History

Ross River Anglican Church is a young church, but with great history. We were founded in 2006 by the Rev Tim Adkins with just three families on the roll, and since then there has been a lot of growth. But although we are a young Church, we are built on the oldest foundation there is, the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Because of this, even from small beginnings, we were excited and hopeful about our future growth as a church.

Throughout these early years as the church continued to develop, we also began to add various ministry areas. Growth groups were started as people met during the week to read the Bible, pray for each other and enjoy fellowship. Along with these groups for adults, we saw a growing ministry to the children of our church families, and our Sunday morning kids program became a noisy, exciting and much cherished part our life together. A Friday night youth group was also commenced to help our high school youth encourage each other in their relationship with Jesus.

In 2012 we reached the stage of being able to appoint our first full-time minister. After a search process, the Rev Scott Hedley was invited by the Church to take up the position. He was appointed by the Bishop of North Queensland in May of 2012 and he and his family moved from Sydney to take up the position.

With a growth in our ministries across the Church, there was also the pressing priority for us of fulfilling our responsibility to raise up the next generation of vocational gospel workers. In 2013 we appointed our first ministry apprentice (employed under the MTS banner). Since then, we have had other members of RRAC trained up and sent out for further theological study.

Rev Tom Pountain was appointed as Rector in January 2021 after serving as an Assistant Minister at St. Luke’s Hampstead in London, UK. Before that he trained for ministry at Moore College in Sydney, having previously spent five years on the staff of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.

In 2023 we appointed our second ministry apprentice and also started Salties, an afterschool kids club for primary school aged children.

Despite things have certainly changed over the years, our confidence and excitement for our future remains as certain as the gospel we are committed to keep proclaiming. As we continue to grow, we are excited to embrace the difficulties that change brings, but it is this focus on the Lord Jesus that is the one thing we are committed to see always remains the same.