In January, a gathering and meal was held to farewell Ted, Jane and Emma Van Eeton who were  relocating to Mt. Gambier.

 

Trevor and Maureen Harris attend the AFES National Conference on “Missions” held at Stanwell Tops Christian Conference Centre in Sydney.

 

Sue Franklin makes a closer connection to the Jesus Centre community.

 

During February, Peter King leads studies on the Old Testament. The Jesus Centre was involved in a service at Marino Baptist Church.

 

The Community hosted a BBQ gathering for around thirty people from Graduates’ Fellowship (GF), an arm of Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES). The group utilised the newly renovated community shed.  Trevor was Chair of Graduates’ Fellowship for three years. Graduates’ Fellowship was divided into professional groups like Teachers, Doctors, Psychologists and Scientists. Trevor and Maureen produced a quarterly newsletter for about 70-80 members and hosted groups in their front lounge.

 

Trevor and Maureen Harris met with Rev. Davidson, the grandson of the builder of the Harris house at 61 Sydenham Road. He loaned them an old photograph of the house taken in 1884. 

 

Contact is made with “Youth Aid”, an arm of “Prisoner’s Aid”. Some of their boys attended some of the Jesus Centre gatherings. There was also an interest in people becoming involved with the community, seeking out housing options.

 

In March, Debbie Brown begins helping out at the Gray Street Kindergarten which was only a couple doors from where she was living.

 

Some time during 1978, Josephine (Josie) Tanner moved in with Bronwyn Tupper and Linda Jones who lived in a house in Gray Street. She had met Jim Burrow while she was working at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. In 1979 Josie applied for midwifery training in England and was accepted into the course that started in September 1980. (That is when she left the Jireh Community and Adelaide)

 

The Jesus Centre has a picnic at Belair National Park at Easter time in late March.

 

Joshua is born, a second child for Peter and Liz King.

 

Mick, the owner of 68 Fisher Street indicated that his cottage would soon be available for rent.

 

April 1978 - The story of the young “community” girl who went missing:

Maureen Harris had been on a long conversation with her Aunty Hazel when Sharon came up to her holding her little kindy case and said, “I'm going to school”. Her mum didn't think much of it as she was distracted on the phone. Sharon, only 3.5 years old at the time, walked out the front gate and headed off to school. On the discovery of her missing daughter, Maureen contacted the police. A thorough search of the Harris home and adjacent properties with the help of neighbours failed to find Sharon. A big police search involving squad cars and tracker dogs was instigated. After two hours, a very anxious mum had a phone call from the police saying that Sharon was at Hackney Kindergarten, which was 3 km away.  A woman had seen Sharon walking the street and ended up taking her to Hackney Kindergarten as she thought she may have strayed from there.  She had never been to that kindy before. 

Sharon had walked down Sydenham Road and crossed two main roads before catching the attention of the passerby. She reported later, “the cars would just stop for me.” A patrol car with a burley policeman and a police woman delivered Sharon home. Maureen was overcome and about to scold her daughter when the police woman said,  “Mother, don’t!" Sharon gave her a big hug and she said, “I was going to school Mummy.” 

Everyone was so relieved that there was such a good ending to the story of the lost child in Norwood.  Sharon would play “schools” with the community kids. She would line them up in a classroom and she was the teacher. When she grew up, she became a school teacher!

Maureen disclosed, “It was the longest two hours of my life!”.

Story above compiled by Maureen Harris (2021)

 

During April the Jesus Centre led a service at Fulham Uniting Church where Tom Ryan shared his testimony and Trevor Harris preached.

 

Peter Leafe obtained work at Bedford Industries and Debbie Brown also found employment.

 

Peter Brown joined “Bart’s Club” as an assistant leader. Bart’s Club was for primary aged children who were attending St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church.

 

In May 1978, Mal & Jenny Graetz returned from their 12 months overseas trip. 

Trevor Harris records in his notes: 

There was great joy and excitement at Mal and Jenny's homecoming. They moved in with the Harris family to reorientate to community and Australian life. Sharon and Rebecca Harris added ‘spice’ to the household.

Sue Franklin and her two children Awlwyn and Mandy moved into 68 Fisher Street. This property  joined onto the King’s backyard where the ‘community’ shed was located. Now there were three properties linked together. The cottage was in a very poor state for human habitat. In some places there was salt damp in the walls up to 1.8 metres high. The women of the community exercised a ‘big labour of love’ to get the house clean and bring it up to a ‘liveable’ standard. Sue was very excited about her new home both in relation to the physical locality and in spiritual terms.

 

A Jesus Centre Reunion was held to reminiscence on the different phases of the group’s development since 1972.  Mal & Jenny shared about their world trip and their visits to various Christian communities. An audio tape was made at the gathering and sent to the Bartlett family in India.

 

Morning prayer meetings were reconvened.

 

Jack and Edith McNicol indicate that they are interested in living in the community. Jack and Edith stayed at the King’s house while they are away.

 

In June, Peter Brown and Marilyn Hooper announced their engagement. Peter met Marilyn at his work where she was working as a Clerical Assistant in the same Government Department. Marilyn became a Christian in 1977 and was at that time living with her parents in Salisbury. Trevor Harris had played a part in leading Debbie, Marilyn’s sister to the Lord.

 

Russell and Anne Bartlett returned from India in June.

 

A ‘corporate’ Community meeting was held in June to discuss issues related to the Jesus Centre. The Jesus Centre group began fasting on Thursday nights.

 

Mal Graetz began his gardening business with the intention of relating more to people in the neighbourhood. He registered his business as “Urban Jackaroo Services”.

 

Mazhar and Christine Mallhoui who were ‘church planters’ in Egypt, stayed with the Harris family. They shared at a meeting hosted by the Jesus Centre. This gathering attracted a number of visitors.

 

Brian Schaefer moved in with Tom Ryan in Gray Street.

 

Peter King held a ‘field day’ on the Sydenham Road properties with around 20 visitors attending.

 

During the month of July, tensions grew over issues of ‘community’ and ‘commitment’. A number of groups that Mal and Jenny visited overseas had a higher level of loyalty and commitment, especially in charismatic circles.  There was also discussion about the community having a ‘common purse’ approach to finances. 

The Jesus Centre had to find its critical path under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not just copy trends in another communities. There were times of refreshing in the Spirit as the group prayed for one another around the communion table, having a greater appreciation of His forgiveness and grace.

 

Sharon Harris starts attending Gray Street Kindergarten in Norwood.

 

Mal Graetz and Trevor Harris attended a Charismatic coordinators meeting and had an uplifting time of praise and reconciliation.

 

The Rev. Doug Kuhl visited the Jesus Centre and shares on the developments with the “Servants of Christ Community” (formerly called “Jacob’s Ladder”). Their group was moving into a more highly committed phase of community living with a proposal of becoming a ‘covenant community’.

 

Mal Graetz joined a busload of about 40 people who travelled to Brisbane, Queensland, to attend the “Growing Together in Christ” conference sponsored by Emmanuel Covenant Community (ECC). ECC was an ecumenical Christian community with some 700 members. Quite a few members from “Servants of Christ Community” in Adelaide were on that 40 seater bus pilgrimage. The conference in a prophetic way reinforced the Scriptures, “And so I am giving a new commandment to you now—love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35

 

A bout of sickness was shared amongst children in the Jesus Centre community.

 

The Jesus Centre was active in August opposing the Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) campaign supported by the Mayor of Norwood & Kensington. Trevor Harris and Peter Brown were involved in organising a special Graduates’ Fellowship (G.F.) meeting focussing on ‘spiritual counterfeits’. The booklet “A Case Against Transcendental Meditation” was produced by Graduates’ Fellowship. 

Trevor reported, “I was joint author of the T.M. booklet as I was Chair of Graduates Fellowship (AFES) at that time. I linked with Peter Beaty from Holy Trinity who had researched T.M. The Rev. Brian Fagan went with me to visit Jack Richards, the Mayor of Norwood and he explained their approach.”

 

The month of October saw Peter King sharing ‘excess’ vegetables from the community garden. This created more contacts with the neighbours. Some of the produce was sold to the Royal Coach Motor Inn in Kent Town.

 

Jim Dunk from St. Bart’s Anglican gave a talk to the community about his involvement with Aboriginal communities in South Australia.

 

In November: 

- Jesus Centre people were active in preparations for the Christian outreach in Norwood for the City’s 125th anniversary celebrations. Mal Graetz and Trevor Harris produced a Jesus Paper called “Jesus Lightshine”. [see JESUS PAPERS]

 

- The community led a service at Lower Mitcham Uniting Church with Peter King preaching.

 

- A further 1000 copies of the T.M. booklet were printed due to high demand to understand more about the Transcendental Meditation phenomenon becoming more public in Adelaide.

 

- A steady stream of visitors indicated a growing interest in the life of the Jesus Centre community.

 

There was a flurry of preparation to prepare for the ‘street carnival’ on The Parade in December. A Christian literature stall was set up for the sale of books and the free distribution of tracts and magazines. Groups of ‘workers’ mingled with the street crowd distributing the free “Jesus Lightshine” newspaper. Several Christian buskers provided gospel music near the stall and also in the coffee lounge at the Norwood Baptist Church hall. Some musicians busking were from Servants of Christ Community and Rod Boucher performed as “One Man’s Band”. The proceeds from the plant, clothing and ‘knick-knack’ stalls went to “Tear Fund”, a charity helping needy people around the world. Members from the House of the Rock and Servants of Christ Community supported the Jesus Centre on the night. The overall night was very positive as community people interacted with people in the various activities.

 

The remaining copies of the “Jesus Lightshine” paper were letterboxed in the West Norwood and Stepney area. The outreach utilised a lot of ‘energy’ from the whole community and was somewhat taxing for families with young children.

 

After Mal and Jenny Graetz returned to the Jesus Centre community in Norwood, they wrote a newsletter to people they had contacted while travelling overseas. Some excerpts from this publication in Feb. 1979 help to summarize the last half of 1978 for the ‘Jesus Centre’: 

In May 1978 we returned to our ‘church’, which is basically a small Christian community of about 12 adults and 6 young children. We try to relate to local churches and maintain contacts and occasional fellowship but still have our own identity as a group. We felt called to this inner city suburb of Norwood and to put our roots in literally. Most of us live next door or within a few minutes walking distance of each other. By living in a close knit way we believe that we can be a visible and effective witness of our faith to the surrounding neighbours and local community.

For the last half of 1978 we lived with another family, Trevor and Maureen Harris and their two children. The majority of houses in Adelaide are single storey (ground level) and only have 2-3 bedrooms, sometimes four. It is hard to accommodate two families effectively unless it is a large house. For us, community cannot be limited to living under the same roof. Jenny is pregnant and is expecting our first baby around April 8th [1979]. We are so much looking forward to having children. After Christmas we shifted house [to 22 Gray St.] just across the street and are living together with another Christian guy, Tom [Ryan]. Although at first the dwelling was classed as a ‘dump’, Tom and I soon got stuck into the house and we have added our creative touch. Praise the Lord, as He continues to provide.

With the Lord’s guidance and inspiration, I started my own gardening business last June [1978]. My desire is to relate more closely to the local people and build up relationships in a natural way. I often find opportunities to talk to people about my faith in the Lord. I really love working outside and with my hands. In 1974, I graduated in Electrical Engineering but found my heart wasn’t really in that field. In January, Tom also joined me in the work which has a lot of variety and flexibility. We do anything from pruning, lawn mowing, landscaping and laying paths, preparation of garden beds, removing rubbish etc. and also do some painting and other odd jobs.

The community has also developed quite an effective garden which provides us all with most of our basic vegetables. The gardens along with flowers and shrubs have proved to be a real witness and common talking point with local residents.

In December we drew on the resources of other churches and communities to demonstrate a social and Christian concern at our 125th Anniversary Celebrations of Norwood (the oldest city council in our state). We produced a small newspaper for the event, had four street stalls, staged musical entertainment and ran a coffee house.

It hasn’t been easy sharing with others here what we have learned and experienced [from our overseas trip], as often it has been threatening to our ‘secure’ way of life. I have displayed an increasing interest in the up­bringing and training of children so that together we can provide them with a solid foundation in life. It is often a temptation to duplicate other communities we visited, but it is important for us to see God’s plan for us in this unique situation.

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