Who We Are

Hills Church is a local church filled with everyday people,
striving to follow Jesus Christ and spread his message
of hope into our community.

Hills Church is a local church filled with everyday people, striving to follow Jesus Christ and spread his message of hope into our community.

We Believe

We believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ the Son suffered in our place on the cross, that he died but rose again, that he now sits at the Father’s right hand until he returns to judge all people at the last day.

We believe in the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

We believe that by the grace of God every person has the ability and responsibility to choose between right and wrong, and that those who repent of their sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are justified by faith.

We believe that God not only counts believers as righteous, but that he makes them righteous, freeing them of sin’s dominion at conversion, purifying their hearts by faith and perfecting them in love at entire sanctification, and providing for their growth in grace at every stage of their spiritual life, enabling them through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to live a victorious life.

What To Expect

At Hills Church, the atmosphere is always relaxed and casual. We typically start each service with a time of singing praise to God. Hills has a long tradition of training our young people in contemporary music and worship leading. We have several bands that each strive for excellence. The music can be upbeat and celebratory at the start. We also often have a quieter time to reflect to both personally and together enter into God’s presence.

Young children and their teachers are then dismissed to attend our fun Hills Kids program. Following a time of prayer and announcements, someone will have prepared something inspirational from the Bible (usually one of our Pastors). This message usually lasts for about 20-30 minutes.

What Is A Wesleyan?

The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia is part of a world-wide evangelical denomination with ministries in USA, Britain, Canada and Australia as well as over 40 other countries.

In a very real sense the church owes its origin to the great spiritual awakening of the 18th century when God raised up John and Charles Wesley. The Wesleyan revival soon spread from England to America where churches were established, and extraordinary growth in spiritual and numerical strength took place. Methodism was initially a movement stressing evangelism and a closer walk with God. Wesley determined to do all he could to make disciples who grew in every aspect of their spiritual and practical life. This is what set the Methodists apart from many other movements at the time and led to real transformation of the church and society at large.

Early American Methodism was faithful to Wesley’s emphasis in doctrine and Christian conduct. However, Methodist ministers were pressured not to agitate for the abolition of slavery. Denied the right to exercise their consciences in this matter, many withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1843 the Wesleyan Methodist Church grew out of this reform movement. Our denomination, therefore, did not have its beginnings over a doctrinal issue.

During the Second World War many Christians became acutely aware of the great spiritual needs of the Australian people and prayed for an awakening. Following an encounter by the Rev. Kingsley Ridgway, with an American Wesleyan serviceman, contact was made with the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America. After the literature was studied, an invitation was extended to the movement to open work in Australia and an encouraging, affirmative answer was received.

A handful of people attended services, and from this group sprang a movement burdened for “the spreading of Scriptural holiness across the land”. In 1947 the Inaugural Conference was held and a Bible College commenced. We currently have almost 100 churches spanning all Australian states.

Although a church has been on this site since 1947, the Wesleyan Church began here with a handful of people in November 1981. Since then God has used Hills Church to continue developing disciples and building the kingdom of God. We would love you to join us in the task of making disciples in the Wesley tradition here at Hills.

For further info see our denominational web site: wesleyan.org.au

Our Values

People

It might sound odd to list this as a value, but in order to make a disciple, this is the starting point. A person who is not a christian is unable to become a disciple. Our church places emphasis on helping people come to faith but it does not stop there. Some Christians have made the initial commitment to Christ but are happy just to sit in church rather than be challenged to live the disciples life. That’s why we value seeing people commit to Christ as new believers and continue that commitment as growing believers. Without this fundamental value in place it is rare for a believer to become a disciple (a person who acts like, sounds like and lives like Jesus).

This plays itself out in the following ways:

– We regularly run events designed to introduce people to Jesus
– We will always call for commitment to the discipleship process from people who attend our church
– Our teaching and programs emphasize this commitment

Prayer

PRAYER

A further help to listening and communicating with God is prayer. We believe this is indispensable for a developing disciple. Prayer is communication with God. It is not just talking it is also listening. A believer who does not pray severely restricts the discipleship process in their life. Communication is the life blood of relationship and it is no different between the believer and God. Prayer is a powerhouse of the church as well. A praying church is an impacting church. We not only talk about prayer but we are doing what we can to see this happen in the life of the disciple and the life of the church.

This plays itself out in the following ways

– We pray in every service and at the end of every service for your needs
– We have regular prayer meetings around a cause
– We have regular corporate prayer and focused prayer
– We also support others who encourage prayer

Missions

MISSIONS

When Jesus gave the great commission, he gave it to disciples. We have often thought that this only applies to the church we attend, and while this is true it sometimes leaves us forgetting that the responsibility lies with me. Evangelism is MY job as a disciple, discipling another person is MY job as a disciple. While we can do things together to help each other we will be no more effective unless we are individually living out the great commission. Jesus told his disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18). At Hills Church we believe that our job is to equip you for “the works of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). It is your job as a disciple to minister to others and we will do all we can to help you.

This plays itself out in the following ways

– We will regularly teach on God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and we will encourage you to get to know God intimately
– We pray in every service and at the end of every service for your needs
– We have regular prayer meetings around a cause
– We have regular corporate prayer and focused prayer
– We also support others who encourage prayer

The Word Of God

THE WORD OF GOD

A second important principle to living the disciples life is to develop the ability to listen to what God is telling you. One of the most obvious ways is to listen to His words in His book, the Bible. Our emphasis on reading the Bible for your self is not about a religious exercise. It is not about gaining some kind of cosmic points for the fact that you did it. It is about putting yourself in the place where you are immersed in God’s Word so that you are more likely to hear God’s voice. Living the disciples life is about learning to follow his voice.

This plays itself out in the following ways:

– We will always teach from the Bible emphasising how God wants us to act as a disciple
– We will encourage you to regularly read your bible
– We offer courses and aids to encourage you to read your bible in order to develop as a disciple
– Since we value the word we also support organizations that get the word into the hands of the people (translators, distributors and those who help oral learners)

God

GOD

We mention God here because a disciple needs to be in an intimate relationship with God. Our desire at Hills Church is to understand God in his fullness as a Trinitarian God. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and while at times we need to emphasize one part of his nature we choose to bring balance to this. At times we must teach on Jesus since it is through him we are saved, but we must also equally understand the Father heart of God and how we are his children. Of course this emphasis alone without an understanding of the Holy Spirit and the power and comfort he brings to believers is also short of the mark.

This plays itself out in the following ways

Serving

We also value serving one and other. Jesus set the example by washing his disciple’s feet, and after he had completed this task he said something profound. “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:15-17). As disciples at Hills Church we also take this advice of Jesus seriously. You can expect two things. The first of these is that you will not be lorded over as a disciple you will be led and served. Second, while you can expect to be served you will also be expected to serve. Unfortunately our society has been trained to be independent when God’s plan was that we be interdependent. Christianity was never about what I can get without including what I can give.

This plays itself out in the following ways

– You can expect leaders who are servants
– You can expect not to be manipulated or controlled
– You will be asked to serve others in various ways in and around the church and in the community
– We will regularly teach on God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and we will encourage you to get to know God intimately
– We pray in every service and at the end of every service for your needs
– We have regular prayer meetings around a cause
– We have regular corporate prayer and focused prayer
– We also support others who encourage prayer

Our History

Hills Church (originally Everton Hills Wesleyan Methodist Church) was born on the shores of the Burnett River just outside of Bunderburg. There a small core of families from Ferny Hills gathered with the Rev. Don Hardgrave during Easter 1981.

The first service commenced on December 6, 1981 at 79 Queens Rd, Everton Hills which had been rented from the Baptist Church.

In May 1982 a faith step was taken to purchase the property from the Baptist Church.

1986 saw the arrival of Pastor Phil and Leslie McCallum from the USA to take on the role of senior pastor.

Over the years the congregation grew rapidly, and by 1989, had out grown the current building on Queens Road. The decision to move to McDowall State School was made. This gave the church much more room to grow.

During this time at McDowall State School, work began on building a brand new larger auditorium behind the existing church on Queens Road. This facility was built to hold up to 450 people at a time. The Foundation Stone was laid on December 23, 1991.

The current church auditorium was officially opened and the first service was held on December 12, 1992.

Since then, the church has gone through many changes, but the focus has always been the same, to reach the community for Christ. With the churches focus on community services it has become well known in and around the Hills District as a welcoming place where people can come and not only get assistance, but to also learn about God and receive discipleship.

During March 2021 Hills Church again began a building program to expand the facilities to include a new hall that can be used for both Kids and Youth programs on Sunday and during the week as well as multiple breakout rooms that are used by multiple ministries. The Next Gen building was officially opened in July 2022 and also includes a Cafe and a new Op-Shop located under the new hall.

In April 2023 the church moved their Sunday morning services into the Next Gen hall temporally while renovations are undertaken in the auditorium. During this time the church has moved to two Sunday morning services to accommodate the ever growing congregation. Completion of the renovations of the auditorium is due to be completed mid-September 2023.

Everyone at Hills Church would like to welcome you to join us this Sunday.

40th Anniversary

Hills Church was founded in 1981 in Everton Hills by a small group of 29. Since then Hills Church has had an enormous impact in the local community. Join us as we hear from the pioneers all the way through to the present day and help us celebrate 40 years in the community.

Next Gen

As part of Vision Month 2019, we gave a small preview of future plans for Hills Church as part of our 5 year plan
to upgrade the facilities in and around the Hills Church property.

In March 2021, construction began on the Next Gen building (stage 1) and was completed and opened on the 31st of July 2022.