The Background.

At the beginning of his ministry, preaching on streets of India in 1979, the founder of Christian Community Care Network Inc., Stuart Gramenz, quickly realised that with the billions of unsaved “the harvest was truly plenteous but the laborers few”.

He formed a missionary organization, International Outreach, which conducted large evangelistic crusades and equipped and released Christians to outreach to third world countries. As a result millions were preached to and over two thousand part time missionaries returned home with a new confidence to reach the unsaved. Realizing in the longer term that the Indian nationals had to be trained, a church planting college was opened in Hyderabad in 1983. This resulted in hundreds of churches being planted by its graduates.

In the mid 1980’s while in Brisbane, Stuart received a vision from the Lord. In it he saw hundreds of small groups of Christians meeting in homes and coming together for huge celebration meetings. At the time, it didn’t mean much to him as his heart and mind were still in the third world.

The China Experience.

In 1989 on a missionary trip to China, teaching the underground church leaders, he experienced what these home meetings were all about. Of the many stories, two greatly impacted him. One young lady, with very little theological training, told him to his amazement, that she was the pastor of so many home churches, she couldn’t count them. He saw a picture of the words “UNUSED POTENTIAL” and it reminded him of those in Australia who had so much knowledge and nowhere to release it.

Another Chinese leader shared how, whilst he was on the ground being kicked and hit with rifle butts by the Red Guards, his home church members threw themselves over him to take the blows.“Would it be possible to raise that level of commitment to each other in the Australian church?” he asked himself. The Lord then showed him that a new breed of home churches would start in Australia. The unchurched were going to know that Jesus was “for real” because of their love for one another.

In late 1994 the Lord revealed to Stuart that his work in India was complete and he was to hand over International Outreach to the national leaders and commence work on the Australian vision. Desiring initially to work within the existing church, he tried unsuccessfully to impart the vision to three different denominational groups. The Lord then told him to start on his own home. As a result a networking group of home churches under the name Christian Community Care was established.

The Lord showed him He wanted to do something across that whole area, not just raising one church who could demonstrate this model but many churches, networking, sharing ministries, but, most importantly, seeing themselves as one church in the area, not as competitors.

This will mean many, many leaders of all levels will need to be trained and it’s Stuart’s desire to see a repeat of the releasing process he experienced with the church in India. He believes this can only be achieved through equipping Spirit led believers.

Many men and women with the same heart and mind are networking with Stuart to pioneer this new, yet old way of doing church. He continues to impart the principles of the Spirit led life across the Body of Christ both locally and abroad.