History
The church family now known as Emmanuel Christian Outreach Inc. (ECO) was founded in 1978, from a Macclesfield home fellowship of Bethesda Christian Outreach Inc., of Marion Road, Mitchell Park SA. It was then known as Fountain of Life Christian Centre Inc. prior to a change of name in 1990 to Emmanuel Christian Fellowship - this change in name followed a change in senior leadership and also the development of new vision for the church .
The church relocated from Macclesfield to Strathalbyn in 1986. By June 2004 the Lord had blessed the ministry of the church with the development of 2 Christian Schools and a second congregation in Murray Bridge , which then led to corporate restructure of the Ministry group. Subsequently the church corporation (which owned the land on which the schools were based) was renamed “Emmanuel Christian schools and Ministries Inc ” and the objects and rules of the constitution were amended appropriately and a new Corporation was formed to "house" the church members and named “Emmanuel Christian Outreach”. ECO is one church meeting in two locations - Strathalbyn and Murray Bridge respectively.
The leaders and members of ECO were involved in the founding of Bethesda Ministries International (BMi) network of churches in 1984. ECO provides a home for local Christians who seek to know more of Jesus Christ and serve Him.
Our Heart ?
To develop a missional church “culture” in which people and teams partner and take responsibility for the continuous Spirit-led improvement and expansion of our service for the Lord Jesus Christ – applying themselves with passion to His Mission.
What is a Missional Church?
It proclaims the gospel
It is a community where all members are involved in learning to become disciples of Jesus.
The Bible is the norm for Church life
The church understands it is different from the world, because it participates in the life, death and resurrection of its Lord
it seeks to discern God’s specific mission calling for the entire community, and all its members
It is shown by the way Christians behave toward one another
It practices reconciliation
Members of the community hold themselves accountable to one another in love
It practices hospitality.
Worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanks God’s presence and promised future.
It has a vital public witness
It recognises the church is an incomplete expression of the reign of God
It does not create sanctified places into which believers must come to encounter the gospel, but dissembles itself into the cracks and crevices of society to be Christ to those who don’t know him.
It has the worldview of Jesus the Messiah and sees no boundary between sacred/secular but sees the world the as God sees it - holistic and integrated
It has a mode of leadership which recognizes the fivefold model of Paul in Ephesians 4 – biblical flat-leadership community that releases the gifts of evangelism, apostleship, prophecy, and pastoral and the teaching gifts