Who We Are

Craig Ogden – Executive Team
Church Planters Coach Craig lives on the northern outskirts of Melbourne with his wife, Vanessa, four children and one very hungry beaglier. With a Bachelor of Education, a Master of Divinity, and a Graduate Diploma of Bible and Ministry, Craig is currently the… Full Bio
Steve Roggero – Executive Team
Church Leaders Coach Steve lives in Melbourne and is currently senior pastor at Heathmont Baptist Church, where he has served since 2009. In addition to ministry at Heathmont, Steve is active in training and consulting church and mission ministry staff and leaders around… Full Bio
Bree Mills – Executive Team
Pioneer Leaders Coach Bree lives in Melbourne with her husband, Brian, and their three children spanning primary and high school ages. She is the Senior Associate Pastor at Glen Waverley Anglican Church, overseeing the Next Generation Ministries and Missional Discipleship. Bree has recently… Full Bio
Dave Paroz
Coach and Presenter Dave lives the northern bayside area of Brisbane with his wife, Leanne, and has three adult children and one small dog. Dave completed his biblical studies at Malyon College (formerly Queensland Baptist College of Ministry) and has a Bachelor of… Full Bio
Mark Pearse
Coach and Presenter Mark lives in Hawthorn – home of great coffee and the (once) mighty fighting Hawks – and is married with three great kids. He works bi-vocationally in engineering and spends the rest of his time investing in mission and discipleship,… Full Bio
Ben Johnson
Coach and Presenter Ben lives in Melbourne with his wife, Emma, four children, housemate and their German Shepherd. Ben played a pivotal role in the planting of Harvest Church in Officer, which operates as a collection of missional communities. He is also a… Full Bio
Colin and Sue Hopper
Coaches and Presenters Colin and Sue live in Brisbane and have four adult children, two beautiful granddaughters and Levi, their small but effective guard dog. As members of the national Local Mission Delivery team for the Salvation Army, Colin and Sue give support… Full Bio
Geoff and Hayley Eggins
Coaches and Presenters Geoff and Hayley live in Brisbane with their three school-aged children. They are planting a new congregation/church in South Brisbane named HopeTree which centres around the discipling and missional practices seen in the life of Jesus. Geoff has a background… Full Bio
Hannah Whiting
Coach Hannah lives in northern Melbourne with her husband, Leigh, and two young children. With a background in teaching English and Literature, Hannah is now learning what it means to be a part of a young family on mission. Hannah and… Full Bio
Bre Wilkinson
Coach Bre is married to Michael, and they live right near Monash University in Melbourne where they desire to build a sense of family on campus. Bre is an aspiring church planter seeking to build communities that have a relevant expression… Full Bio
Kirrily MacRaild
Communications Kirrily lives on the northern fringe of Melbourne with her husband, two teenage daughters and an exuberant chocolate Labrador. With a background in secondary teaching, Kirrily privately tutors students in English to post-graduate level, and is also undertaking PhD studies… Full Bio
Maria Martin
Accounts Maria lives and works in the UK with her husband, Chris, and daughter, Gemma, and manages our accounts. Before moving to the UK, Maria was instrumental in the establishment of Plentylife Anglican Church, as well as 3DM training in Australia.… Full Bio
What We Believe

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God and inerrant in the original writings. We believe that there is one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

We believe that the lost and sinful man must be saved, and that man’s only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We believe in and practice the holy ordinance of water baptism, which signifies the believer’s death, burial, and resurrection into new life with Christ Jesus, and the regular celebration of Holy Communion as commanded by our Lord.

We believe in the present ministry and baptism of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a Godly life. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved; those that are saved into the resurrection of life and those that are unsaved into the resurrection of damnation.

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Our History

In recognition of the tremendous growth forecast for the Plenty Valley, Bishop Stephen Hale set up a Taskforce in 2007 to investigate the possibility of establishing a new Anglican community in the area. With representation from local churches and Ivanhoe Grammar School, this Taskforce developed a plan that included the need for a point person to further the work. In response to this, two years ago St John’s Diamond Creek took a great step of faith by employing a staff member to not only serve its own congregation but to focus on establishing a new parish for Mernda. Craig spent his first year getting to know the area, building relationships and discerning what God was already up to in His mission of reaching residents and retailers with His love. Throughout the following year a core team began to form around a vision that arose again and again through prayer, of a red gum taking root in the heart of Mernda and growing while the roots reached out to every corner of the community. This vision of being organic church integrally connected to local community found a means of expression through the “Sheffield Model”, which was first developed by St Thomas’s in Sheffield (UK) nearly 15 years ago.

With a focus on “missional communities” the Sheffield model emphasises the need for Christians to meet with people in their own world rather than expecting them to enter ours. After spending time with the staff of St Thomas’s, Craig and the team began work on adapting the model for our own local context and subsequently launched two playgroups in the second half of 2010. A missional community has also begun forming around crafts and the creative arts which runs a stall at the Laurimar market to raise money for various causes. Three preview services were also held as God continued to draw people into the Plentylife community.

We now launch with a much clearer vision of who God wants us to be, a five-strong leadership team with responsibilities for missional communities, youth, families, and administration, and leadership for three missional communities focused on families, crafts and the creative arts and the outdoor life. And it’s true that we wouldn’t be at this point today if it wasn’t for the generous support of the Diocese, St Johns and other supporting churches! So now together we look forward to what else God might have in store for us according to His grace.

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