A long-time member of the Cornerstone community, Paul Roe, unpacks the history of the Jesus people who went and lived in the bush, founding communities that live today
Right now, the movie tracking the explosive arrival of the Jesus Movement in California is an unexpected box office hit in North America. In 2002, The God Squad’s founder John Smith completed a forensic examination of the significance of this fringe evangelical awakening both in Australia and the USA. It earned the Melbourne bikie evangelist a PhD from Asbury Seminary in Kentucky.
John defined it as ‘a revitalization movement’ and asked how it had developed in the heart of a youth subculture that had abandoned traditional church and experimented with consciousness-altering drugs, communal sexuality, and exotic spirituality from the East. That was precisely my cohort when I hit the UNSW campus in 1969 and the beginning of my journey with the Jesus Movement.
For a naïve Christian kid from a quiet suburban church, the powerful sway of the Age of Aquarius was a profound culture shock and testing reality therapy for my faith. At a crucial moment in 1971, a bearded mentor with longish hair, fresh from the heart of a revival among beatniks at Sussex University in Brighton, stepped into my life on a campus awash with drugs, sex and rock and roll. That friendship grew into Cornerstone Community.
Laurie MacIntosh was a young engineer working in the Snowy Mountains in the 60’s when a conservative Christian challenged his atheism and eventually got him to see the reasonableness of the Jesus story. His farming background, along with studies in anthropology and sociology at Wheaton College and then working as a Wycliffe Bible translator for a remote tribe in Mexico, had honed his faith to a sharp edge. He’d tested his skill in apologetics with university students working with Campus Crusade, and he was exactly what my faltering faith needed. These became the active ingredients that shaped Cornerstone.
I worked alongside him as he launched a movement branded The Truth is Urgent among Brethren churches in Sydney. Over a period of five years, we saw hundreds of young people catch fire and mobilise in sharing their faith in the streets and their workplaces, on beaches and university campuses. It was definitely a revitalising movement that spoke the language and sang the songs of the Jesus people worldwide.
That was the incubator for Cornerstone Community. In 1978, with our families, we decided to take the movement to the wilderness beyond Bourke – a far cry from the hippy-commune dreams of Byron Bay. We wanted to create a place where we could take faith life-deep, and two farming families had the faith to offer their farm as that place.
The tough edge of life in the Outback made it more like a kibbutz designed to test beliefs to the core. Farm income made it cost-free and so possible for people of every kind to come to explore the reality of the kingdom of God. Agricultural work proved hard but effective in maturing young lives. A practical program of biblical studies filled half the day, and the rigours of community life shared with teachers and students rounded out education for us all. There was nowhere to hide. We made development of character the benchmark for graduation.
I went West saying, like Jesus’ disciple Nathanael, “‘”Can any good thing come out of Nazareth/Bourke?”’” Twenty-seven years later, when drought and other circumstances saw the pioneer community disperse, that question was well and truly answered. Other early expressions of the Jesus Movement had gone by then, and many absorbed into churches.
But in the meantime, other Cornerstone campuses had sprung up in Qld and NSW. Some of these communities outlasted Bourke, and we began numerous business initiatives to sustain the movement. In the last 45 years, several thousand students from all over the world have found us, and we’ve sent small mission teams of apprentice missionaries into fifty-plus country towns in that time. More often than not, rural areas were bereft of young leaders, and we tried to fill that gap. It’s a healthy missional record.
This year, Cornerstone’s annual Muster was hosted by the thriving community in Bendigo. It’s a model that embraces all kinds of civic activity and is driven by a hub of Cornerstoners committed to learning, discipling and neighbouring among the whole community.. Music, food and a community garden have a strong attraction. A group of young interns or apprentices have come for a 5-month immersive experience. Smaller groups are active in Orange, Dubbo and Newcastle.
So, in a real sense, the ‘revitalisation movement’ John Smith tracked in the Jesus People of the ’70s is alive and well in Cornerstone. The distinctives of robust discipleship, commitment to sharing our faith, living simply, reading and thinking intelligently about meeting the demands of our times and engagement in the community beyond the church all remain. We are stripped down, have smaller numbers and much less property, but remain vigorous.
I’m delighted when I meet members who have scattered far and wide, who carry the stamp of their Cornerstone experience into every corner of Australia. Right where I live in Dubbo, I see a Tongan man leading a successful initiative called Tradies Insight, reaching out to young men looking at suicide because of relational and financial difficulties. Others are chaplains and RE teachers in schools scattered around the Central West and in the prison system. I see Jesus people with vital faith, energetically working to build the kingdom of God.
Image: Cornerstone class outside the Pera Bore schoolhouse, 1979 (Corrected originally we said 1990’s)
I was at Cornerstone /Bourke – in 1982 then on team in Lithgow in 1983 fantastic time learnt so much shared so much – it was a life changing experience —
At Cornerstone Bourke (1984-1991) I learned that the only things that mattered were God, His Word, and people. I have sent my time since pursuing them.
Our family lived at Coonamble from 1986-88 where a Cornerstone team revitalised the local church which could not afford a minister. They lived in a church house, ran services and encouraged people who had sat under paid ministry to participate. Suddenly people were leading singing, praying and preaching and serving in many ways. They ran the squash corts and food shop there to support themselves. It was radical discipleship 101.
Hi,
Cornerstone Emerald 1994. Then 1997 Coonamble running the squash courts and pizza shop till it sold. Manager of Pizza Runners Dalby 1999-2001.
Many fond memories and foundations formed.
Now in Tassie in a mission/church plant role. Working and preaching God’s word