Our roots – before there was a building
In 1862, Mr John Littleton, from Cornwall arrived in Brisbane and was placed on the ‘Ipswich’ preaching plan – bringing him up the Range to Toowoomba. When he arrived in Toowoomba, he could only find one other Methodist, Mr Henry Lavers, and between them, a Methodist Fellowship was commenced. Soon after, Littleton organized a Methodist church service to which he preached to 90 people. Encouraged, he asked that a minister be sent and Rev. John Corbett, a probationer in training for the ministry, arrived in May 1862, to take charge of the Wesleyan Methodist work which soon after became centred on the the Neil Street Church (now the Empire Theatre Chapel).
A branch Sunday School of the Neil Street Sunday School was for some time carried on by Mr T Turner in his home at Rangeville, followed by Mr W Matthews who made an exerted effort to recruit new scholars. This resulted in a ‘roll’ membership of 24. Mr Matthews requested that Sunday afternoon preaching services be held in his house, which was agreed upon.
The services were so well attended, serious talks then took place about the need of a church building. On January 29th 1912, a meeting was called of all men interested in building a church, with the resulting purchase of half an acre of land from Mr Rowbotham, costing 20 pounds. The building was then tendered for a cost of 154 pounds, ten shillings. The total cost was 192 pounds and an organ was also purchased for 25 pounds.
Known as the ‘little church in the wildwoods way out at Rangeville’
The Rangeville Methodist Church was opened in 28th July 1912, by Rev. Dunstan.
The Rev. Chas Martin came to Toowoomba in 1913, and during his time, he and his wife gave considerable encouragement to the small band of people who worked tirelessly fencing the church and buying church seats and lamps.
It is an interesting story that when an evangelist by the name of Finnemore came and the kerosene lamps were lit, the small congregation was inundated with lice from the ceiling and a very ‘active’ meeting followed.
Later, with the Rangeville area being sub divided and the Trustees having a vision of expansion, the half acre block of land on the south side of the church was purchased for 20 pounds.
The little church became the centre of spiritual and social life of many young families who were now living in Rangeville. With the small church outgrown, services were held in the new hall.
17th November 1962, a larger building was established as the new worship centre. This in turn needed to have a couple of extensions in order to fit the ever growing congregation. Other buildings were also being added – extensions to the original hall, other buildings for ministries etc.
No longer Wesleyan Methodist but the Uniting Church
Separate Identity – No longer under City, but separate parish
Finally it was clear that we had outgrown the site. Every building was being used to capacity with three services held each Sunday in order to accommodate the congregation. It was impossible to fit all the morning worshippers into one central area hence two morning services. The downside to that was a difficulty in parking and time for fellowship with all the church family.
Although discussions as to the future of Rangeville UC on the present site had been in the air, following a Presbytery Review of the church in…., the leadership was encouraged to short track their future building plans and make it a priority. A wonderful block of land was located at the corner of Stenner and Mackenzie Streets and purchased for $1.2 million.
Faith Avenue: This was a significant occasion for Rangeville as we planted trees and shrubs along the eastern and northern boundary of our property on the corner of Stenner and Mackenzie Streets.
Leaving the Uniting Church
Soon after buying the block, (which was done through the Uniting Church and held in trust for us, the leadership and congregation felt that our Core Values were no longer compatible with the direction the UC seemed to be taking. In 2004 we made the momentous decision to become Rangeville Community Church under the denominational covering of Crosslink Christian Network.
As of the 1st July 2009 we became members of the Southern Cross Association of Churches as our denominational covering.
Rangeville Community Church’s journey:
At the beginning of this journey we were blessed with the use of the Christian Outreach Centre buildings for our morning service at 8.00am. They moved their service time to a later time slot to allow this to happen. Our evening services were a combined service with combined music teams.
After some time it was decided that we allow COC the use of their premises again and for us to move to another location, with time spent at Martin Luther School hall, the Cathedral Centre and then to Rumours International, staying there for 3 1/2 years before moving into our new ministry complex (stage 1) at the corner of Stenner and Mackenzie Street – with our first service held there on Sunday 27th March 2011 – 10 months after the first turning of the sod.
Building: Stage One now complete. Stage two: being prayed into being!