Over 150 people were in attendance as Kingaroy celebrated its milestone of 75 years of existing as a church last month.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church here in Kingaroy officially became a church in 1945, but its history goes back to 1910 when Adventist evangelist Pastor Hubbard came through the area, and established a bible study group in his home.
In the early years, the church met in various homes and community buildings like the Oddfellows hall, and Kingaroy State High School. But as the group grew, it purchased its first property on Avoca Street which it built a church building, a slightly bigger hall, and also a school (now closed).
The church outgrew that property and moved to its current campus on Youngman Street in the 1980’s.
The church has always maintained a focus on helping its community. There have been many programs and initiatives held throughout the years. Most notable of which was the drought relief ministry, in which the church members were able to hand out thousands of dollars in relief (as donated by the South Queensland Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Churches) into the hands of struggling farmers in the local area!
The recent celebrations were held on 20 November, almost 76 years ago to the date the church had been established -the original 75 years celebrations were postponed to this year because of covid restrictions last year.
Those who attended the celebrations participated in a combined worship program which featured inspiring worship music, an energetic children’s segment, and an encouraging message by previous pastor – Pastor Gideon Okesene (2013-2018).
Those in attendance also heard from some of the church’s longest attending members – Norm Ford, Eric King, Lyn Scott, and Graham and Katrina Usher, about certain details of the church’s history. Norm Ford shared how the church helped clear land on his father’s farm at Mannuem to plant peanuts, and the proceeds of that crop were donated to the financing of building the church.
