Under the leadership of Rev. B.G. Allen, Pastor of the Westbreen Church, interest was roused in September 1963, in the rapidly developing area north of Glenroy (North of Melbourne).  In conjunction with the Church at Glenroy (Rev. J. Austin) and Merlynston (Pastor J. Finch) a meeting was called to discuss the possibility of commencing a new Baptist Fellowship.  Mr Austin reported that Mr and Mrs Krykaes, who lived in Eastmeadows, were members of his church, and suggested that they be approached to begin a Fellowship in their home.  These good people readily agreed, and in November 1963 a Monday “Sunday” school was commenced.  Soon an average of 35 children and four adults were attending under the leadership of three minsters and Mr W. Barlow of the Westbreen Baptist Church.  On November 23 the Rev. S. Watson was invited to talk to the Fellowship about the possibility of the Home Mission purchasing a site and providing a building.  Mr Watson informed them that the Housing Commission had reserved a site for Baptist use at Dallas approximately one mile north of Broadmeadows.  The address of this site was the corner of Blair and Wiggall Streets Dallas.  In June 1964 the first Sunday Meeting of the Dallas Baptist Fellowship took place at the Dallas State School at 5pm.  In early 1965 a mid-week Prayer and Bible Study Group began in the home of Mr and Mrs Walker.  Enthusiasm rose when the Baptist Union of Victoria’s Home Mission agreed to purchase the land already reserved by the Housing Commission and preparations began on a suitable plan for a building.  In October 1965 it was decided to commence regular Sunday Family Worship services.  The first of these was held in the home of Mr and Mrs C. Miller at 74 Phillips Street at 9.30am on November 17 1965.  Regular church services have continued since that date.  The adults met in the lounge and passage under the leadership of Mr W Barlow whilst the children occupied the dining room, kitchen and a caravan under the leadership of Miss P. Miller.

The task of transporting people to the meeting proved to be quite a problem because of the immensity of the area and the non-existence of the public transport.  Building plans were brought to an abrupt halt in August 1966 when the Housing Commission suddenly withdrew sale of the land and left the Dallas Fellowship without a site.  This site would eventually be taken over by the Erickson Corporation who would develop a multistorey building that would dominate the Dallas and Broadmeadows skyline.  However the Home Mission entered into correspondence with the Housing Commission seeking an alternative site which was granted soon after.  The location was Millewa Crescent and Eltham Street Dallas.  Plans for a building on this location began immediately.

In February 1967 the Dallas Fellowship celebrated their first baptism and in mid 1967 the construction of the church building began and was completed in October 1967, the building was first used for worship on the 8^th October and cost 12,000 pounds to build.  In September 1967 Rev George Williams was appointed the church’s first official Pastor and led the church from 1967 until September 1970.  George Williams would later comment on his ministry at Dallas suggesting that ‘it was the most hectic of ministries’ but he also added that it was a time of great blessings with the conversions and baptisms of so many people and this small fellowship quickly grew and developed strong links with its surrounding community.  Some of the activities at this time included Sunday school, RI classes in schools, boys and girls club, and a Netball team.  The Dallas fellowship began to have an impact on the surrounding area that was teeming with young people who had not been catered for.  On the 24^th of March 1968 the Dallas fellowship became a constituted church of the Baptist Union of Victoria and a vision was discerned that prophesied that this young, growing church would grow to become a regional church within Dallas and within the surrounding areas.

In 1970, after a brief internship by Mr William Barlow, student pastor Hans Bohm was appointed pastor of Dallas Baptist Church.  Hans was a gifted evangelist and quickly built on the foundations laid by George Williams.  During Han’s time with Dallas many within the area were led to the Lord and the church continued to grow.  Hans Bohm’s pastorship at Dallas concluded in 1973 when he was called to the Sunshine Baptist Church.  

In February 1973 Rev Neville Cann was appointed Pastor and shortly after Rev Jeff Myors and Rev Kevin Forbes was appointed to Dallas to form a team ministry.  During this time Dallas Baptist Church embarked on pioneering new ways of reaching the surrounding community that included evangelism and welfare.  In October 1973 Dallas Baptist Church changed its name to Dallas Life Centre and incorporated a welfare arm of the church known as Dallas Welfare and Youth Services.  One of the first ventures of DWYS was the establishment of the Playhouse Childcare Centre which opened in June 1975.  During this time Dallas Life Centre began to experience a freer spirit led form of worship during its morning and evening services which included a greater awareness and expression of the gifts of the spirit.  With all these exciting things taking place within the life of the church Dallas Life Centre grew quickly and by 1980 the congregation was around 350 and worshipping in a shop at the Dallas shopping complex.  Throughout this time the congregation of was spread widely: from Jacana and Glenroy in the south to Gladstone Park in the west to Campbellfield and Fawkner in the east whilst many others came from further out to be part of the congregation.

If the beginning of the 1980s offered excitement and great anticipation for the future the end of the 1980s would find Dallas Life Centre in crisis without a pastor.  Things began to change after Senior Pastor Neville Cann was travelling overseas and was struck by various Christian communities who were enhancing the life of their churches through a simpler lifestyle and through a more communal lifestyle.  As a result in the mid 1980s the Commonlife community was established at Dallas Life Centre.  This involved many within the congregation living together and working together.  With the ownership of a number of properties many within the church moved into together and began to share their lives together.  A farm at Yan Yean was established and operated by the community which sold its produce around various locations within Dallas.  A cooperative was formed to enable fresh milk deliveries and businesses were formed to build extensions and kitchens.  Shops were leased and included a hardware, craft and printing shop.  Dallas Life Centre had taken on a radical identity and became known as a church that was different.

However not all within the church took part in the Commonlife ventures and with the charismatic emphasis loosing its hold on the church many began to leave Dallas Life Centre and seek a church home elsewhere.  Eventually the pressure of leading a church in the suburbs and the Commonlife venture took its toll and the two were heading in different directions. This would eventually result in the pastoral team, which consisted of Neville and Jeff, the Eldership and those of the congregation who had joined Commonlife deciding in 1988 to leave the church and commit fulltime to the farm at Yan Yean. 

The end of the 1980s and the early 1990s were difficult years for the church.  There was now a relatively young group of people leading the church that was very unsure of itself without the leaders who had led it along such an incredible journey for over 15 years.  There was a sense of loss with the closures of businesses such as ‘Meadow Kitchens and Dallas hardware, the sale of one of the manses and the absence of many older wiser familiar faces.  The gradual teasing out of the entwined relationship with the Commonlife Community was dismantling and redefining and did not occur without a lot of heartache and questioning.  The Church’s lease on the shop at Dallas Shopping Centre ended and the church moved to the Playhouse Childcare Centre for worship but eventually with numbers continuing to decline the church again moved its place of worship to its original church building. 

In 1990 Mr Peter Clark was appointed Pastoral Coordinator of the Dallas Welfare and Youth Services whilst also being responsible for pastoral care of the Dallas Life Centre congregation.  Throughout the 90s DWYS consisted of many wonderful ventures such as  Sojourners Youth Accommodation, Playhouse Childcare Centre and the Craft Shop.  Peter Clark’s efforts from 1990 to 1999 were invaluable as he led Dallas Life Centre through difficult times.  Under Peter Clark’s leadership Dallas Life Centre recovered from the previous years, years looked back on for some with much hurt and pain yet for others it was an exciting time of development and experimentation.

Between 1999 and 2002 Dallas Life Centre was served faithfully by two interim pastors Rev Keith Lanyon and Rev Marion Welford.  In November 2002 Albert Peck was called to be the Pastor of Dallas Life Centre.  Albert was a student pastor and ordination candidate with the Baptist Inion of Victoria, Albert was ordained in October 2006.  In December 2003 it was decided by the leadership team to spend 2004 seeking God and asking Him about the church’s future.  In 2004 the church embarked on what was known as Vision Lunches where the congregation went back to basics and asked the question ‘what kind of Church does God want us be?’  In October 2004 the church overwhelmingly voted to adopt a new and exciting vision.  However the amazing thing about this vision was that it mirrored the original vision of the Dallas Baptist Church which included being a regional church within our area of Melbourne.  Many changes have taken place since then; firstly we changed our name from Dallas Life Centre to Hume Community Baptist Church reflecting our vision to reach the wider Hume community.  Secondly we released the Dallas Welfare and Youth Services from our church and they are now a separate body with their own board and leadership no longer a mission of our church or accountable to our church.  Thirdly we have reviewed all our activities and sensed God pruning us back for rebirth.

Since 2004 our church has began to steadily regrowing and new ministries have been birthed with many being planned.  In 2007 we have a Playgroup Ministry that is reaching out to many Mums in the Hume area and this ministry, which started in late 2006, has doubled with God’s blessing.  In 2005 God brought two gifted youth leaders to our church, Lance Danger and Emily Simpson.  In 2007 it has been exciting to see the youth ministry grow with youth from our community.  2007 has also seen Broadmeadows Secondary College open its doors to Lance and Emily to have a weekly program with the students with many of them attending the Friday night youth group at our church.  The Craft Shop closed in 2005 but the Craft ministry continues every Friday.  Currently our church has building plans before the Hume City Council to renovate our church building; the new building includes a 300 seat auditorium and a café area located at the entrance of the building.

The history of Hume Community Baptist Church is displayed here with all its victories and difficulties.  It is indeed a great privilege to serve at HCBC and we are grateful for the many gifted men and women who have served tirelessly at our church throughout the years.  We are encouraged by what God is doing in our church and we look forward with confidence to future as God has revealed to us.