About Us
FCF History
The spirit of the Filipino Christian Fellowship (FCF) became alive in early 1981 out of a Bible study group started in south of Sydney amongst a few families who felt the need to meet and worship God, study His word, seek and grow in Him. Through word of mouth, other families in different areas in Western Sydney started to conglomerate by meeting in their homes once a month. These monthly gatherings became weekly meetings, and as the Spirit of the Lord moved, a vision was given to an Australian Pastor regarding the birth of the first Filipino church in Sydney. The group embarked into overnight prayer meetings to seek God’s will and paved the way for the fulfilment of the vision. Soon after this the leaders of the fellowship felt the need to gather all bible study groups from different suburbs in one place to worship the Lord together, once a month, and the first service was held in a community centre in Stockland Mall in Wetherill Park. Whilst the monthly afternoon meetings were being held, the members continued to attend their respective churches – Baptist, Roman Catholic, Uniting Church, Pentecostal/Foursquare churches in the morning. As the group grew in their faith and knowledge of God, they reached out to their friends, workmates and relatives thus the fellowship also grew in numbers and many received Jesus as Saviour and were baptised in water. The work of the Lord in FCF continued to move from strength to strength until the leaders decided that a weekly Sunday morning church meeting was God’s direction.
FCF formally met as a church on the first Sunday of July 1988 in Progress Hall Westmead, with 70 adults and children in attendance. FCF affiliated with and until now is under the spiritual covering of The Church of the Foursquare Gospel of Australia. When the church outgrew the meeting place, we moved to William Stimson Primary School hall at Wetherill Park in May 1990, where attendance peaked at 300, including the afternoon outreach meetings in Ingleburn, Belmore, Parramatta, Blacktown, and Wollongong (now all independent, healthy and growing churches). This was the year we purchased a block of land (4200 sqm) in Minchinbury. The building project commenced in 1992, and FCF Life Centre was opened on 8 July 1995. Critical situations in the same year, and then in 1998 caused significant drops in membership, but the Lord drew more people for His church, 90% of which were first-time decisions, and we steadily grew. In 2000, our name changed to FCF Life Centre, The Church On The Highway.
The Lord miraculously provided for us a block of land (3200 sqm) at bargain price in June 1999, which was developed into a car park. This gave way to building the Growth Centre for our children’s and youth ministries, a project completed in October 2006 through the goodness of God expressed in the generosity of FCF family members. Yet again, the Lord in His grace has increased His flock at FCF. Through sweet and bitter times, the Lord has never abandoned His FCF family, and today, we rise to praise His name for the greater works He will still do in our midst, and through us, in reaching the world around us.
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