Ministries
The word
Preaching of the Word of God is paramount here at Ferntree Gully Independent Baptist Church. On Sundays and Wednesdays, Pastor David Zooeff and other men called to preach expound the Word to the congregation. In addition, on Sunday mornings, the Sunday School teachers carefully and prayerfully teach the Scriptures to all ages (from adults to preschoolers).
Junior Church
Our Junior Church ministry takes place during the morning church service. Junior Church is designed to allow our children to be involved in worship on their level, and to receive biblical instruction in ways they can understand. Junior Church helps the children to learn of God's love for them through Jesus Christ and allows them to develop reverence and respect for our Lord.
Bible Institute
A Bible College set up and run by Ferntree Gully Independent Baptist Church, on the basis of 2 Timothy 2:2 – “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” The Bible Institute is local church based to meet local church needs. The curriculum includes an extensive Bible Survey and in-depth book studies; systematic theology; practical theology; pastoral studies; Christaisn education; biblical languages and defence of the faith courses.
Sunday School
In recess at the moment. We offer Sunday school classes for all ages
Ladies' meetings
Monthly ladies' meetings are run by Pastor Zooeff’s wife, Fiona, where again teaching of the Scriptures is first on the agenda.
proteens
ProTeens is a Bible-based program which seeks to employ the philosophy of church ministry, as outlined in Ephesians 4:11-14, to teens of today. ProTeens is used by the local church to perfect and equip the youthful saint, just as God demands in His Word.
Statement of Faith
The Scriptures
We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired by God, plenary in content and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.
2 Tim. 3:16-17, 2 Pet. 1:19-21
The Godhead
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Deut. 6:4-5; Matt 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 8:6; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 5:7
We believe that God is a Sovereign, living, intelligent, rational being and that He has a plan for man and for the universe. We believe that He has the will, the power and the authority, and is actively engaged in carrying that plan to completion.
Gen. 18:25; Isaiah 57:15; Rom. 8:28-29; Eph. 2:8-10
Jesus Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of Mary, a virgin, and is true God and true Man.
Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1, 3, 14, 18; John 20:28; Gal 4:4-5
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified by His shed blood.
Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor 15: 1-4; Heb. 10:9-12
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven, and His present life there as High Priest and Advocate.
John 20:24-29; Acts 1:10-11; 1 Cor. 15:1-20; 1Tim. 2:5; Heb. 1:3, 4:14-16, 7:25.
Holy Spirit
In this the Church Age, we believe that the Holy Spirit indwells each and every believer from the moment he receives the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. We believe this indwelling alone makes it possible to live a victorious Christian life.
We believe that the modern day ‘speaking in tongues’ and ‘divine healing’ movements are not required as outward evidence of the Spirit-filled life.
We believe the Spirit-filled life is to be the normal experience of every born again Christian.
John 14:15-18, 16:7-14; Rom. 8: 1-14; 1Cor 6:19-20; Eph. 5:18, 6:17; Heb. 4:12.
Satan
We believe in the personality of Satan, that he is the unholy god of this age and the author of the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire.
Matt. 4:1-4; Mark 1:13; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; Rev. 20:10; Is. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:1-10.
Creation
We believe and accept the literal Genesis account of creation, that all things came by direct creation of God and not by evolution.
Gen. 1:1-2, 25; John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17.
The Fall of Man
We believe that Man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical but also spiritual death, which is separation from God.
We believe that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and, in the case of those who reach the age of moral responsibility, are sinners in thought, word and deed.
Gen. 1:26-27; Deut. 1:39; Rom. 3:28, 5:12.
Salvation
We believe all who receive by grace through faith the Lord Jesus Christ, are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God.
John 1:12, 3:5; Gal 3:26; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5.
We believe in the priesthood of all believers, that all believers have immediate access into the Holiest by the of the Lord Jesus, that we need no human agency to intercede, for us before the throne of grace, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is our only Mediator before God.
1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 10:19, 13:15-16; 1 Pet. 2:1-10.
Eternal security
We believe in the eternal security of the believer, that it is impossible for one born into the family of God ever to be lost.
John 1:12, 10:27-28; Rom. 6:1-23; Phil. 1:6; Heb 7:25; 1 John 5:10-13.
Eternal destiny
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting punishment of the lost.
Dan. 12:2-3; John 5:21-30, 14:1-6; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 20:4-6, 11-15, 21:8.
Church
We believe that the true church is the mystical body of Christ of which He is the Living Head, and the regenerate believers, Jew and Gentile, are the members.
Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:41-47; Eph. 5:23-32; Col. 3:11.
We believe the local church is a body of baptized believers, organised to meet together for the purposes of observing the ordinances and to carry out the principles, precepts and commission of Christ.
Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2: 41-47; Eph. 4: 11-16; 1 Tim. 3:15.
We believe that the Scriptural ordinances of the church are baptism (immersion) and the Lord’s Supper, that baptism should be administered to believers only as a symbol of that belief, and of their death, burial and resurrection with Him, and that the Lord’s Supper should be partaken of by believers only, to show forth His until He comes.
Matt. 3:16; Acts 8:26-40; Rom. 6: 3-5; 1 Cor. 11: 23-28; Col. 2: 12.
We believe in the sovereignty and independence of the local church from any centralised power, whether from other churches, denominations, or the state. We believe in the separation of church and state. We believe in obeying the ‘powers that be’ of government, except where they violate the commands of God’s Word.
Acts 5:29, 13: 1-5, 15: 19-31; Rom. 13:1-7.
Last Things
We believe in ‘that Blessed Hope’ – the personal, pre-millennial, pre-tribulational and imminent return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when the church will be ‘gathered together unto Him’.
Acts 1: 10-11; 1Thess. 4: 13-18; Titus 2:13.
Our History
Grounded and founded by the Word of God (particularly the great commission of Christ in Matthew 28:19-20), Ferntree Gully Independent Baptist Church held its first services on April 6, 1975, in the Girl Guide Hall, Underwood Road, FTG. Pastor Harold Davies and his wife Barbara had been sent out from Croydon Baptist Church to start a branch work in Ferntree Gully. They were both still in Bible College and had two teenage sons, Nigel and Chris. They also had Barbara’s 74-year-old mother living with them and no permanent income, but nevertheless they were obedient to God’s call.
Services were held on Sunday mornings and evenings, as well as an all-aged Sunday School, and a mid-week meeting for prayer and bible study. Approximately 15 children were transported on Friday nights to AWANA club at Croydon. The intention was to “start as you mean to carry on”. As the first few weeks went by, the congregation settled down to an average of thirty regulars, including children. The church constituted as a totally Independent Baptist Church on December 5, 1976. The charter of membership was signed by 21 adults.
In 1980 Pastor Burt Kinsey returned to America. Pastor Harold Davies was approached to return to Ferntree Gully and pastor the church again. After much prayer, he and Mrs Davies accepted the call, and he was commissioned on the first Sunday in October, 1981. After some turbulent years, 1985 started wonderfully well with 17 people trusting Christ as their Saviour during the Glen Weeks meetings held at the church. The church began to grow in numbers again and eventually moved into the larger premises of the Knoxbrooke Centre.
On December 11, 1999, God’s faithful servant Pastor Harold Davies stepped out of this world and into the arms of the Saviour whom he loved so deeply. His faithfulness, commitment and love for Christ, for His people and for the lost still inspires us at FTGIBC. He was a man who influenced so many lives for Christ, and stood firm and immovable on the Word of God. We praise God continually for him and his memory.
In July, 2000, David Zooeff was appointed as interim pastor of FTGIBC. His appointment was unanimously confirmed in December 2000 and he was commissioned as the full-time pastor of the church. He continues to this day in this role and, like his predecessor, he stands firm on the Word of God, leads by example, and is a faithful and powerful preacher and expositor of the Scriptures.
In 2020, FTGIBC started meeting at the Knox Gardens Community Hall. As a church, we look forward to the future in which, by God’s grace, we will continue to shine as a light for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In April 1977, Pastor Davies accepted the call to pastor the parent church in Croydon, and Ernie Music assumed the oversight of FTGIBC until Pastor Burt Kinsey was appointed as pastor in April 1978. In May 1980 the church moved from the Guide Hall in Underwood Road to the Mountain Gate Primary School. In December 1978 Pastor Harold Davies and family were again elected into membership at FTGIBC and soon commissioned to start a branch work in Warragul. The Warragul outreach officially organised as an independent Baptist Church in June 1979 with Harold Davies as pastor.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Pastor Davies’ desire to start a Bible College came to fruition. FTG Baptist Bible Institute began holding classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings with 5 full-time students and several part-time students. The first graduate from the college was David Zooeff. The church ordained Pastor Charlie Williams to the gospel ministry and commissioned him to start Oasis Baptist Church in Chelsea, Victoria, in 1991. He is still to this day faithfully pastoring that church. FTGIBC ordained Kevin Currell to the ministry of Children’s and Young People’s Evangelism in 1998.