Our Reformed History

Our roots and the Reformation

The roots of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia (CRCA) go back to 16^th century Europe. In an age where the Roman Catholic Church was not only a dominant power but a frightfully misleading one, a handful of believers were caused to return to the Word of God for the true gospel of salvation that leads to true life in Jesus. You may have heard the names of key church leaders from around that time – men such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. They injected themselves full-time into a growing movement that would later be called The Reformation, a theological movement which continues in churches today, whether Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Pentecostal.

Growth in Australia

Following World War 2, large numbers of European migrants headed for America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The CRCA is a direct result of migrants coming from the Netherlands to Australia, who then (quickly!) spread across our nation. Reformed Churches began popping up in every capital city (except Darwin), and each church kept on planting more. Gateway Community Church itself was planted in 1996 by Willetton Christian Reformed Church, which was herself planted in 1983 by the former Perth Christian Reformed Church which herself was planted in 1953.

The beginnings of Gateway

Gateway Community Church originally began under a different name, that being the Christian Reformed Church of Yangebup. We began our weekly meetings on the premises of the Yangebup Community Hall. After five years of meeting in this way, this faithful community were led to pursue some premises of their own in 2001. In faith, the members dug deep and bought a small building surplus to the needs of a Baptist Church - the property located at 63 Spencer Street in Cockburn Central. The Baptist church had leased the premises to a machinery hire business, so over the next couple of years, those faithful and hardworking members diligently laboured to fashion a barn styled workshop into the church building you now know and see.

Gateway remains a rather unique church in that it has been planted within an industrial community. This being the case, most of our members do not live in close proximity to our premises. While distance to the church proper has presented its challenges, God has never stopped answering our prayer that He will keep our doors open! Through His steadfast faithfulness, our church family is alive and vibrant, faithfully walking with Jesus so that others may come to know Jesus!