Mill Park Baptist Church began its history in 1988 with a small group of people meeting together, founded by Pastor Gary McGinty. Many of those who formed the fledgling church came from the then Greensborough (now Diamond Valley) Baptist Church.
Our early years were characterised by powerful prayer and rapid growth. We first met in a local primary school, then the local YMCA, before moving into our own building at 11 Morang Drive — which was later extended into the large auditorium we meet in today. Pastor Geoff Shepherd was appointed Senior Pastor in 2006, and has now been the Senior Pastor for over 20 years.
For over 37 years, Mill Park Baptist Church has had a heart for this community. That's shown up in practical ways — through The SHAK, providing meals with a purpose to those in need, through RIOT Youth, investing in the next generation, and through countless other initiatives that have made a difference in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
Again and again, God has shown Himself faithful — and we're just getting started.
Our Purpose
We exist to sow seeds of faith in Jesus, grow to maturity in him, and multiply the kingdom of God.
Our Vision — the church we want to be
GENEROUS. We yearn for all of us as individuals, in groups and teams and families, and as a whole community, to be increasingly radically and extravagantly generous and selfless.
INSPIRED. We thirst to be a group of people who are more and more passionate about their relationship with Jesus and all that entails - in living, giving, serving, and worshipping - so that, both individually and corporately, we are inspired and inspiring.
MULTI-ETHNIC. We love being a multi-ethnic church, with people from many different nations in our family - we desire all the more of this, and to have our multi-ethnicity vitally involved in all aspects of our church, including our leadership.
OUTWARD-LOOKING. We acknowledge that our church does not exist "for us", but that it is our community where we gather, meet, interact, and are energised by God together; and then we are released into our everyday circles and influence them with the love of Jesus - we are desperate for this recognition and passion to progressively infect all that we are and do.
SPIRIT-FILLED. We long to be a church where, in a growing way, the Holy Spirit is given no limitations, where he is free to move in and change us whenever and however he chooses, and where all his gifts operate in complete freedom.
Our Values
BIBLICAL TRUTH. We place the highest value on God's word (the Bible) and its central message of the good news of Jesus Christ, and we want to be consumed with a desire to know, love and live it, whatever the cost to us.
CELEBRATION. We gladly accept that life is to be lived with God at its centre, and will strive to ensure our daily lives are true expressions of uninhibited and joyful worship of God, as we have fun, laugh, and celebrate together.
DISCIPLESHIP. We endeavour to lay down our desires, dreams, and plans and follow God's plans for our lives and our church, seeking to be led by the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives, and we take seriously Jesus' command to make disciples; we're disciples making disciples.
FAMILY. We support and affirm the God-given value of marriage and family relationships, we seek to be a family connection for all those who are part of our church, we love showing love, grace, and care for each other whatever our origins or backgrounds, and we welcome newcomers as if they were old friends.
INTEGRITY. We seek honesty and the highest ethical and moral standards in our own lives and in our church as a whole, especially modelled and demonstrated in our leadership.
MISSION. We are passionately focused on people around us an in all the world who do not yet know Jesus, always seeking to find appropriate, relevant, and innovative ways to communicate the good news to them.
PRAYER. We believe that prayer is vital, a powerful foundation of our relationship with God, and we want to be a people radically devoted to prayer - individually, in groups, and corporately.