WSCCC

cp11 is an English congregation of the West Sydney Chinese Christian Church (WSCCC), and commenced in June 2005.

Our origins as a branch of CCC

WSCCC was established in 1978 as a branch of the Chinese Christian Church (CCC), Milsons Point. It was only the third Chinese church in Sydney, and was set up with the vision to reach out with the gospel of Jesus to the inner western suburbs. Five families, including twelve children, set out to form the congregation, meeting for the first year in the Burwood Gospel Chapel.

Those five families were those of Colman Chan, Peter Chen, Pak Chu, Hock Leng Hiu, and Kim Bew Lim, plus Annie Shen and Eugenia Koeppen, with Rev. Wilfred Chee as pastor.

It is a testament to God’s grace that all five of those families remain involved in the church, and those twelve children are now actively involved in Christian ministry around the world. Six of those twelve are still serving in WSCCC: Ruth Choong, Andrew Chen, Desmond Chu, Lawrence Tan, Irene Nicholson, and David Chew.

   
The mother church, Chinese Christian Church, Milsons Point, and the site of our first days as a branch church at Burwood Gospel Chapel

Growth at Strathfield

The church moved to the first of its current premises at Strathfield in 1979, and became independent of its mother church in 1982. Over the following years, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English services developed, and currently there are eight separate services each Sunday.

WSCCC Strathfield

The first English service began in 1983, along with its Youth Fellowship. The English congregation has had a rich heritage of evangelical teaching from the Bible throughout its history. We have had five ministers: Wilfred Chee, Joe Mock, Edison Wee, Bruce Dipple, and Mark Boyley. Even during periods without a full-time minister there was great growth, with strong support from the staff of Sydney Missionary and Bible College (SMBC). An evening English service was started in 1991.

Planting of new churches

In keeping with our vision to reach out with the gospel to different parts of Sydney, WSCCC has established three church plants over the years, in the Hills District, in Auburn, and a Cantonese congregation in Croydon Park.

55 Boyle St, the first site of cp11

Establishment of cp11

cp11 (Croydon Park at 11am) commenced in 2005 in Boyle St, Croydon Park, as a relocation of the English evening service, under the guidance of Rev. Dr Bruce Dipple. It has seen remarkable growth as a congregation through strategies for outreach as well as an ethos of growth of its members. We have a strong association with the nearby Sydney Missionary and Bible College, where some of our members are students, as well as lecturers. Several SMBC students have their course field work based at cp11.

The inaugural service of cp11, in June 2005

In 2006, with the growth of cp11, the church purchased a second property – at Violet St, Croydon Park – which is the current home of the cp11 congregation. This has seen an expansion of many new ministries, such as the growing Sunday service, children’s ministries, fellowship events, and training seminars. In 2008, Mark Boyley joined us as our new pastor.

There are also ministry strategies reach out to the local area by engaging the community and culture with the gospel.

cp11 at the corner of Boyle and Violet Sts, Croydon Park

A tradition of serving in ministry

WSCCC has had a strong tradition of theological training and serving in ministry. This has been through training courses as well as theological colleges. Many from our congregation have become ministers, such as:

• Eugene Hor, minister at Gracepoint
• Andrew Hong, minister at Northern Districts Chinese Christian Church
• Brian Tung, minister at Sydney Metro Christian Church
• Iru Wongso, Beverly Hills Chinese Baptist Church
• Elim Hiu, pastor at Christ Evangelical Centre of Australia
• Ernest Chiang, pastor at Christ Evangelical Centre of Australia
• Tom Tokura, minister at Chinese Christian Church, Milson’s Point
• Donald Yee, minister at OCM Boon Church, Flushing, New York

Yet others continue in theological training and ministry in many churches across Sydney. There is also a healthy culture of the general congregation training in lay ministries.

We are also blessed to have an academic theological ethos, with several members of our congregation becoming lecturers at Bible colleges:

• Sam Chan teaches theology, ethics and preaching at SMBC
• Peter Lau teaches Old Testament at SMBC
• Rolf Lepelaar teaches Bible and ministry at Phnom Penh Bible College
• Bruce Dipple joined us in 2005, and is head of the School of Cross Cultural Missions at SMBC

We have also had a strong emphasis on global missions, with several families nurtured and sent from our congregation, including:

• Phil and Irene Nicholson (in Taiwan with OMF)
• Lawrence and Liling Tan (in Bolivia with SIM)
• Rolf and Bonnie Lepelaar (in Cambodia with CMS)
• Wayne and Angela Chen (in Taiwan with OMF)
• Alex Fung (in Japan as Ministry Intern with OMF)
• Bian Tan (recently retired from serving in Spain with WEC)

Many from our congregation have undertaken short-term missions around the world, and more recently we had short-term mission teams sent from our church to Central Asia and Taiwan.