Cornerstone Community
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Cornerstone Community is a not-for-profit organisation which began as a Christian Mission Order in 1978 as a contemporary response to the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Students engaged in a one-year program of study, part-time work and community living within one of the Cornerstone Communities in regional Queensland, NSW and Victoria. The subsequent year was spent as smaller self-supporting mission teams within rural Australian towns.
History
Cornerstone Community was founded by Laurie and Elvira McIntosh and Paul and Robyn Roe on land owned by farmers Jack and Harriet Buster and Owen and Esther Boone in Bourke, NSW in 1978.[1][2]
Laurie McIntosh, a civil engineer, anthropologist, and theologian, developed the idea for a self-sufficient 'mission-minded' community of Christians while ministering on university campuses in England and Australia.[3]
Cornerstone established Christian training communities in Bourke, Broken Hill and Canowindra in New South Wales, Emerald, Queensland and Dalby, in Queensland and Swan Hill in Victoria.
Cornerstone mission teams worked in many regional towns in Queensland, Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Tasmania. Cornerstone also started 2 primary schools, Pera Bore Christian Community School in Bourke (established 1986), and Burrabadine Christian Community School in Dubbo (established 1993).[4]
In the early 2000s, the impact of drought on the farming communities in which Cornerstone operated, along with dwindling student numbers, led to a shift in strategic direction, with a new emphasis on small, sustainable communities in larger regional centres and a move to members working part time in their professions rather than in agricultural work. When Cornerstone moved from Bourke to Swan Hill in 2005, the primary school continued under the leadership of Pacific Hills Christian Community School. Burrabadine Christian Community school became independent of Cornerstone in 2022. Cornerstone remains a network of small, regionally based communities currently operating in Orange, Canowindra, Dubbo, Newcastle and Bendigo.
Training
Cornerstone offered an accredited Certificate 4 and diploma in Christian Studies between 2000 until 2017. Currently Cornerstone offers a 5-month internship for high school graduates alongside Cornerstone Bendigo community. <ref>https://issuu.com/cornerstonecommunity/docs/csprospectus2012<ref>
References
- ^ web|url=https://www.eternitynews.com.au/archive/cornerstone-co-founder-jack-buster-remembered-spontaneous-radical-generosity/ |title=Cornerstone co-founder Jack Buster remembered for his "spontaneous radical generosity"|date=2014-02-04|publisher=Eternity (newspaper) | accessdate=2023-11-05
- ^ McIntosh, Elvira Cornerstone Community (2017) – Making the natural life spiritual and the spiritual life natural. https://missiocollective.org/?p=46
- ^ Cornerstone: the Jesus Revolution went and lived in Bourke and thrives today 15/04/2023 John Sandeman. The Other Cheek.com https://theothercheek.com.au/cornerstone-the-jesus-revolution-went-and-lived-in-bourke-and-thrives-today/
- ^ McIntosh, Elvira Cornerstone Community (2017) – Making the natural life spiritual and the spiritual life natural. https://missiocollective.org/?p=46