GET IN TOUCH

The story of Lakeside is one of pioneering and stepping out in faith.

In the late 1980s, Leeming Baptist Church met in a local community hall. It was a church that had a desire to reach its community with the life-changing message of Jesus. The church grew, and soon it was looking for land to build a facility that could meet all its growing needs, as well as be a place for community outreach.

There was a 20-acre site in North Lake that looked perfect. The only problem? It was zoned recreation. However, the Senior Pastor, along with others, saw this as an opportunity. An opportunity to step out in faith; an opportunity to build a facility that would be used Monday to Sunday; and an opportunity to use sport as a platform to reach the community with the Gospel.

A building committee was setup and the vision of a Church building a Recreation Centre had begun. No one had ever done this before — it was pioneering work. The cost to build the Recreation Centre came in around $2 million.

On the 26^th February 1992, Lakeside held its very first church service on Court One. The Recreation Centre was officially launched with an Open Day on Saturday 14^th March. Lakeside is not a church that meets in a Recreation Centre, rather Lakeside is a church that owns and operates a Recreation Centre.

Today, Lakeside is a vibrant facility with around 8,000 people a week participating in programs and sporting competitions. The very nature of Lakeside is that it’s a meeting point, a third place, a hub where people connect and their lives crossover, whether on the basketball court, in the Time Out Cafe or gathering on a Sunday morning. We endeavour to make the Centre a place where the so called ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’ meet on a daily basis.

Part of our missional mandate is to run a great facility, which the community can enjoy and benefit from. We strive to be Christian in vision, mission, ethos and practical operation, but the facility is there for the whole community to use and enjoy.

While we endeavour to run a great community facility, providing quality services and programs that develop and grow people in all areas of their life — physical, mental, spiritual, and social; Lakeside’s heart is a vibrant church that is passionate about seeing people say “yes” to Jesus.

J Oswald Sanders once said, “What does success matter if we have no standard, no vision of ultimate goals, no purpose larger than laying bricks on bricks?”. Lakeside was never just about being a Recreation Centre; there has always been a larger purpose. From the beginning, the thread that bound the church together was the deep desire to reach out to the community. Today, Lakeside is a church that still has that deep desire, that larger purpose, that bigger focus.

Our Mission

Lakeside exists to Encourage, Equip, and Empower people to say “yes” to Jesus.

Our Vision

To be a Regional Christian Community Centre with an igniting passion for God and His kingdom throughout our community and beyond by reflecting the life-changing message of Christ in all that we do.