We meet at 10 a.m. every Sunday for worship.

Our worship style varies depending on who is leading the service.  We include a diverse mix of people from many different church backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and interests.  Everyone is encouraged to participate in our worship services as arranged from time to time.

We value prayer highly.

There is a meeting before the service every Sunday from 9:15 a.m. for prayer particularly for the morning’s service.

We meet every weekday morning except Friday at 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. for prayer focused more broadly.

Friday mornings from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. are devoted to prayer for the kingdom of God in Benalla and beyond.

The second Saturday of every month is given over to prayer and fasting from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Prayer is also a strong element of the various small groups that meet in homes during the week for Bible study, fellowship and prayer.

Junior Sunday School runs every Sunday morning beginning at 9 a.m.

Young adults may attend a study time after church each Sunday

I am reminded that Jesus cursed a fig tree and it withered in one day (Matthew 21:19-21). We planted a jacaranda tree in our yard almost 20 years ago. It nearly died from frost several times and had regrown from the base of the tree; however, it had never flowered, ever, since it was planted. Earlier in 2025, I prayed to the Lord, asking if He would allow the tree to flower. In early December, while walking under the tree, I noticed a purple flower lying on the ground and wondered where it had come from, remembering that our tree does not flower. I initially thought that it had blown over the fence from our back neighbour’s yard where he planted a jacaranda tree a few years ago and it was regularly in flower. When I did look up into our jacaranda tree, it was in full bloom. It was astonishing to see.
God is building our faith.

isIt was mid-March 2025 when Jane advised Pastor Graham that she was suffering haemorrhage and experiencing abdominal pain. She requested that Pastor Graham accompany her to attend a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. The doctor advised that Jane’s baby had died and arranged for further testing including an ultrasound examination at Wangaratta Hospital. The curette, that was probably going to be required, was also arranged. Pastor Graham attests to the fact that the data, which he was shown and that was available to the doctor appeared to support the doctor’s diagnosis. While they were still in the GP’s surgery, Jane and the baby’s father requested that Pastor Graham pray for the baby. The doctor was comfortable for this to proceed, so Pastor Graham prayed. Later the same day, Pastor Graham took Jane and the baby’s father to Wangaratta for the requested testing. A few days later Jane informed Pastor Graham that the testing at Wangaratta had confirmed that the baby was in good condition, in good health and that her own hormone levels had returned to normal and the haemorrhage had stopped. Jane’s baby boy was born, whole and well, early in October 2025, to much rejoicing and gratitude.

George worked for an electricity supplier as a linesman. He and his wife were expecting their first baby within weeks. With a companion, a work-mate, George was traveling in a vehicle on a rough track along a steep side-slope, under a power transmission line, near Bethanga when the vehicle lost traction, left the track and rolled down the steep hill-side. George was thrown from the vehicle which rolled over him, crushing him, before coming to rest. George suffered a very serious injury to his spine, leaving him without sensation in his lower body below the damaged area. It turned out that one of George’s vertebrae was crushed to the point that it could not support his weight. George’s mother, a member of our congregation, requested prayer for her son. This we did, regularly and frequently at our early morning prayer meetings. Others offered prayer as well. George received excellent medical care, and within a matter of a few weeks, he walked, unassisted, from the hospital. His mother was astonished – as were we all! George visited the church to express his gratitude and we were all very excited, and thankful to our God, to see him on his feet and mobile so soon after such a severe injury.

During the colder months of the year our church has been part of an organised effort to provide a warm, dry place for those “doing it tough” to find shelter. The hour for the temporary residents to leave the church building coincided with the end of our daily, early-morning prayer meetings. One morning, a lady leaving the prayer meeting greeted one of the temporary residents of the shelter by name and told him that we had been praying for him. Franco was so touched by this that he has made it his business to attend our Connect group. This is a “cafe church” offering, open one afternoon per week. It appears that our God has begun a mighty work in this young man. We are hoping and praying that God will bring him into His kingdom soon. Franco has expressed a desire to get to know our Lord and to be baptised.

Before he became our pastor, Graham was a member of the International Microwave Institute. Early in 2025 he was approached by the Institute and asked to present a 3 hour short course at the Annual Symposium of the Institute, in June, in Edmonton, AB, Canada. Graham was not in a position to attend, as he would have been while employed by Melbourne University. However, he prayed about the question. About three weeks later, Graham received a message from the US headquarters informing him that they had received an anonymous donation for exactly the amount needed for him to register for the Symposium, fly to and from Edmonton and meet accommodation and food expenses. During the course of the Symposium, Graham had numerous opportunities to share why he had become a pastor after having earned his place at the top of the world of microwave engineers. Some of those conversations continued for a long period after the end of the Symposium.

We believe that these conversations could prove to be steps along the way to spiritual birth for some of those attending the symposium, and give praise to God for enabling Pastor Graham to attend.

We have been praying that the Lord would add more people to our fellowship. He has done so, with the average number of regular attendees climbing from about 40 people to about 65 over the past year. At a time when churches generally are in decline, this is cause to give praise to our God. We have not adopted any clever program to achieve this growth. Rather, we have simply depended on God to enable us to clearly proclaim the truth of His Word and to build genuine community within the body of Christ as it is manifest at Benalla Baptist Church.

During the colder months, when the “Warming Place” was operational, we prayed regularly for opportunities to share our faith with those who were making use of the warming place program. It has been estimated that at least eleven people heard a clear presentation of the Gospel as a result. At least five of these people are still engaged with our fellowship in a meaningful way.