Toowoomba Vineyard Church

As we continue our look through the biblical theme of Exile, Laura unpacks one of the key outlets the Israelites had during this time — lament. Drawing from Psalm 137, she explores three key myths that come up again and again in Western church life, and in doing so, gives us permission to bring our grief to God and community.

Last week we focused on the question: 'why did Israel go into exile?' This week we turn towards the exile itself. What was the exile, and why did it matter so much? It turns out the exile (which was more of a process than an event) is like a two sided coin. While it was a curse and a horrific trauma on one side, it was a blessing in disguise on the other. Importantly, however, we can't...

Having finished up Genesis 1-11 last week, we're skipping just a little bit of the Old Testament and fast forwarding to Exile (in other words, the end of the Old Testament). Thankfully, Chris comes to the rescue with a brief summary of all the bits we missed. In the second half of the message, Chris opens up to Amos 5 — a famous indictment on the Northern Kingdom's performative practice of...

For our final foray into Genesis 1-11, we look at the famous 'Tower of Babel' narrative. For just nine verses, there's a lot to be said. Chris introduces the idea of 'turning the gem' as a way to study scripture, looking at three (and a bit) different ways to view this passage. While most of the ideas in this passage are big-picture, human-condition level lessons, there's an emotion driving it all...

Remember that story you heard in Sunday school (or that you heard about from the kids you knew who went to Sunday school) where Noah gets all the animals together and goes for a nice boat ride? Well, the bit the Sunday school renditions of Noah’s Ark leave out is where God wipes out the rest of humanity. The flood stories in Genesis are deeply troubling, but Mandy comes to the rescue by giving us...

Back in 2022, we decided it'd be a good idea to build a church around Matthew 11:28-30—that passage where Jesus talks about 'rest for your souls'. It turns out this isn't a great way to create energy and momentum. But we're still convinced it's what God has asked us to do. In this year's vision talk, Chris reminds us of Jesus' invitation to a life of walking alongsi...

If there’s any story in the Bible that suffers from over-familiarity, Genesis 3 is a strong contender. It’s a deeply strange passage: a talking snake, a tree “of the knowledge of good and evil” (whatever that’s about), and a God who seems to get it wrong—after eating the fruit, the people don’t actually die. And yet, despite all this oddness, we rush to theologise the story. Righteousness. Disobed...

In 2026, our teaching is going to take us alllll the way through the story of scripture, with each series helping tell the story of creation through to new creation (with a few stops along the way!). Mandy kicks off right at the start of the bible, with a deep dive into the Genesis 1 creation narrative. Through the lens of the Babylonian exile, she explains that this famous story probably doesn&#3...

Each summer, we take an extended pause from our Sunday gatherings to intentionally practice Sabbath together as a community. Rather than simply taking a break or breather, Sabbath is a deeper practice—one that looks back on the story of God’s goodness, looks forward to new creation, and invites us to engage more fully with our own lives in the present. Our third and final instalment of this year&#...

Each summer, we take an extended pause from our Sunday gatherings to intentionally practice Sabbath together as a community. Rather than simply taking a break or breather, Sabbath is a deeper practice—one that looks back on the story of God’s goodness, looks forward to new creation, and invites us to engage more fully with our own lives in the present. Toward the end of last year, we recorded thre...

Each summer, we take an extended pause from our Sunday gatherings to intentionally practice Sabbath together as a community. Rather than simply taking a break or breather, Sabbath is a deeper practice—one that looks back on the story of God’s goodness, looks forward to new creation, and invites us to engage more fully with our own lives in the present. Toward the end of last year, we recorded thre...

As we draw our Conversations with Jesus series to a close, and with it 2025, Chris unpacks the final scene in John's gospel. It's got a few peculiar features — why were the disciples (newly commissioned to go and spread the good news to the world) out fishing? Why did Jesus ask Peter if he loved him not once or twice, but three times? And which disciple counted 153 fish while this all happ...

With only two weeks left of Conversations with Jesus (and church for 2025!), Chris made it his mission to rescue the Apostle Thomas from his 'Doubting Thomas' moniker. Not because he didn't doubt. But because he was willing to put voice to his doubts, and in doing so, got to deliver one of the best punchlines in the whole Gospel of John.

In our next instalment of 'Conversations with Jesus' we explore a dialogue that occurs in a garden, outside the tomb where Jesus lay. Like many passages in John, there are layers upon layers to Jesus' discussion with Mary Magdelene, and Mandy peels them back one by one. It's a striking testament to what happens when we choose to linger, rather than run off. It also just happens tha...

This week, we turn towards a conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate (once you say it you can't un-say it). Ever the cynic, Pilate is in no mood for the Jewish leaders' games. So he has what ends up being quite a profound conversation with Jesus about the nature of truth—funly enough, asking the famous 'what is truth' question after Jesus already gave the answer...

This week's 'Conversation with Jesus' is a high-emotion situation. Jesus arrives in Bethany after learning of the death of his close friend Lazarus. As he interacts with Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, we see a masterclass in how to stand with those whoe grieve. Perhaps even more profound, we see Jesus — the living embodiment of God — himself grieve deeply. What's confusing...

In another 'crowd' themed instalment of our John series, Laura tackles the famous scene where the Pharisees and teachers of the law try and trick Jesus by presenting him a woman caught in adultery (never mind the man...). Jesus response is legendary—but what do we actually take away from it? How do we see ourselves in the different groups of people in the story? And how do we avoid the mor...

This week's Jesus conversation is an interesting one, because it's not with a person but with a crowd. At the beginning of John 6, Jesus' ministry is going superbly by our standards. He's got a crowd who are willing to lay down their lives for him. He's performed a spectacular miracle, walked across water, and (in John's rendering) seems to be the new Moses. Yet by the star...

This week, we turn to John chapter 4, where Jesus has a famous encounter with a Samaritan woman. The conversation is full of insight and layered meaning—but one of the most remarkable things is that it happened at all. Who exactly was this Samaritan woman, and why was it so scandalous for Jesus to speak with her? What did she understand that the disciples missed? And was she really the morally sus...

This week, we plumb the depths of one of John's most theologically rich dialogues — the one between Jesus and Nicodemus. The latter — a well respected lawmaker and leader — speaks to the former under the cover of darkness. Their conversation can be hard to follow for modern readers, so Chris takes us through the passage not one, but three times. Each time we take a different perspective. What...

Our non-series series has come to and end and this week we step into an actual series... looking at the Gospel of John! This new series, Conversations with Jesus, dives into the moments where Jesus really gets personal — meeting people with honesty, curiosity, and grace that transforms them. As we listen in on these encounters from John’s Gospel, we’re learning not just what Jesus taught, but how...

What if lasting, real change in your life isn't about trying harder? It turns out the key to change isn't effort, but creating the right conditions for fruitfulness. This week Chris explores what that actually means in practice, and how to create a concrete plan for growing into the likeness of Jesus...

Is your life better than it was 12 months ago? If you're following Jesus, you should expect to see year-on-year growth, development, and maturity in your inner life. Yet for so long, in the church we have settled for a skin-deep discipleship that settles for just believing the right ideas. Drawing from Jesus' words on the mount (Matthew 5), Chris explores a biblical vision for a deeply tra...

This week Mandy turns our attention towards the scriptures (as a whole... we do normally pay attention to the scriptures!) and asks: how do we read the bible? After sharing 7 key truths about the bible, she explores the difference between reading for information versus formation... and how we need both.

This week in a specially re-recorded (whoops) episode of the podcast, we take a break from our non-series series (is that even possible?) to talk about where we feel the church is going in the next three years. To be perfectly candid, it's been a tough couple of months here at TVC. Yet we (Chris, Jen, the board, and most of the rest of the community) feel we are indeed on the straight and narr...