2025 February Newsletter – Northside … From the Beginning

This first history article for the year of celebration is a brief outline of the growth of the church, without which the college would not exist.

(To provide context to people unaware of this, the only Assemblies of God church of significant size on the north side of Brisbane used to be Glad Tidings Tabernacle in Barry Parade, the Valley. This building no longer exists, but the people have become Hope Centre, which is nearby in Bowen Hills.)

The entire Northside Campus in Everton Park grew from an Assemblies of God Church in MacNaughton St Stafford, which, in turn, was birthed in tent meetings at Glad Tidings Tabernacle in Fortitude Valley. It was 1953, and Pastor Ralph Read conducted those outreach meetings. The Stafford church then grew from what was essentially a dedicated group of Christians who had a great desire to establish a Sunday School for the children of the area.

As a result of their diligence, Stafford church grew, and 151 Flockton Street was purchased in 1974 while Philip Hills was the pastor (and the adjacent blocks in 1977 and 1979). In 1976, he left, and Pastor John Lewis came in when the building works were already underway. With the new site and the new building came a name change from Stafford Assemblies of God to Northside Christian Family. Since then, there have been two further name changes: Northside Christian Church in 1999 and Nexus Church in 2009.

The facility, which opened in mid-1976, was half the size of the building as it is now. In 1986, it was doubled in size by extending eastward. Since then, the most significant physical change was the 2020 work to remove the balcony.

Each step of the journey is a story unto itself and would need more than this article to be told. The stories of people, the ministries, and the works would make fascinating reading.

Since 1976, the campus has continued to grow, more land has been purchased, buildings have been built and the grounds developed. An earlier newsletter focused more on this later growth, but in this article, the intent is to give a brief history of the church from which the ministry of the school was birthed. Without the faith and diligence of the people of the church and the faithfulness of God, there would not be a Northside Christian College to celebrate.