As was the custom in those days among growing rural communities all over Australia, landowners would make small blocks available for locals to build a church. And so it was that Margaret and Edmund Lyons made the corner at the entrance to their property available for the same purpose, probably encouraged by Isabella who became the Sunday school teacher and organist in the new church. Today, the church still stands at the entrance to 1 Bailey Street, complete with organ shipped from Sydney in 1902. 

Declining congregations towards the end of the 20th Century and the death of Margaret and Edmund Lyons’s daughter Dorothy aged almost 100 in 1993, led to a new chapter in the building’s history when Henderson siblings Allan and Judy inherited the property, along with responsibility for maintaining the church. Since 2002, a group of The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) that Judy belongs to, have been holding regular meetings there, while local people use the old-style timber building for occasional weddings and funerals.

Come 2016 much-needed maintenance on the interior was well overdue. When the Bellingen Baha’i Group heard about this, along with the possibility of using the building for some of their meetings, a Baha’i working-bee soon fixed the maintenance issues. The group soon planned the first of six public Baha’i meetings scheduled for the church this year, which offer a reflective space for people from all backgrounds. 

On February 5, 2017 the group was pleased to welcome 20 people to the church, including four children, for the 45-minute event followed by a welcome array of finger-food, soft drinks and lively conversation on the south verandah of Judy’s family home. The people who weren't Baha’i said they planned to attend other devotional meetings at Repton because they enjoyed the inclusive environment of the company.

The theme of the February meeting was the Oneness of Humankind. All-comers were offered the chance to read to the assembly a few lines from the texts provided by their hosts. The readings were interspersed with relevant recorded music and songs by Baha’is from all over the world. Our attention was also directed towards the achievements of an eminent Baha’i in the context of the meeting’s theme. 

The Baha’i faith is a worldwide movement, more than five million strong, that actively fosters peace and understanding among peoples of all religious and non-religious persuasions. The texts of public Baha’i meetings are drawn from a wide variety of literature that supports this view. The readings usually demonstrate that personal values and the way a person expresses them in life are more important than the culture within which they exist. Nevertheless, Baha’is welcome cultural differences in their community because of the benefits that accrue when shared values are combined with different points of view. And this is seldom simple to do in practice.

The next Baha’i public meeting at Repton Church will be on Sunday, April 2 at 10.30 am for 11am. The theme is Serving Others and two Coffs Coast Baha’is will be our hosts. Additional meetings are planned for the first Sundays in June, August, October and December 2017. For those interested in an inspired approach to shaping the future of humankind, attending these meetings can nurture the soul while providing useful food for thought.

For further information about the Baha’i faith, please call 0409 852 834 or 6651 4339 and see our website at ‘bahai.org.au’.