When a new church movement obtains property is a significant moment. It signals that in all likelihood a new movement is here to stay.
That signal has been sent in the purchase of a former funeral home by the Adelaide’s Trinity network coming togther to buy the property. Trinity has purchased an old Alfred James Funeral home on North East Road, Holden Hill.
Trinity Modbury posted “Last night we toured the new site and prayed that God would use this place abundantly to reach more people with the good news of Jesus. It was exciting to imagine what’s ahead—spaces where people will gather, hear God’s word, and grow in faith and community.”
Here’s one of their pictures.
The Trinity network has grown out of Holy Trinity Adelaide, the oldest church in the state, and solidly evangelical – which has planted across Adelaide from its CBD site. Trinity alligns theologically with Gafcon, now the Global Anglican Communion.
The network has steered clear of using property owned by the local Adelaide diocese, choosing to be independent property-wise. Their map now shows 14 sites, including two in the neignbouring Diocese of the Murray (Victor Harbor and Mount Barker )
But what makes this purchase an inflection point – defined in maths as “a point of a curve at which a change in the direction of curvature occurs” or rather in business as “a time of significant change in a situation” – is that there are two curves, two graphs here, heading in different directions
The first curve would show that the Trinity network is starting to buy property. But the second curve would plot the property sales of Anglican Churches in the northern part of Adelaide – a sad story of churches closing and their building being disposed of and in many cases demolished.
The Other Cheek reported a few weeks ago of a series of church closures and sales in the Nortgern part of Adelaide. St Aiden’s in Marden had just come on the market. It has since been sold, lost to Christian service as a non-religious purchaser obtained it for “close to $3.5m.”
The Other Cheek listed:
“• St George’s in Alberton – sold in 2022 for $3,200,000.
• An “exceptional development site,” formerly St Mark’s, Wynne Vale, currently on the market.
• The Church of The Holy Redeemer, Ingle Farm, sold in 2023, for $3,409,520, and understands, demolished.
• Holy Cross, Elizabeth, closed in 2023 and was sold for $3.465m to a “Korean religious group.” Holy Cross was formed from the amalgamation of three local churches in the 1970s.
The Trinity Network is still growing, but these property sales would suggest that the remainder of the Adelaide Diocese is shrinking overall.