After many years of meeting and ministering from a number of centres, it became evident that more effective ministry demanded our own building and a visible presence in this neighbourhood. After much prayer and consideration, we purchased the lease on our present block of land in 1993. This was financed through a wide variety of initiatives including pie drives, chocolate sales, fetes, catering, interest free loans, cash donations and many others. The next step of constructing a building seemed impossible for the relatively small congregations to achieve alone. Of course, God had a plan!

An unexpected and unusual opportunity suddenly arose. Anglicare Canberra and Goulburn formed a joint venture with the Brotherhood of St Lawrence from Victoria to open a recycled clothing shop, the Bargain Hunter, in Queanbeyan. The parish of St Barnabas contracted with this joint venture to collect the goods each week from the Anglicare bins throughout Canberra, Yass and Goulburn. The contents were then sorted, the ‘shop quality’ items selected and delivered to the Bargain Hunter shop in Queanbeyan. Committed volunteers from the parish undertook this work. The income generated provided the means to build the St Barnabas Ministry Centre.