Elliot Ku

Dear friends, I wrote a post last month about our departure from GracePoint. I’d love to thank so many of you for your well wishes and warm encouragement – both from within and outside of the church.

Those of you who’ve had to change churches understand the tension of grief and excitement well. There is on the one hand a deep sense of grief from having to leave the people you love, a ministry that you’ve had a part in building and growing, and an environment that has been a significant part of your life for such a long time. If you’re not in pastoral ministry, it might be helpful to recognise that you have (for example) the spheres of work, family, and church. For pastors (and their families), these spheres are often deeply connected to one another. Your church is your “work”. To illustrate: say you work for Macquarie Bank but move across to Commonwealth Bank. You might have change workplaces and relationships. But that Sunday, you’re still able to worship with your brothers and sisters whom you’ve journeyed with for many years. However, for pastors, that’s it. You have to relocate your work, your ministry, your family, and sometimes even physically. Almost everything changes. That’s the joy and cost of pastoral ministry. So, there is the grief of saying good bye to the people we love very dearly. And there is also the grief of change.

At the same time, there is also a sense of excitement. And we are excited to publicly announce that I have accepted the call to be the Lead Pastor of The Well Church from January 2025. I have been journeying with The Well for about 2.5 years. It began with me helping them to find preachers for their Sunday services. This then grew into helping them join the Presbyterian Church of NSW. I’ve been their interim moderator since then and we’ve been searching for a suitable pastor for awhile now. The elders reached out to some suitable candidates and they received some applications. But each of those paths didn’t continue for a variety of reasons. Months went out with very little clarity. And then the Lord opened up a conversation about my suitability for the role.

I came to grow in my love for the church during this period of walking with them. There is a passion, kingdom mindedness, and concern for people’s hearts before the Lord. Their previous pastor, David Chong, has done an exceptional and faithful job in leading the church through some really difficult seasons. And the elders work busy jobs yet give so much of themselves and their family to the ministries at The Well. It’s amazing. And the people there are incredible.

So, Sherilyn and I spent lots of time praying and considering the matter. We spoke to friends, mentors, and family. I sought to counsel and wisdom of Pastor Eugene and the Elders at GracePoint. We received a range of different suggestions and recommendations. But everyone spoke graciously and generously about the matter. We felt really loved and supported during this season. After wrestling with it for awhile, we decided to make a decision early enough before GracePoint’s Annual Congregation Meeting because we were conscious that our decision to move would impact GracePoint’s future. We also hoped that this advanced notice would give space for us to transition well.

Things seem to be happening pretty quickly and there is a sense in which it is! But we will remain at GracePoint till the end of August. We will then have a few months off (partly to make progress on my doctoral dissertation but also to have some rest). And then we will hit the ground running from the start of next year.

We really long for your prayers as we begin this period of change. I’ll be sharing more about The Well in due course. But in short, The Well Church has 16 communicant members and roughly 17 adherents. It’s a small church with huge potential. But this is going to be a ministry of revitalisation. The church currently only has enough funding to operate for another 4 years. So there is a particular urgency for health and growth. However, I have a deep sense of confidence and hope that God is already at work among this incredible group of people. And I’m excited about how His plans will unfold in the future.

Pray: So please pray for Sherilyn, Anastasia, and I as we prepare our hearts for the change. Please pray for GracePoint as each member processes this transition and as the leaders plan for the future. For The Well Church, please pray for that this change would breath fresh hope for the future.

Partner: As we’ve shared about The Well Church, some individuals have generously expressed a desire to partner and give financially to the ministries there. I was completely shocked and floored by this. It was totally unexpected. But I’m so thankful that God has moved people’s hearts in this way. One sister expressed it in this way “money is always the smallest help, but people willing to work for the Lord are the rarest. I just chose the easiest thing to do”. So if you feel led by the Lord to support the ministry at The Well financially then please let me know and I can connect you with one of the elders. If you are a leader of a church and would like to embrace us as a mission partner then I’d love to have a chat. I know that some churches set aside some money each year to give to church plants or church revitalisation projects. It would be our privilege to share a bit of our heart and vision for the future.

Participate: Some people have asked “how can we help?” and that is just stunning. I’ve shared about how the same brothers and sisters at The Well serve in the same ministries basically every single week. It’s the same faces for music ministry, kids, sound/tech, AV, mercy ministry, and the like. And so, some friends have raised their hands to ask about whether we are assembling a core team. Some are offering to volunteer here and there to kick things off the ground. I understand that everyone has responsibilities to their respective churches and ministries and that must be honoured. But if you feel moved and led by this then please do drop me a line as well.

There are lots of unknown for the future. But we know that the Lord holds the future in his hands. So we are trusting in God’s guidance for each step before us!

We look forward to sharing more in the near future. Small steps of faith till then.