Mal Graetz and Kym Smith took on leadership responsibilities for the Melbourne Street Jesus House after Trevor and Maureen Harris’s departure. The Lord showed the group how important discipline, authority and leadership were - in love. 

 

Jenny Riemann and Mal Graetz were engaged mid January with plans to marry in January 1976. Jenny went to Whyalla in 1975 to fulfil her primary teaching obligations with the State Government Education Department.

 

By the end of January different circumstances brought together a meeting of Christians involved with the “Jesus Centre”, the “Genesis” group and others who had an interest and conviction about becoming a Christian community. The Genesis group which was associated with Scripture Union, was led by Gary Althorpe, and, at that time was meeting in a house at 61 Sydenham Road, Norwood. The outcome was a recognition of six elders. With much prayer and sharing, different issues such as commitment, worship, various ministries and body life were worked through. It was decided to cancel all meetings and programs in both groups and seek God on how He wanted us all to relate together.

 

At the end of February, a retreat was held for those who wanted to be part of the body to work out what that commitment meant. At the retreat, it was decided that the group should begin to meet in the Melbourne Street Methodist Church hall on Sundays at 10:30am with a lunch to follow in the Jesus House. It was important for all the family to come together for worship, sharing, exhortation, teaching and prayer. It was also agreed that Mal Graetz become a full-time worker and be paid a modest salary while living in the Jesus House at 134 Melbourne Street.

 

Two house gatherings began at 134 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide and at 61 Sydenham Road, Norwood. These ran concurrently on Wednesday nights. The basic purpose was for personal sharing and prayer for those who felt called to the body. The One Way Drop Inn opened again on Saturday nights and was one part of the overall ministry. 

 

Kym Smith and Elaine Wilson who were living at the Melbourne Street Jesus House were unexpectedly engaged. Kym went to live at the Norwood house until they were married in July. They then relocated to Mt. Gambier as Kym was offered work there as a telephone technician with the government (PMG).

 

In April, Beryl Schaefer left her nursing job and also became a full-time worker at the Jesus Centre. In May, Ian and Olga DeBoar, Genevieve Sheldrick and Barbara Rogalla moved into the Melbourne Street house. In June, Tom Ryan came back to live after working on a farm in the country for a time.

 

John and Heather Matthews, Sharon Langford, Min Mei, Bill Van derKnaap and Kym Smith were part of the Norwood community house. Anne and Russell Bartlett lived in the house for 4 months. 

This was Anne’s account of that time:

At 61 Sydenham Road visitors were welcome, and there was plenty of through traffic. Meetings took place in the front lounge, and we held a regular women’s Bible study. We thrived on coping with the unexpected; I remember one memorable household dinner that began with five adults and ended up with twenty.  

However, for various reasons living at Norwood with a baby was difficult, partly because Russell was coming to terms with an enormous new job with no training, and there was little time or even physical space for family privacy. It was a relief to relinquish our pride and move into our own house ‘up the road’ in April 1975. We were well supported by the Jesus Centre community who helped us with taming an overgrown back yard, and then, mainly through Trevor Harris, refurbishing our kitchen, and extending the back of our house.

Meanwhile our commitment to the community remained strong, with shared worship, teaching and meals. Russell, at the grand age of twenty-four, was on the Jesus Centre eldership, with a strong sense of pastoral responsibility, and AFES staff-work sometimes took him away from home. With a second pregnancy I found myself increasingly based at home (only one car per family in those days!). Our open house policy and connections with students meant there were plenty of visitors, but my friendship with Maureen Harris was particularly important during this time, as we shared overlaps in our first two pregnancies. We spent a lot of time solving problems over our knitting, and Mennonite cooking was high on the agenda.

 

It was decided that the name “Jesus Centre” be retained by the group overall. Gary Althorpe moved on to other ministry opportunities after the Genesis group ceased by name. Gordon Fry continued in a full time capacity working with the Jesus Centre and had a broader ministry to the churches in South Australia. The South Australian Baptist Union recognized the Jesus Centre as “acceptable Christian service” for Gordon as a Baptist minister.

 

With the addition of families with children, it raised the issue of how they relate with the group consisting mainly of single people. The group explored how pastoral oversight worked with the appointment of elders.

 

In the later half of 1975, the house at 138 Melbourne Street was leased and became an extension of the Jesus House. The two households accommodated up to eleven people.

 

From the 17-21 July, teaching sessions were held in Adelaide as various church and community groups hosted Os Guinness’s visit to Adelaide. [see "Photos 1975" for more detail] 

 

At the end of August, Gordon, Beryl, Mal and Jenny Riemann went to Sydney for a ‘post Os Guinness Strategy Conference’ held at ‘The House of the New World’ in West Ryde. They got to meet other brothers and sisters from across Australia who shared similar dreams to the Jesus Centre.

 

Excerpts from the editorial of the January ‘76 edition of 'Adelaide Jesus Paper' helps to sum up a renewed mindset in 1975:

New insights and understanding has been gained and emphases have changed. Christian community and lifestyle, the question of balance and the fundamentals of the grace of God have been some of the key issues.

God has particularly used the ministry of two men to challenge and stimulate us. They are the Rev. Geoffrey Bingham and Os Guinness.

Geoffrey Bingham is well known in South Australia and beyond for his forthright and clear Bible teaching. His well-balanced Biblical understanding includes: what God is about in history and eternity; the Kingdom of God; the role and purpose of man and woman; fully knowing the Father experientially, total forgiveness and freedom from guilt resulting from the finished work at the Cross....

Our doctrinal stance has been challenged afresh illuminating the extremes into which both ‘charismatic’ and ‘evangelical’ Christians can so easily be led.

Os Guinness visited Australia in June/July 1975. One of his burdens was that Christians should love God with all their mind as well as with their heart, soul and strength. In saying this he no way underemphasised the latter. He said that for a balanced Christianity, the mind and intellect must be used under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and that Christians must not be sucked into the extremes of either solely an ‘intellectual’ or ‘experience’ orientated faith. He also underlined the importance of Christians understanding the world around them - that is, understanding secular thought and relating to non-Christians at their own level. He encouraged us to be radical disciples who as the people of God in Christian communities, should speak ‘collectively’ to the world.

The past year has been a real challenge to us in functioning as a local church body. It has meant that we have grappled with many vital issues. Much has been learnt while venturing into new areas of body life ministry, evangelism, pastoral care and family worship.

Along with the growing pains, we have been encouraged and excited at the potential due to gifts and abilities which God has distributed amongst those in our group of about 30 committed brothers and sisters.

 

In September, the Jesus Centre held a retreat at Hawthorn Farm, Mt. Barker. A small group went to Karoonda to assist in their Sunday School Anniversary in October.  Peter King had contact with many farmers in South Australia because of his work in the Department of Agriculture.

 

The One Way Drop Inn opened on Saturday mornings with the beginning of the Melbourne Street markets which began in September. The street was lined with stalls, and live music attracted crowds to Melbourne Street. Our properties were in the centre of the hive of activities. [see "Photos 1975"]

 

On the 4th December, Jesus Centre people participated in a political ralliy giving out tracts, holding banners and chatting to people. The 1975 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution. Malcolm Fraser had been commissioned as caretaker prime minister following the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's three-year-old Labor government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975. [see "Photos 1975"]

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On the 6th December, a group of Jesus Centre people participated in a ‘Feminist’ March in the Adelaide CBD holding our own placards and giving out brochures we had produced. We faced some hostile reaction from the march organisers. The group wanted to represent a Biblical view of the role of man and woman.  [see "Photos 1975"]

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A variety of ‘Roneo’ broadsheets were published for various outreach purposes. A song book for our worship times was produced.

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There was considerable comings and goings of people to the Jesus Houses in North Adelaide and Norwood over the year. Maureen Roberts came from Sydney and Rob and Sue Franklin arrived from Tasmania. Marriage proposals seemed to flourish - some lasted and others weren’t successful. One engagement seemed to trigger off others. When John and Heather Matthews moved to Christies Beach, the Norwood House closed down. 

 

It was a difficult year as we struggled with the issues of authority and commitment. The problems of joining two groups together revealed itself to be very time consuming and many people were threatened by it. The group was very transient in its accommodation. The younger age and immaturity of some community members added instability to the households. Despite the difficult pastoral situation, the group still had quite a positive Christian witness into the neighbourhood and across the state.

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