General News
8 July, 2025
Family Church opens its doors
Maryborough’s Family Church recently celebrated their new congregation with its first dedication service, and the ordination of their new pastor, Gary Key.
When Mr Key does his shopping, he enjoys greeting people and sparking conversation while waiting at the cash register.
“I just get around and talk to people. I do it in the supermarket. If you’re behind me in the supermarket, I’ll turn around and talk,” he said.
“They will go home and think ‘he’s crazy’, and I don’t care.”
For Mr Key, the move to Maryborough never came with a new job, it was to do what he loves in a town that now feels like home.
“It’s not work. This is life. My life is to share the experiences that I've had with people and to tell them,” he said.
The recent service was attended by around 50 people from local churches, service groups and community members. Others came from Castlemaine, Ballarat and Melbourne.
The church now exists under its current name following separation from a Melbourne church it was annexed to.
Before life as a pastor, Mr Key had numerous career changes.
Leaving school to become an apprentice in the printing industry, he worked for country newspapers in Sale and Bairnsdale, drove trucks, mixed farming and timber milling, plus worked on a council maintenance team, a nursing home, his own home maintenance business and then window making and glazing.
“I came to the age of 40, and I realised my life was a mess. I hadn't been near a church in any of my life, apart from a couple of funerals. The church I was going to at the time served hot meals before the service. So I went, had a meal and went straight home,” Mr Key said.
“One night I thought, ‘well, got nothing better to do’ so I went and sat in the service. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, the music wasn’t bad.”
Mr Key continued quitely attending when he noticed a profound personal connection to the service.
He went on to have roles such as assistant pastor, treasurer, street worker with lost teens and in the music ministry.
“In Gippsland, I started saying, ‘I don't really want to stay in this town,” he said.
“So we came here.”
“I wasn’t actually in a ministry position. I’d gone to the point where I just did anything anyone asked me,” he said.
“I used to just come in, sit in the back row. I’d still say ‘hello, everybody’ and go home again.
“I came to this church having moved to the town while the previous pastor was leading, and I just sat up the back, and I had a couple of conversations with him about where I’d been and the things I’d done. But he and his family decided to move to Mount Gambier.”
Mr Key said once that pastor left, only new elders were appointed.
“They asked me to be their pastor, and that was a bit of a step too far for me, because I basically got to the point where I thought I was retired. But, you’re never retired in God,” he said.
Mr Key hopes the Family Church can be a space to facilitate locals meeting, helping wherever possible and for those attending to find personal peace.
“This is a place for hope, reassurance, a purpose for life. Without those things, what’s the point in life? I love it here,” he said.