with Bull Creek sending off its first missionaries to the field as we farewelled the Eow family to Japan. The Eows were of course a big part of Lifestreams South Perth for many years and then came over to Bull Creek at the start of our relaunch in 2022. They quickly became a well-loved part of the Bull Creek family and many keep regular contact with them.
• The start of the school year brought opportunity to come alongside the Bull Creek Primary School chaplain. We were able to help a single mum with some major pastoral care needs and to connect with the staff through some special morning teas throughout the year.
• Prayer has always been a strong part of the DNA of Bull Creek with a faithful group meeting every Tuesday morning. This year saw the addition of a weekly Saturday prayer walking group lead by Lee Mei. This small group are committed to praying throughout the local streets and when the opportunity arises, chat to locals who cross their path. People from other local churches have also started to join this group.
• Another highlight was our Operation Christmas Child campaign. Not only did this year see the most shoeboxes ever collected at Bull Creek (over 115) but many of non-believing families from Playgroup and Messy Church also contributed boxes and were impacted by the heart of this ministry. Thanks to Sherryl Bennett for her coordination.

DISCIPLESHIP

• We saw the launch of Youth Sessions on Sunday mornings. Every third Sunday high-schoolers and older teens go out with a couple of leaders during the message time of the service to have their own teaching and discussion time. We have also had a couple of social times outside of church for them to get to know each other more.
• In June we ran our first Alpha Course with 5 participants plus leaders. It was a wonderful time as we shared each week over a meal and then watched the videos. At the end of the 8 weeks, it was a delight to baptise one of the participants and see a couple of others recommit their lives to Christ. 
• We started several new Belong Groups in order that everyone might have the opportunity to be part of a group and grow in their discipleship. This was highlighted as we officially launched the Kingdom Life Discipleship ministry in the last months of 2023.

LIFESTREAMERS

• Lifestreamers at Bull Creek continues to grow under the leadership of Victoria Bell. It’s hard to believe only 2 years ago there was often just one child and now there can sometimes be as many as 20!
• Some highlights

- A short series on “and Jesus grew” with kids committing to pray for their own growing more like Jesus in the four areas;

- BLESS focus throughout the year with kids regularly sharing who they were praying for, listening to, eating with, serving and sharing stories with;

- Lifestreamers intentionally asking after each other when someone is away shows a growing connection; and

- Praying for people in the wider community as well as the Eow family in Japan.

MESSY CHURCH

• 2023 was a great year for Messy Church that saw a deepening of relationships in both the adults and the kids. A couple of examples are:

- A new “anti-church” dad who comes with his son and used to just hover now enjoys chatting to some of our men; and

- Our kids intentionally asking their (non-Christian) friends from school to attend with them and those friends becoming regular attenders.

• It was exciting to watch as the kids put the BLESS principles into practice through sharing stories and the Gospel.
• We were able to support and love on families in crisis including one mum with a terminal diagnosis.
• This year we added a prayer focus to the night and intentionally asked people to share their prayers.

PLAYGROUP

• Our weekly playgroup continues to bless the local community with a relaxed, welcoming space for pre-schoolers and their care-givers.
• Our small, dedicated team have big hearts and are committed to helping families from the community feel this is a safe space for them.
• With the singing of ‘grace’ each week, offers of prayer and invitations to church events such as Easter and Christmas services, we continue to pray for people to find and follow Jesus.

UPGRADES

• Improvements to the property continued throughout the year with the most significant being a major refresh of cafe area. With new flooring, additional sound dampening and more places to sit and chat, we’ve certainly noticed people lingering longer on a Sunday morning. Many of our internal groups and external hirers have also appreciated the fresh upgrade.

We praise God for all these things and more that God has done in and through Lifestreams Bull Creek in 2023.  I want to thank Victoria Bell and Hazel Hatfield for giving their time each week to children/families and admin respectively as well as the countless others who give of their time and talents to make this vibrant church community what it is.

All glory to God!

Mel Crothers

Team Leader - Bull Creek