Our History

Our story

Thrive Church has had a rich and vibrant history in Narrabri since 1989. Through many different expressions, one thing has never changed, we whole heartedly love God.

We have been led by some incredible pastors in our 35 year history. Our pioneering Pastors Ron and Dawn Mills came from Brisbane in response to the call of God to start what we were then known as, Christian Outreach Centre.

The first meeting was held at the CWA hall on Sunday 12th March 1989 with 14 people in attendance. Meeting locations moved a couple times over the next few years including the Neighbourhood Centre and Primary School Hall and in April 1993 all meetings and the office moved to the ‘Tin Shed’ at 72 Cooma Road in Narrabri. Which is now the windscreen place.

Ron and Dawn resigned as Pastors in 1994 and for the next 9 yrs we had Lindsay and Chris Oberg, Jim Baker from Tamworth and Wayne and Margaret O’Connor as Senior Pastors. The church moved to the Strand Building at 75 Maitland Street in December 2000 and the first worship meeting was held on 7th January 2001.

On 6th April 2003 Mike and Anne Ross became Senior Pastors. In December 2005 the lease was re-signed for another 12 months and the seed was sown and Mike and Anne asked if they could purchase the building. They were told he would never sell the building. Over the next months the church prayed and prayed that God would have his way. And after months of asking, praying, believing the church purchased the unbuyable Strand building in August 2006. Major renovations were made to the front of the building in August 2008 and the old roof was replaced in May 2010. A lot of the smaller renovations, extensions, storage rooms were done by Mike and many people who are here today.

In March 2006, Narrabri COC adopted Coonabarabran COC as an annexe and we became one church meeting in two locations. Mike and Anne pastored two churches while gradually merging them together as one.

In 2018 Mike and Anne retired from full time ministry and handed on the leadership to Travis and Aimee Lions who have been part of the church for many years.

Each pastor has built the church to the vibrant, loving and generous church it is today. In 2020 we changed our name to Thrive Church, as we felt this better describes who we are. A church that Thrives and wants to see you Thrive.