You’re never too young to pray: Anglican Aid has new prayer cards for kids.
In our home, nightly prayers can be a chaotic time of convincing my four-year-old to speak, attempting to teach
her what to pray for, and trying to stop my one-yearold catapulting off the bed and donking her sister on the head with an Elsa doll.
So I was delighted to receive
SouthernCross August-September 2023
volume 29 number 5
Missed the last issue of Southern Cross ?
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Anglican Aid’s Big Prayers for Little People prayer cards. Having a visual aid that helps my daughter grow in prayer may not completely eradicate the chaos of bedtime prayer, but it
Publisher: Anglican Media Sydney
certainly helps bring focus to our time together.
Anglican Aid’s set of 11 prayer cards are hot off the press. They are available for free to encourage families and children
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Printed by: Southern Colour cover image: Michael Newton and kids from Leppington Anglican College.
Tara Sing
After a 12-month search, another site has been secured for a future Anglican church in southwestern Sydney, with the Anglican Church Growth Corporation’s purchase of land in Catherine Field (located between Oran Park and Leppington).
The 1.88-hectare site is on Camden Valley Way, opposite the rapidly growing Gledswood Hills housing estate, in an area that is already home to tens of thousands of people.
“It’s so significant for the work of the gospel in the fast-growing southwest ,” says the Bishop of the South Western Region, Peter Lin. “Every parish in the Diocese has partnered in this missional advance and it should
be considered an extension of our collective gospel outreach.”
The purchase was made possible by last year’s Synod decision to continue the 2 per cent Land Acquisition Levy
paid by each parish for another decade. Growth Corp CEO Ross Jones says this makes the difference between buying and not buying a piece of land when it becomes available.
“We used to save up money over a number of years and then pay for a property outright, but if you use the cost of Catherine Field [$6.4 million] as an example, having just bought
to pray big prayers and engage with the key overseas aid and development projects that the organisation supports.
“Many of our Anglican Aid staff are parents and grandparents,” says the Rev Canon Tim Swan, CEO of Anglican Aid. “Even with my kids, I struggle to explain the big things going on in our world – and I’m leading an aid
organisation! We came up with this idea together to help grownups pray for global issues with their kids.
“The cards reflect the nature of our international work, which cares for families and children facing poverty and hardship. While many adults pray for these projects using the prayer diary and PrayerMate app, the cards allow children to participate, too.”
Canon Swan adds that often it is children overseas, and their families, who are being supported through education, clean water and disability inclusion projects. “We’d love families here to be praying for their brothers and sisters in Christ overseas.”
Designing a resource that encouraged families to prioritise praying together was key for Canon Swan. “God works through families. In fact, his promises are to ‘you and your children’ [Gen 17:7]. When we learn from Jesus and pray, ‘Our Father…’, we model to each other that we are all alike as dependent children before God, and we model what Jesus meant when he said, ‘Let the children come
“Together we find refuge in our Father and, as we pray for his kingdom to come, we lift our vision and participate together in
shaping the world, as God uses our prayers to bring about his glorious purposes. Family prayer helps bring the right perspective to all of life.”
While being committed to praying together as a family for global issues, previously Canon Swan found some missionary prayer letters and situations around the world too complex for young children to grasp.
“These Big Prayers for Little People cards help keep prayer points manageably simple, while also lifting our vision to pray around the world, and helping us to have soft hearts towards the poor,” he says.
“I hope these prayer cards will help families to care for the poor and needy as God cares for the poor and needy, and ultimately strengthen relationships between Sydney Christians and our brothers and sisters around the world.” SC
Growth area: The land for the future church is centrally located on Camden Valley Way. A Family Owned Funeral Servicesome land we’d need three years before we could buy the next one,” he says.
“With Synod approving the levy to be locked in for 10 years, that allows us to borrow to fund a purchase when we need it and the 2 per cent levy pays that back. It gives us a lot more flexibility.”
This flexibility enabled the purchase of the Catherine Field site only six months after Growth Corp bought 2.3ha in the northwestern suburb of Box Hill, which lies between Rouse Hill and Pitt Town – and where the population is expected to more than double by 2036.
Each of the purchases made by Growth Corp includes extra land that can be subdivided and sold later to fund the church’s construction or the purchase of more land. This strategy, combined with the levy, provides about 90 per cent of the cost of each new land parcel.
The church facilities to be built at Catherine Field will be used by Grace Anglican Churches,
Camden Valley, led by the Rev Jonathan Squire.
He knows it will take some years for a physical church building to be established but is already excited by the opportunities it will provide to serve an area that, over the past 20 years, he has watched transform from paddocks into suburbs.
“The purchase of this land is a wonderful answer to prayer... it will provide a centre for ministry to this new growth area, which has already grown to 50,000 people, with significantly more growth to come,” he says.
“We need to continue to plant and grow churches wherever we can, but the purchase of this brilliantly located land wonderfully provides a stable, long-term centre for ministry for both now and many years to come. We’re very grateful for God’s provision through the fellowship of Anglican churches and the work of ACGC.”
Growth Corp’s updated Greenfields Strategy includes
the top 10 areas where it would like to buy land, with the highest priority given to three other sites in Camden Valley parish, three within the parish of Rosemeadow, and one apiece in the parishes of Glenmore Park with Mulgoa, Picton-Wilton and Kingswood.
Mr Jones encourages people to pray for the future ministries at these sites, and to consider their own potential for living and serving in such places.
“Our vision is all about providing excellent ministry
and evangelism infrastructure for our parishes,” he says. “We can do that, but they’re all white elephants if people aren’t in those buildings and on those sites looking for ways to share Jesus with the people around them. What parishioners do in sharing the gospel is more important – we just provide a roof over their heads!” SC
Those interested in supporting the continuing work in greenfields areas of the Diocese can give through New Churches for New Communities at https://ncnc.org.au
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Sometimes you just have to marvel at God’s blessing in difficult circumstances.
For the best part of a decade, the evangelical Kale Heywet Church in Ethiopia, under the banner Heading North, has served people in the Amhara region north of the capital – training church leaders, teaching farming techniques to improve yield and reverse erosion, providing clean water, supporting schools and challenging the local vengeancebased culture with one of forgiveness.
“The peace and reconciliation work they do is fantastic, because they’re based in a region that is known for its violence –vengeance killings are normal,” says Anglican Aid project officer Hannah Grant.
Heading North arranges reconciliation training for entire communities, and also supports the appointment of mediators to help decrease the rates of revenge killing. Statistics from the work are extraordinary: previously there would be 20 vengeance killings every year; now there is only one.
What is more, in an area where Bible-believing Christians make up less than 0.2 per cent of the population, they comprise 50 per cent of those appointed by the community as local peacemakers.
“People ask, ‘Why do you love us?’, because it’s so counter cultural and almost confusing that Christians should show great love to them, when Christians haven’t been shown that love by others,” Ms Grant
Success: Pastor Feru Taye from Heading North with part of a healthy harvest.
says. “And the answer to that is, it’s because of Jesus. They want to show Jesus’ love and teach Jesus’ love and that’s how everything changes.
“Previously, the name of Jesus was spat at – no one wanted to associate with Christians. But now people have seen that Christians love their neighbours and want to care for their community, so they are now accepted and respected. It’s such a transformation.
“People also hear about Jesus as the ultimate example of reconciliation. They learn biblical examples of love and forgiveness, which is so important in a culture like this.”
In addition to the reconciliation work, the area where the Anglican Aid-supported project is located has seen a 95 per cent drop in waterborne diseases (84 per cent of the district now has access to clean water), while new farming techniques and the provision of seedlings for farmers has resulted in up to 10 times the volume of crops for harvest.
In the past year, training has also been provided to 350 church leaders, and 500 students have been given school supplies.
“The reason this is such a good development model is because it’s really big on community
participation and ownership, which basically means it’s not a Western organisation like Anglican Aid coming in to provide aid,” Ms Grant explains. “Heading North goes in and asks the community, ‘What do you need most?’
“There was one community where they went in and even though the school had only 30 books, when the community met and talked about what was needed, they decided to build a fence. That might seem strange, but they decided that, if a fence was built, the local oxen couldn’t walk in and destroy the mud buildings, so they wouldn’t have to keep paying to fix them... and they could also grow crops inside the fence.
“So, what has happened is that they have been able to use the money they have saved on repairs to buy their library resources... whereas we might go in and think, ‘Let’s just buy books’. It really shows that the community knows best.”
Ms Grant particularly notes God’s protection over the project. Despite locust swarms, rebel attacks, the burning of churches and Heading North’s need to care for many thousands of displaced people as well as the locals, “God has worked miracles in protection and provision... In human terms it wouldn’t have been possible to keep going but God is sustaining and blessing the ministry in a really hard environment.” SC
To support the work of Kale Heywet Church in Ethiopia, go to https:// anglicanaid.org.au and search for “Heading North”.
Anglican Aid partner changes lives in Ethiopia.More than 1100 ministry workers from across the Diocese have heard a former police officer present the latest research and prevention measures for child safety at the triennial Faithfulness in Ministry conference in June.
The day-long event, mandatory for licensed clergy and authorised lay ministers, was held at several centres – including MBM Rooty Hill, Carlingford, Figtree, Castle Hill and Hoxton Park – to allow all ministry staff to attend.
Speakers included Archbishop Raffel, Youthworks CEO the Rev Canon Craig Roberts, SALT Community Church pastor Dave McDonald and former Western Australia Police officer Andrea Musulin (above).
Mrs Musulin, who previously spoke at the 2017 Faithfulness in Ministry conference, is director
of the Safeguarding Program for the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth and inaugural CEO of Protective Behaviours WA.
“The address she gave six years ago was on domestic violence and a lot of work has been done on that locally since that time,” the Director of Safe Ministry, Lachlan Bryant, told Southern Cross
“This year we were focusing on two Royal Commission recommendations and, as Mrs Musulin is one of the leaders in the field on the protective behaviours issue, we wanted to
draw from that expertise and hear how protective behaviours for children in a faith-based context can really help keep children safe and prevent abuse.”
The recommendations from the Royal Commission were about pastoral supervision and empowering children to protect themselves.
Recommendation 16.40 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse states that “wherever a religious institution has children in its care, those children should be provided with age-appropriate prevention education that aims to increase their knowledge of child sexual abuse and build practical skills to assist in strengthening selfprotective skills and strategies”. Said Mr Bryant: “For her to address the key leaders in our parishes on this topic is very
helpful as we grapple with how to implement that in our circumstances. We certainly got a lot of interest from those in the room.
“There’s more work to be done on it but we feel better equipped now, having heard insights from her, to tackle these things in our own context. Also, conversations with Craig Roberts from Youthworks have paved the way for us to collaborate further so that we can have some things in place for our parishes.
“The other Royal Commission recommendation that was considered was pastoral supervision and the implementation of that for the Diocese. Overall, we received a lot of feedback and we consider that it was a very successful conference.” SC The next Faithfulness in Ministry conference is due in 2026.
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Hymn music is wafting out of St James’ Chapel, the large, beautifully rebuilt church in Anglicare’s Castle Hill retirement village.
At the organ is Mary Patfield, who stops to greet me before continuing to play “Finlandia” by Sibelius – humming to herself or quietly singing the words of trust and faith in the accompanying hymn.
At 97 her hearing isn’t the best, but there’s nothing wrong with her musicality or skill at the organ. She’d never say so herself – Mrs Patfield is quick to downplay her own talents and point to the gifts of others – but let’s just put modesty aside for a moment. This woman can play.
After finishing, she slips off the soft shoes that make it easier to operate the pedals under the keyboard, and we sit by a sunny window for a chat.
“I enjoy being able to play – to play music that people feel they can relate to and that you can learn from,” she says. “These wonderful hymns have so much to tell us about our Saviour and Lord. I like good, strong hymns, but some wonderful devotional hymns, too... ‘When I Survey’ – that’s a magnificent hymn –and of course ‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’, which is so well known. And some of the newer ones like ‘How Deep the Father’s Love’. That’s the most gorgeous thing, isn’t it?”
So, what’s her idea of a good, strong, hymn? “Those German tunes... ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’. He is a mighty fortress; he’s so dependable.”
Mrs Patfield grew up attending Christ Church, Gladesville, when the rector was the Rev Canon David Knox (father of Broughton Knox), and the honorary curate for many years was future archbishop Marcus Loane.
She learned the piano as a child but began to play the organ in church at about 15, because the organists had gone to fight
in World War II and “there was nobody around to play”.
Modestly stepping back once the trained organists returned, she has continued to play when needed ever since. In parishes such as Seaforth, Wentworthville and Annandale, where her husband the Rev Ron Patfield was rector, Mrs Patfield would step into the breach whenever a regular organist could not play.
“I’m not a professional organist or a classical organist,” she says earnestly. “I’m just really just an ordinary congregational organist and I’m happy to be that.”
She recalls that in 1959, not long after she and her husband moved to Wentworthville, the church took busfuls of people to the Billy Graham Crusade about three times a week. “We got so many referrals... it was a lot of work, but it was wonderful to see those people coming to faith. And then we eventually built a bigger church!”
They moved into the Castle Hill village 17 years ago, and for many years Mrs Patfield has happily served at the organ of St James’ Chapel – although she’s a little sorrowful that, since COVID, hymns are now led on the big screen with a prerecorded choir while congregation members sing through their masks.
However, for two or three weeks each month, as everyone comes into church, she is at the organ quietly playing hymns “that speak to people’s minds and relate to the sermon”. She then provides something triumphant for the close of the service.
Mrs Patfield had an enforced break earlier this year while she had a pacemaker fitted but she’s now back at the organ seat, and plans to keep going for as long as her fingers allow it.
“I’m very fortunate that I haven’t got a lot of arthritis and l can still play,” she says with a smile. “I’m 98 in October. So I’m getting on!”
Serving with a smile: Mary Patfield at the St James’ Chapel organ.is the largest evangelistic ministry of the Diocese of Sydney. With answers to questions from all over the world, we reach more than a million unique visitors a year.
A firefighter, an historian and a bellringer are among Sydney Anglicans honoured in the King’s Birthday honours.
For Chief Superintendent Graham Kingsland (right), of Glenbrook, the awarding of the Australian Fire Service Medal recognises 30 years of work, including his recent participation in search and rescue after the Turkish earthquake.
He also helped guide Fire and Rescue NSW through the COVID-19 pandemic. In his career, he has been a firefighter at various stations in Sydney and participated in major incident responses such as the Glenbrook train crash and Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu.
Mr Kingsland, a member of Springwood parish, said he was humbled by the award.
Educator and historian Dr Stuart Braga was honoured
with a Medal of the Order of Australia for for contributions to education administration and community history.
As an educational administrator, Dr Braga was at Trinity Grammar School as senior master and was President of the Teachers’ Guild of NSW. He was also chair of the awards committee of the Australian College of Educators. He is a fellow and life member of both organisations.
In community history, Dr Braga has written several major
books on military history and family history.
Said his wife Patricia: “At our age [mid-80s] this award is lovely recognition of the many different ways Stuart has looked to develop young people in his time as an educator and then in telling people’s stories in his work since his retirement, so the recognition is welcome and will mean much to our families.
“The Honours List contains the names of many people whose service to Australia has been massive, so we are very touched that the Honours Secretariat has seen fit to include Stuart.”
Also honoured with an OAM for education administration was Mrs Catherine Crouch.
Mrs Crouch, a lay canon of St Andrew’s Cathedral and a co-leader of women’s groups at North Sydney, has had extensive involvement with Barker College.
She is a former deputy chair and board member, and assisted in the establishment of Barker’s Indigenous education program.
In Burwood, Pam Brock has been ringing bells at St Paul’s for almost 60 years, and was awarded an OAM. She started ringing when she was 19 and said, “I love the teamwork involved, working together combining physical co-ordination and mental alertness to produce the unique sound of bells.”
Mrs Brock thinks it is important to ring the bells each week. “It calls the congregation and lets them know there will be a service at the church”.
She was amazed and humbled to receive an OAM and thanked the community of St Paul’s –especially the person who first encouraged her into bellringing. As she said, “It’s been a lifetime of enjoyment”. SC
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The Director role is a great blend of teaching and leading in a 27 place preschool. The Director will have 2 full office days and 3 teaching days with responsibility for their own class of 3-5 year olds. They will guide the team of educators as Educational Leader as well as overseeing the administrative and compliance aspects of the Preschool. This role would be a fantastic fit for a committed Director who wants to lead a Christian preschool with a mature, supportive team assisting them. The Preschool operates 8.15am - 3.45pm during school terms, which allows for an excellent work life balance, further enhanced by a warm preschool community and enthusiastic management board. We advocate for research based approaches to education and a play-based curriculum. The Preschool, with St Thomas’ Anglican Church, serves the community by providing quality early childhood education in a nurturing Christian context.
Please email your applications to office@stthomaspreschool.com.au or if you have any enquiries (02) 9922 2878 Applications close on Friday 8th September.
The first King’s Birthday list in more than 70 years.“Most Aussies have had a gutful of sports bet ads,” Dean says.
Long-time campaigner for poker machine reform, the Dean of Sydney, Sandy Grant, has welcomed the Federal parliamentary report that recommends a ban on online gambling advertising within three years.
This was the strong headline recommendation of the report You Win Some, You Lose More from the House of Representatives’ social policy and legal affairs committee.
“It’s excellent to see a parliamentary committee urge removal of sports betting ads that will eventually see a total ban on TV and social media feeds,” Dean Grant says.
“We have no idea about Jesus’ attitude to sport. But we know St Paul was a fan, from his many sporting illustrations: running, wrestling and training in general. But Christians are even clearer that if you see someone in need but have no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you?
“Australians lose more than any other nationality on online gambling. Too many go on to experience dreadful harm from
online gambling, which is often highly addictive.”
The committee recommends a phased approach to banning the ads. Committee chair Peta Murphy MP says, “This will give major sports and broadcasters
time to find alternative advertisers and sponsors, while preventing another generation from experiencing escalating gambling harm.”
Other recommendations include an online gambling ombudsman, a harm reduction levy on online wagering service providers, a public education campaign and more independent research on gambling and its effects.
“Most Aussies have had a gutful of sports bet ads during our favourite matches,” Dean Grant says. “And we worry about the exposure of our kids to the normalisation of gambling. For this reason, some years back I abandoned my support of the Parramatta Eels while they
retained a sports bet logo on their jerseys.
“Australians care about the results in our much-loved Ashes or State of Origin, but know they are far less important than the welfare of ordinary men and women, boys and girls, harmed by out-of-control sports betting.”
The report was handed down in June, but the Government is yet to announce whether it will implement the recommendations in full. Dean Grant believes such support should be forthcoming immediately.
“Our Prime Minister should know there is no excuse for failure to implement the findings of this report,” he says. “There should be little delay in preparing the legislation that’s needed.”
Loud and clear: The Dean of Sydney, Sandy Grant, makes his point about the need for gambling reform.The 1960s had the sexual revolution and the 2020s has brought us the gender revolution. So this is a fitting title for a book with the clear purpose of providing “the biblical basis for a contemporary Christian response to the complicated feelings and experiences of gender dysphoria”.
The Gender Revolution is jointly written by acclaimed sexologist and academic Dr Patricia Weerakoon, the Rev Dr Rob Smith – who recently completed his PhD on an evangelical assessment of transgender
theory – and pastor-theologian the Rev Kamal Weerakoon.
“We have a great compassion for the people who are
He spoke of his previous work as a youth minister and the privilege of watching young people grow and find an identity
[or] connected with the family that loved them and brought them up.”
Dr Smith also highlighted the
Teach your kids how to pray for the world, or start conversations at home about grace and giving with Anglican Aid's free Family Discipleship Resources. Available now at:
anglicanaid.org.au/pray
Biblical compassion: Dr Patricia Weerakoon, the Rev Dr Rob Smith and the Rev Kamal Weerakoon at the launch.
A trio of authors bring clarity and compassion to gender issues.
pastoral guidance,” he said. “That’s where Patricia’s skills and gifts and experience come to the fore, in that she can bring all the medical and scientific insights to bear and just demonstrate that, again, Bible and biology are in total sync here.”
Dr Weerakoon highlighted helpful illustrations in the book, including the image of a tree symbolising biological development.
“We use the tree because the root system of the biology, the development in the womb as well as the word of God, supports our sexuality and our bodies and our gender,” she said. “What transgender ideology does is just chop the trunk off so that biology is actually now bigotry. It turns the tree over, kind of chops up the branches, makes it all mush and the tree can’t survive.”
Archbishop Kanishka Raffel, who officially launched the book, described it as being “born out of a deep confidence and trust in the word of God, a deep understanding of human identity and sexuality, and a very deep love for people, especially for young people who are besieged with messages that confuse and destabilise and in many ways isolate them.”
His predecessor, Dr Peter Jensen, commended the book saying, “I remember being asked by some worried parents about five years ago whether they needed to consider puberty blockers when their sevenyear-old reached 11 or 12. I was completely out of my depth. I wish I’d had this book at hand.
“The authors speak with an authority based on research and experience. The issues they are dealing with are of high present significance and we need an approach based on both Scripture and science.” SC
The Gender Revolution by Patricia Weerakoon with Robert Smith and Kamal Weerakoon is published by Matthias Media.
Archbishop Kanishka Raffel and the Ven Kara Hartley, Archdeacon for Women’s Ministry, have expressed serious concerns about moves to drastically expand the availability of a drug that brings on an abortion.
MS-2 Step (Mifepristone and Misoprostol), also known as RU-486, has been available in Australia since 2012, but those prescribing and dispensing it had to be trained and certified.
Now the Therapeutic Goods Association has removed the requirement for special training and certification, and the drug will be more easily available through general practitioners, nurse practitioners and pharmacists. According to the Royal Australian College of GPs, the abortion drug would now be treated “just like any other medicine”.
In a joint statement, Archbishop Raffel and Archdeacon Hartley say this has happened without adequate safeguards for vulnerable women or consideration of the welfare and moral issues involved, adding that the availability of such a drug is not simply a medical issue.
“The whole point of the previous safeguards around this drug was that it has a serious moral dimension,” Archbishop Raffel and Archdeacon Hartley say. “The impact of allowing self-administration of medication which terminates the life of an unborn child up to nine weeks of gestation is profound.
“The rhetoric around this issue has been focused on access rather than the impacts of abortion. Women are often unprepared for the
physical and psychological impact of terminating their own pregnancy, and without sufficient counselling are unprepared for the confronting experience of delivering a dead foetus at home. The effects can be traumatic.
“This is quite apart from the moral and spiritual dimensions of abortion, routinely ignored or dismissed in public discourse. Christians and people of many faiths recognise that abortion is a violation of the sanctity of life. This decision will be lamented by many.”
While recognising that some in society disagree with their stand against abortion, Archbishop Raffel and Archdeacon Hartley add that “surely there is widespread recognition of the need to provide adequate support for women who will have to face the consequences of an abortion in their own homes.
“The previous requirements ensured that medical practitioners prescribing RU-486 were sufficiently trained and certified for this purpose. That vital safeguard has now been removed.”
They noted that a key
argument for broadening access to RU-486 is the lack of access to abortions for women in regional and remote areas. However, they argue that “removing safeguards makes it more dangerous for women in these locations who are unable to access support services, including hospitalisation in the event of complications”.
In a story in The Australian newspaper quoting the diocesan statement, the peak body representing obstetricians also expressed concern, saying the decision would place women at risk of complications, or even death.
National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynae cologists president Dr Gino Pecoraro told the newspaper that the Federal Government had not properly considered the consequences of lesser-trained practitioners distributing an abortion drug.
“You can’t just start something like this,” he said. “You have to have all the infrastructure in place to deal with all of the complications and it may simply be that it’s just not safe to do this everywhere.” SC
Safeguards removed: Anglican and other protestors rally in Sydney’s CBD in 2019 against new abortion laws.“lamented by many”
THERE are almost 200 years between the oldest and youngest Anglican schools in Sydney, and Leppington Anglican College is wasting no time catching up. It opened this year in Sydney’s southwest with a foundational cohort of 190 students and is on track to have close to 350 students next year.
More families are choosing values-based education – over the past decade, private school enrolments across Australia have grown by over 25 per cent. Established in a rapidly developing part of southwest Sydney where demand for holistic education is rising, Leppington Anglican College (LAC) has the unique opportunity to set itself apart by establishing a gospel-focused culture in the school from the start.
“From the outset, we have had a very strong school vision and mission that are Christ-centred,” says the principal of LAC, Michael Newton. “Our motto is ‘Life to the fullest’, which comes from John 10:10. As a Christian school, we believe you can only find life to the fullest in Christ.
“From an educational perspective, all learning and understanding comes from God and points us towards him. That’s the lens through which we teach and gives everything we do at school a Christ-centred focus.”
Having a clear vision and mission for the school is in harmony with what happens each day in the classroom. Mr Newton believes the way
teachers teach plays a key role in upholding the gospel.
“Excellence in education goes hand in hand with how we respond as Christians to God,” he says. “We strive to be the best teachers we can be, in response to what God has done for us. We have to do the best we can in everything we do, whether that’s caring for the child or preparing lessons. Everything we do supports the gospel.”
With this attitude, Mr Newton’s focus is for Leppington Anglican College to commend and cultivate the Christian faith through the way staff love children and their families, and through formal faith elements such as chapel services, prayer and devotions and Christian Studies.
The school prides itself on encouraging Christ-shaped values of courage, humility, resourcefulness, inquiry, self discipline and teamwork in all students. These were chosen as they are a broad set of attributes important for human flourishing that are also clearly displayed in the life of Christ.
“We want to raise people to be courageous in learning and in moral character,” Mr Newton says. “We want our young people to recognise injustice and not just walk past, but call it out. When it comes to developing leadership skills, we want to see students have courage and humility. Humility in learning is coming into class with a sense of wonder about God’s world. There is always more to learn!”
The Christian lens shapes the way learning is organised at LAC to support this character development in every student.
“All learning comes from God and points us to him ultimately,” Mr Newton says. “If we’re learning maths, we’re learning about the patterns God has put in the world. If we take history, for example, we learn about the best and the worst of humanity and it points us toward the need for a saviour. If we look at music and art, creativity and beauty come from God and teach us about his character. No subject is in isolation from the creator of the universe.”
For Mr Newton, having the right culture in the school is his priority as principal. “Culture isn’t about programs and structures, but about relationships and doing them well – between staff, students, families and the way we manage student behaviour, the way we manage
conflict and encourage the unique gifts of every individual.”
When the culture is focused on Christ, an inherent sense of joy fills the school. “Our students have a great sense of joy, and our culture is a happy and positive culture, stemming from the notion that we find life to the fullest in Christ,” he says. “We have fun, we love to laugh, and we hope students experience all that the Christian life has to offer in good times and in bad. We have families going through hard times who are well supported by Christian teachers. We see families drawn to the local church by their kids.”
One of the college’s marketing lines is “Find your place”, which is important to Mr Newton because he didn’t have that experience at school himself, particularly given his passion for the arts.
“Beyond that, we want students to find their unique gifts and place in God’s world, and understand who they are in light of what God has done for them. This creates a real sense of belonging.”
for more Christian teachers – for LAC and the wider profession
• that LAC can grow and develop fast enough to keep up with the community for an unwavering focus on the vision and mission of the school
• for Mr Newton as he cares for his staff and students for principals everywhere as the job becomes increasingly demanding
By 2041, the population within the councils of Liverpool, Camden and Campbelltown is predicted to grow by more 220,000 people.
According to Independent Schools Australia, enrolments in NSW independent schools grew by more than 25 per cent from 2012 to 2022. Student numbers at a neighbouring school to LAC, Oran Park Anglican College, have increased by almost 1000 since it opened 11 years ago. Thomas Hassall Anglican College, also located in southwest Sydney, opened in 2000 with 150 students from kindergarten to Year 7. It is now a K-12 school of 1800 students.
Youthworks College offers both the Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Theology or Ministry. Study at our Newtown campus or in an online classroom with an experienced tutor. When ministry gets busy, it’s easy to neglect who we’re raising up to keep doing effective children’s and youth ministry for the next year and beyond. Youthworks College partners with churches to train both the old and the young to do effective gospel ministry to children and young people.
So will you send? And will you go?
Did you know that you can learn remotely and serve locally? Youthworks College offers both the Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Theology or Ministry online. This means you can fit study around your other commitments as you grow in your understanding of the Bible and sharpen your ministry skills.
WHEN Elizabeth Vidilini first went on a Fiji mission trip in 2018 as part of the Youthworks Year 13 gap year program, she didn’t imagine she would return multiple times as a leader. Every time she returns, she not only observes the ways in which current Year 13 students grow and are changed but finds herself humbled and shaped by the Fijian church and the things God is doing globally.
“I have been encouraged each time I’ve visited Fiji by their love for one another and the way they share life throughout the week,” she says. “1 Thessalonians 2:8 sums up what I think the Fijian church does so well: ‘Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well’.”
The mission trip to Fiji is an integral part of the Year 13 experience. It allows students to solidify their theological studies in a practical way as well as lifting their eyes to see different contexts where the gospel is proclaimed.
The students’ time in the country is spent working alongside local churches and communities in their gospel teaching. They get involved in youth groups, church services, kids’ and preschool ministries, and are split into small groups to visit different villages and get immersed in the culture – staying with local Christian families and sharing life with them across the week.
Over the years Mrs Vidilini has attended, she has observed the partnership between Year 13 and Fijian churches grow in love and depth, fostering existing relationships and reaching into new churches and villages.
Mrs Vidilini, who attends church at Jamberoo, found her first trip to Fiji five years ago a bit of a culture shock as it brought her face to face with the poverty many village families experienced.
“As a student, the village I was in was very poor and isolated,” she says. “There was a lot of neglect, poverty and sadness that I couldn’t do anything about.”
Observing how families carried on with day-to-day life despite challenging circumstances humbled her.
“This challenged me to trust that God is bigger than us, and his plan is greater than we can imagine,” she says. “The truths in his word reassured me that he knows and cares for these people more than I ever could. God is faithful in keeping his promises to protect and care for his children, even in remote villages in Fiji.”
Now as a leader on the annual mission trip, Mrs Vidilini is not only humbled by the Fijian church but by watching younger students grow in their faith.
“Going on a short-term mission trip brings with it so many great experiences, but with these come the temptation of feeling like it’s us at work and not God,” she says.
“This year, our local Christian mission didn’t get the opportunity to do as much ministry as they would have liked. This helped us to stop and reflect, as a team, on the fact that God is working for his glory and we have the blessing and joy of being part of that.”
Each mission provides a new cohort of Year 13 students with the opportunity to be challenged, wrestle with their faith and see how God is working through their weaknesses.
“I have had the privilege of caring for students as they’ve been pushed emotionally and physically,” Mrs Vidilini says. “Through it, they have grown to see that God works through them even when they feel like they have nothing left to offer.
“Nearly all of them return to Australia reminded of God’s goodness and that his plan for salvation is far greater than we can imagine. We are left trusting God’s sovereignty, and return home reflective of how we can continue to serve God in the places he has put [us] in Australia.”
• Pray that the Fijian church would continue to grow in its understanding of grace
• Pray that gospel truth will continue to be proclaimed among a growing number of other religions and worldly distractions
Pray that gospel preaching will be faithful and point to Jesus’ saving work on the cross
• Pray for Year 13 and the continued partnership with the church in Fiji long term – that Fiji would continue to be a safe place to visit and that local churches may continue to welcome the team and graciously partner with them in the gospel
• Pray that through missions, the church in Fiji will be strengthened and many would grow in faith
Year 13 is a Christian gap year for school leavers, preparing you to change the world for Christ, whatever walk of life you choose. Spend a year with like-minded young people from all over Australia! During your Year 13 discipleship Gap Year you will grow in your knowledge and understanding of God, serve on an overseas mission, learn what discipleship can look like in your life now and in the future and have a whole lot of fun.
ONCE someone retires, it’s rare for them to return to their workplace, let alone engage in their profession regularly. For the past 23 years, John Emmett has done exactly that.
Mr Emmett retired as a primary school principal in 2000, then stepped straight into multiple classrooms to teach Special Religious Education. At the young age of 81, he currently has three regular schools, cutting back from the five he taught at last year.
His motivation to continue being in classrooms stems from seeing so many families choose to send their children to SRE. “It’s the most important thing they need to hear,” he says. “It’s very important to teach people the gospel.”
Mr Emmett spent the first half of his career as a classroom teacher, then was principal of two primary schools – in the Eastern Suburbs and the Georges River area – for the next 22 years. He says a lifetime of tools and classroom experience is handy when teaching Scripture.
“I love explaining things to kids. I’ve learned to manage children and situations. From being a principal, I know how schools work and the operations. I think being both a teacher and then a principal gives me a great ability to teach Scripture in the public schools I do teach in.”
His own faith journey also started very young. His mother sent him along to the Sunday school at Sylvania when he was four, and 77 years later he still attends every Sunday, making him the longest-serving member of the church.
With more than two decades of teaching Scripture, and another 40+ years in a school environment, Mr Emmett knows how important SRE is to young people. He wants to encourage Christians everywhere to understand the value of serving in schools and committing their local public schools to prayer.
“Please pray for the gospel ministry through Scripture teachers,” he says. “[Pray they will be] faithful in preparation – that’s the key – to think through the lessons as carefully as they can… [and] pray for all the children.”
Mr Emmett has a methodological approach to praying for his students. He takes each class list and divides it into six groups. “So, Monday to Saturday, I pray for a sixth of each class. On Sundays, I pray for the principal and the teacher of every class. It’s God’s work, but my privilege to serve him wholeheartedly in this way.”
OVER the 26 years that the Rev Greg Webster was chaplain at Trinity Grammar School, he considers it a privilege to have walked alongside thousands of students – he estimates it to be more than 10,000.
When he was a teen he experienced the impact that faithful Christian teachers could have on a young person’s life. So it was only natural that he would say “Yes” to the opportunity to play a similar role in the lives of many youth.
“The idea that you could arrest the minds and hearts of young men with the word of God on a regular basis was an attraction for me,” he says. “Having taught high school Scripture in public schools, I saw teaching Christian Studies as an amazing opportunity.”
Mr Webster began chaplaincy at Trinity in 1997, leaving at the end of May this year to become the rector of Christ Church, Lavender Bay. He says there were many privileges to being a chaplain, but the one that brought him the most delight was seeing students grow in their faith.
“When you see young people’s hearts being warmed to Jesus, that’s a really joyous experience,” he says. “Often I’ll come in contact with [former students] if I visit a church somewhere, or someone will come up to me in a social situation… and start chatting about things they remember about chapel or school. The real surprise is when I come across young men who have become Christians since being at school.”
• Pray for the principals and teachers who help Scripture to happen weekly Pray for the students of SRE classes
• Pray for SRE teachers to faithfully prepare lessons well
• Pray for parents to continue to choose to send their children to SRE Pray that more people with time and willingness will undertake the training required and join the great host of SRE teachers helping kids explore their faith in NSW public schools
Meet the chaplain who shared Jesus with more than 10,000 students
The retired principal who volunteered to go back to
Haircuts aside, Mr Webster doesn’t believe there is much difference between the teenage boys of the ’90s and the teenage boys of today.
“Youth culture is a funny thing,” he says. “When I started, social media didn’t exist. Now it’s a huge part of everybody’s lives – adults and children. When I started, there was such a thing as a youth radio station. Now, with streaming services, you don’t have that one cultural beat that everyone jumps to. What happens is that school becomes the shared experience and the dominant culture.
“I don’t think young people have changed… 15-year-old boys are still playing sports on the weekends, you’ve got hormones flowing through, you’re probably trying to work out how to do simultaneous equations in Maths, you’re thinking about what other people think of you, you’re forming your views about the world and life. These things are still the same.”
Mr Webster also walked alongside the many staff and families of the school. “That’s a great privilege as well, as we open the Bible and try to communicate as clearly and winsomely as possible.”
And when sickness and death rocked the school community, his presence as chaplain offered comfort and hope to many families.
“Sadly most school communities, in time, are going to have to go through those things,” he says. “I often feel very lacking in competence, and yet people are really looking to you for a word of hope and to speak to them about the eternal truths. In a lot of ways, your presence is reassuring. The fact that you’re there and saying the things they know to be true deep down is very reassuring and helps people enormously.
“People are seriously spiritually centred in these particular points. They’re asking questions, and wanting to hear answers. It’s not like you’re a lone ranger, but you have a special voice in that situation. The
words you say will resonate quite strongly.”
The Christian support goes both ways in the school community, with many Christian families offering prayer and support that warmed Mr Webster’s heart.
“I’ve been well supported by Christian families who have come to chapel services and warmly encouraged the ministry,” he says. “They’ve spoken about how much their children have benefited from it. They’ve prayed. We have prayer meetings and that’s a significant ministry as well. Schools deal with students with complex needs, and to know there are people praying for that and for the way these students are being helped is huge. It’s amazing.”
Pray for those who hear the word: “Pray for the hearts and minds of the people who hear the words chaplains say,” Mr Webster says. “School chaplains have a very strong teaching role – they’re teaching young people and speaking to big groups of young people. It’s very much a word-based ministry. The parable of the sower comes to mind. Pray that the word would fall on good soil.”
Pray school chaplains will communicate clearly: “My students have taught me to be a better communicator. Feedback from my students tells me whether I am on the money or not, and so that pushes me to try and be better as someone who has this huge responsibility of communicating the gospel. If we’re not picking up on what people are hearing, we’re not communicating very well. We’ve got to give plenty of attention to what’s being heard as well as what’s being said.”
Pray for the Christian families in the school community: “It is a rich community to have Christians involved, and the impact they can have is quite substantial. Typically, they have a significant Christian presence in the school, and you have other colleagues and students rubbing shoulders with them every day. Pray that many would see it as a partnership.”
NOTHING shakes our foundations like a life-altering diagnosis, and that’s what Rebekah Dredge received in September 2022.
Mild symptoms meant that a slow-growing spinal cord tumour went undetected for years, but it had become so large it threatened to leave Mrs Dredge with quadriplegia. Surgery was not without its risks either – it also carried a 50 per cent chance of leaving her severely disabled.
The night before her surgery, she couldn’t bring herself to pray. “I was thinking a lot about submission, and Jesus in the Garden of
Gethsemane praying, ‘Your will be done’. And I actually couldn’t pray that,” she recalls.
Her theological foundations were shaken but strong – having been strengthened through studying a Diploma of Theology a few years earlier at Mary Andrews College (MAC). Her time had deepened her understanding of the unity of God’s people through Christ. She knew and could trust the prayers of his people to carry her through. In the darkness, she drew comfort from knowing that her church was praying for her when she couldn’t pray for herself.
“Rather than praying [that night], I was counting the number of people praying for me,” Mrs Dredge says. “It struck me that it was like counting sheep – only I was counting God’s sheep, the flock of the Good Shepherd. That gave me enormous encouragement and comfort to be part of the body of Christ in my distress.”
There were signs of success immediately following surgery, but three days in the ICU were still to come as part of the treatment plan, which were terrifying and lonely. She was required to lie flat to prevent fluid leaks and promote the healing of her spinal cord.
“My entry level to communing with God was to complain like a psalmist… I started with Psalm 22: ‘My God my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And in praying through these words and laying out my complaints to God, I had the realisation that I shared those words with Jesus himself, who entered the pit in order to rescue his people.”
She says that during her studies at Mary Andrews College there was a lot of talk about lament, and how the psalmists are completely honest with their emotions before the Lord. “Often the psalmist comes full circle and commits himself once more to trusting in God. That was certainly my pattern of prayer in ICU.”
In God’s kindness, Mrs Dredge was able to walk out of hospital six weeks later with mobility in all her limbs, but is still navigating chronic pain and body limitations. She was able to explore her experience through studying Disability Ministry at MAC.
“It’s been a really helpful time to process my new limitations within a theological context,” she says. “I’ve been processing a lot of my own personal journey out loud with the class in the context of trying to understand disability from a theological perspective.”
Mrs Dredge is grateful that the lessons learned at MAC were such a blessing to her in a time of significant suffering.
“My diploma turned out to be a valuable investment for a time in the wilderness,” she says. “While there are still physical and spiritual struggles, looking back at God’s handiwork helps me to trust him with my future.”
THE next time you bump into a teacher at church, ask them how they’re going and take a moment to pray for them – because they need it.
In February, the NSW Teachers Federation reported that thousands of positions are vacant, the number of teachers resigning has doubled in the past two years and the number of people studying to enter the profession has dropped by 30 per cent.
In an industry where the workload is high and the opportunities to shape and influence young lives abound, Christian teachers need our support and prayer. We spoke to three about how their churches have cared for them.
There’s nothing specific Kate Haggar’s church does for her, but one of the small ways the junior school teacher at Rouse Hill Anglican College has been blessed by her church, St Paul’s, Canterbury, is through being surrounded by people who “get it”.
“I’m very thankful to be in a Bible study group with a few other teachers,” she says. “I don’t think that was on purpose, but it’s been great to be in a Bible study with others who understand the particular things that make teaching hard and joyful.”
It isn’t just fellow teachers who understand the challenges of her
profession. “When I started teaching last year, people at church were very caring – constantly checking in on how I was doing,” Miss Haggar says. “It felt like people have heard about how difficult the first year of teaching can be and wanted to make sure I wasn’t drowning.”
For Julia Wee, having space to share the joys and difficulties of teaching with her church family at St Barnabas’, Bossley Park has made a massive difference. The high school Maths teacher once came close to leaving the profession due to challenging circumstances.
“Before my current job at Thomas Hassall, I was facing a really difficult time at my previous job, where my mental health deteriorated
Campbelltown Anglican Schools deliver Christian Education to 2,000 students from the Macarthur community through Broughton Anglican College, St Peter’s Anglican Grammar and St Peter’s Heart.
Our vision is to be a beacon to South-West Sydney that proclaims the gospel of forgiveness, hope and life through Jesus Christ, providing quality, visionary educational opportunities, encouraging a journey of lifelong learning.
stpeters.nsw.edu.au
broughton.nsw.edu.au
really quickly,” she says. “I shared with my Bible study and some close friends at church who were really compassionate, listened and prayed for me. After I shared, they also followed up with me on a regular basis to see how I was coping.
“It made me feel I could get through the situation despite the difficulties, and that church was a safe space where I could be really honest about how I felt and that people wouldn’t judge me for feeling this way... One particular person I shared with at church made me feel heard. They offered support in a way that made me feel relieved. They listened, rather than trying to solve the problem.”
Mrs Wee adds that teaching is a “hard profession” that demands a lot of physical, mental and spiritual energy, and suggests that church members can help support and care for teachers in their congregation “by asking them how work is regularly, offering prayer through any circumstance, and following up with what people say”.
For Broughton Anglican College’s director of teaching, Rahmi Jackson, the special relationship his school has with Campbelltown Anglican Church has had an incredible impact – not only on the staff and school community, but also in his personal faith.
As the college operates within the Campbelltown Anglican Schools network, its relationship with the church means that Campbelltown’s rector the Rev Jason Veitch is regularly on the grounds – leading staff devotions, praying for and with teachers, offering to meet one to one. He even runs Moore College’s Preliminary Theological Certificate course so teachers can grow in their knowledge of the Bible.
Two other schools also belong to this network – St Peter’s Anglican Grammar School and St Peter’s Heart.
“Part of our partnership is recognising that I’m a teacher, not a theologian, but my pastor is a theologian,” Dr Jackson says. “We are working together to get Christian education done well for the sake of the gospel for the students – promoting Christ, doing missions and ministry work, all heavily informed by the minister’s expertise. It’s an active partnership.”
He not only collaborates with Mr Veitch on school matters, but the two also met for a year to read the Bible together.
“We went through Timothy and Titus, and it was so enriching,” Dr Jackson says. “He’s done it with other staff at school, too. Jason has been generous with his time to teach staff the Bible through devotions, one on one and PTC. That’s such a blessing.”
SPONSORING
ANGLICAN SCHOOLS
Broughton College
81-83 Menangle Road
Menangle Park NSW 2563 www.broughton.nsw.edu.au
St Andrew’s Cathedral School
Sydney Square, 474 Kent Street
Sydney NSW 2000 www.sacs.nsw.edu.au
St Peter’s Anglican Grammar
5 Howe Street
Campbelltown NSW 2560 www.stpeters.nsw.edu.au
OTHER ANGLICAN SCHOOLS
Abbotsleigh
Arden Anglican School
Arndell Anglican College
Barker College
Blue Mountains Grammar School
Claremont College
Cranbrook School
Danebank
Kambala
Leppington Anglican College
Macarthur Anglican School
Macquarie Anglican Grammar School
Mamre Anglican School
Meriden Anglican School for Girls
Nowra Anglican College
Oran Park Anglican College
Orange Anglican Grammar School
Penrith Anglican College
Richard Johnson Anglican School
Roseville College
Rouse Hill Anglican College
Shellharbour Anglican College
St Catherine’s School
All three teachers agree that there is much to be thankful for in the profession. It is greatly encouraging to have church members join them in praising God for the many things he is doing in schools and in the lives of young people.
Dr Jackson is thankful for the way the prayers and partnership with Campbelltown Anglican allow for strong connections to be built between the school and church communities.
“This is a unique opportunity for the gospel, with Christian teachers and leadership supported by our local church. We have such a privilege to work together to reach students here. At church, they pray purposefully for the leadership, teaching and for the ministry and mission to reach students and families with the gospel.”
At Rouse Hill, Miss Haggar considers it a great blessing to work in a school that is unapologetically Christian. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to sow into the lives of children in a significant way. And I’m thankful that God has given me a passion and joy for teaching.”
Mrs Wee, at Thomas Hassall, adds: “I am thankful that I can watch students grow throughout the years... It is a real privilege to see what students do after they leave school and, for the students who are Christian, how they grow in their faith.”
Ask teachers how they’re doing and pray for them regularly
• Celebrate the joys and opportunities. Teachers have the incredible privilege of playing an important role in the lives of many young people
Listen to how Christian teachers are going and give them space to share what’s hard and what’s joyful
• Don’t expect Christian teachers to automatically be involved in children’s ministries at church
Be kind and patient during busy times in the teaching calendar, such as reporting season. Maybe even drop them a meal or two during these times
Encourage Christian teachers to meet together, share experiences, encourage one another and pray
• Give thanks for the opportunities Christian teachers have to share the gospel in Christian schools
Ask if and how your church can partner with local Anglican schools
St Luke’s Grammar School
SCEGGS Darlinghurst
SCECGS Redlands
Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore)
Tara Anglican School for Girls
The Illawarra Grammar School
The King’s School
Thomas Hassall Anglican College
Trinity Grammar School
Tudor House
William Clarke College
Wollondilly Anglican College
Mary Andrews College
Level 1, St Andrew’s House
464-480 Kent Street
Sydney NSW 2000
www.mac.edu.au
Moore Theological College
1 King Street
Newtown NSW 2042
www.moore.edu.au
Sydney Missionary and Bible College
43 Badminton Road
Croydon NSW 2132
www.smbc.edu.au
Youthworks College
16 Carillon Avenue
Newtown NSW 2042
www.youthworkscollege.edu.au
Year 13 11 Fifth Avenue
Loftus NSW 2232
www.year13.net
Kanishka Raffel
Recently I was walking through the city and, as I crossed Martin Place, I noticed the usual queue of men and women lining up to receive their evening meal, while others set up plastic folding tables and baskets of plastic cutlery and paper serviettes ready for that night’s food distribution.
The Sydney City Council says there are about 300 people sleeping on the streets of the CBD each night, with close to that number in city-based crisis accommodation. Across NSW, the number of people without adequate housing is more than 30,000. I am deeply grateful for the work of Anglicare and a number of city and suburban churches that provide assistance to people experiencing homelessness, or who are at risk of homelessness in their local area.
As I continued on my walk, I soon passed another queue. This
time it was a queue of people waiting to enter the Louis Vuitton store on George Street. It made for a jarring contrast, though the two queues were barely 500 metres apart.
The people in the first queue were mostly neatly dressed, but it was clear that many had not had a change of clothes for some time. Most looked tired – too tired to be self-conscious about needing free food. There was a little chatter, but they were mostly silent, eyes down, or gazing into the middle distance in contemplation.
The people in the second queue were smartly dressed. Their impending purchases would fit seamlessly into their ensembles. Some looked impatient about the inconvenience of being made to wait, but not enough to leave the queue, evidently. Most passed the time scrolling on their phones, some took selfies. In contrast to the Martin Place queue people were pleased, if somewhat inconvenienced, to be in this queue. They were there by choice,
and on a mission.
A queue of shame, and a queue of boasting. A queue of the desperate, a queue of the indulgent. A queue of “losers” and a queue of “winners”. Some waiting for necessities they couldn’t afford to buy; others waiting for luxuries they couldn’t afford to do without.
In his book Morality – Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times the late Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, Jonathan Sacks, wrote of the rising inequality in the Western world. He spoke of “the ever-widening disparity between chief executive pay and the rest… In America in 1965 the ratio of chief executives’ to workers’ pay was 20:1. Today it is 312:1.”
He cited one especially egregious example: in 2018 the chief executive of Disney received a total payment for the year of $US65.6 million, which represented 1424 times the median pay of a Disney employee. Here in Australia in 2019, our top-paid CEO earned 275 times the national average wage.
The Bible does not teach that there is virtue in poverty. But it does teach that wealth makes it more difficult to cultivate what is essential to see the kingdom of God – poverty of spirit. People who are materially poor are no more or less likely to repent of their sins and trust in Christ for their salvation than people who are financially well off. But Jesus does teach that it is the poor in spirit to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs (Matthew 5:3), and that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24).
Folk religion of all kinds associates wealth with God’s blessing and, indeed, we ought to give thanks to God as the giver of whatever we have. But because wealth creates the illusion of security, we are prone to the mistake of thinking that our wealth is proof of God’s approval.
In Luke 16 Jesus famously tells a parable about a rich man (who is unnamed) and a poor beggar, named Lazarus, who sits at the rich man’s gate. The rich man “lived in luxury every day”, while Lazarus longed to “eat what fell from the rich man’s table”.
When they have both died their spiritual condition becomes visible, and their places are reversed. Angels have carried Lazarus “to Abraham’s side” but the rich man is in Hades “in torment”. When the rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to warn the rich man’s family, his request is denied. Abraham tells the rich man, “they have Moses and the prophets”, and if they will not listen to them, “they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead”.
What my walk across the city reminded me was that Sydneysiders, all of us, are spiritual beggars to whom God has made known his riches in the gospel of his Son, crucified for sin and raised for our redemption. All of us are people in need of the gospel. For some, our life circumstances take all the energy and personal capacity that we have, just to get by. Others live well but are blind to their spiritual poverty. But in fact, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The good news is that there is no financial qualification for receiving the gifts of the gospel: “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). SC
Some years ago one of those horrible blue screens of death appeared on my computer monitor. At first I wasn’t overly concerned. All I needed to do was initiate a reboot – or so I thought. However, when initial attempts all failed, panic began to set in, especially because I realised that some of my files hadn’t been backed up. I was well aware that regular back-ups are important. I just hadn’t got around to doing it.
Before automated back-ups to the cloud, this was a fairly common oversight. There was no problem with the concept in principle; it was simply more challenging in practice.
Such a gap between principle and practice also applies to our handling of some truths set out in Scripture; some of them are easy to accept in principle, but a bit harder to accept in practice. And surely this applies to the truth underlined in Romans 8:28 –“all things work together for good to those who love God”.
I dare say most readers of Southern Cross will agree with this as a biblical truth; but are we still convinced when faced by some of life’s harsh realities? What about the young mother killed by a
drunk driver? What about the parents whose little girl has been diagnosed with terminal cancer? How is that good? I’m sure we can all think of tragedies that have happened to ourselves or to people we know; calamities that seem to challenge the validity of Paul’s assurance here.
Of course, such tragic circumstances don’t really undermine the truth Paul is articulating. Even though they might seem to, often that’s because we pay insufficient attention to what is actually said. So often the verse is only partially quoted – “all things work together for good” – and this statement is then picked apart by the known facts of a given situation. However, it is important that this text is read in full, and that its context is kept in view.
In Romans 8, Paul contrasts our present experience with our future hope. While not exclusively so, the sufferings in view are primarily those experienced for the sake of Christ. The sufferings we, as Christians, experience in this present evil age are not “worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (8:18). It’s against this setting that we must read and interpret what Paul claims here in verse 28.
Here we certainly have one of the most reassuring verses in Scripture; it has been described as the greatest promise in God’s word, though it’s arguably more a fact than a promise. In any case, the truth it conveys, the reality of God’s special providence, has enabled many to bear up under the most severe trials.
Divine providence has well been described as God’s hand in the glove of history. However, here Paul is not referring to what we might call the general providence of God; rather, he is speaking here of God’s special providence – the outworking of his will for his people, or as Paul describes them here, “those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. Paul is restricting what he says here to believers; to those who have a personal relationship with God through faith in his Son.
It’s vital to bear this in mind. The claim Paul makes does not apply to humanity in general, but only to those who love God. As those who do so, Christians can take tremendous comfort from this truth that all things are working together for our good – or, as most modern versions render it, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him”.
Paul’s statement should not be understood in a fatalistic sense. Behind the “all things working for good” Paul obviously saw the omnipotent hand of God. To use a metaphor Paul uses elsewhere, God is the master craftsman, and our lives are his masterpieces. Our experiences, bad as well as good, all contribute to the finished product.
As has often been observed, our lives resemble the making of a tapestry. The back of it seems to be a tangled mess of purposeless threads; however, on the front side a beautiful picture is taking shape. In order to appreciate the truth of our text, we need to look at things from a different angle; from a heavenly, rather than an earthly, perspective.
Moreover, we must take care not to impose our own definition on the word “good”. Experiences do not have to be enjoyable in order to be beneficial. For example, when a dentist fills a hole in our decaying tooth, we don’t consider it a pleasant experience. It can be extremely unpleasant and painful; yet we are willing to submit to such treatment, because it’s for our good.
Inability to make sense of our status quo often overlooks the fact that God’s providence works on a grand scale. Accordingly, as Paul goes on to explain, we must remember the big picture. As a poem Corrie ten Boom popularised reminds us,
Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
The dark threads are as needful In the Weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
It’s very easy to confuse what we think may be good for us with what God knows will be good for us. As someone has pointed out, “God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness; our character than our comfort.” And here Paul assures us that God always has our best interests at heart.
Of course, there will be times when this will be a difficult pill to swallow – times when it may seem to us, as it once seemed to Jacob, that everything has gone horribly wrong: “Everything is against me!” (Gen 42:36 NIV). Yet, as Joseph subsequently pointed out to his brothers, God over-ruled even human sin to bring about his people’s deliverance (Gen 50:20). Such is how God’s special providence manifests itself in the affairs of his people.
Only readers over the age of 50 may remember this, but inside wrist watches there used to be a sophisticated mechanism of tiny wheels and cogs. Some rotated clockwise, whereas others went in an anti-clockwise direction. But working in unison, each helped to propel the hands of the watch forward, just as the watchmaker intended.
And explain the reason why.
In the pattern He has planned. “The Christian,” it has been said, “is someone who can be certain about the ultimate even when uncertain about the immediate.” Why? Because “we know that in all things” – both the pleasant and the unpleasant – “God is working for the good [i.e. the spiritual good and eternal good] of those who love him.”
Life’s circumstances are a bit like those cogs in a mechanical watch – some seem to be going in the right direction, whereas others appear to be going the wrong way. Yet all of them contribute to God’s ordering of our lives. The circumstances we face all play a part in ensuring that we function in accordance with God’s great plan and purpose. “In all things” – the rough as well as the smooth – “God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Two Christians were once speaking of their experiences, and one very candidly remarked: “It is terribly hard to trust God and realise his hand is in the dark passages of life”. “Well, brother,” the other replied, “if you cannot trust a man out of your sight, he is not worth much; and if you cannot trust God in the dark, it shows that you do not trust him at all.”
It’s not a great example of pastoral sensitivity, but the point is still worth reflecting on. Faith has been described as trusting God regardless of the circumstances. Is that how we trust him? Or is our faith only as good as our present experience?
The Apostle Paul was obviously convinced of the truth articulated in Rom 8:28. What about us? Are we confident that God’s special providence is a fact of faith, rather than simply a flight of fancy? Certainly, there will be times when we may be sorely tempted to think the latter – one of the most difficult things to do in the furnace of affliction is to feel that God still loves us. Yet as an old preacher once observed, “We are not called to feel; we are called to believe”.
Several years ago, I read about a minister who chose Romans 8:28 as the text for his Sunday sermon. During the following week tragedy struck: his daughter died, the result of a freak accident.
The following Sunday morning, silence fell over the congregation when he announced his text: Romans 8:28. What a painful experience that must have been. Yet there was a man who still believed what he had told his congregation the previous week. A man who accepted, not only in principle, but also in practice, the truth that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. SC
Sandy Grant
I’ve appreciated the insights shared on the difficult topic of domestic violence by advocates, police, practitioners, counsellors, chaplains, doctors and especially victim-survivors over the years.
More than a decade ago, when a revised Sydney Prayer Book came out and the wording of the marriage vows was debated, I was convinced by a survivor and scholar that we had not guarded against the misuse of vows – though they were couched in language that reflected both Scripture and Book of Common Prayer At the same time, I had a vexed pastoral situation with a marriage dissolving in claim and counterclaim and, too slowly, realised how naïve I was. My lack of pastoral insight and poor practice evidenced the need for far more education. That began a journey.
But I am glad that I have received continual help from the Bible
both theologically and pastorally – for the care of those impacted by domestic abuse, both within our churches and beyond. This was obvious to me early on in my journey.
As I wrote in an op-ed for The Sydney Morning Herald in 2015, “for Christians who missed the memo: the Bible abhors all domestic abuse”! In fact, as a conservative, I found it astonishing when a small minority of my colleagues were resistant to efforts to guard against this scourge.
For example, I pointed out that Colossians 3:19 says, “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them”. As the apostle Peter made clear in the third chapter of his first epistle, we’re never to exploit those with less power or strength. I openly contradicted John Piper at that time. If anything, the fact there were gendered warnings like this in Scripture told me unequivocally that men especially needed to be on guard. It was an issue with gender in the mix.
Indeed, Peter also warned against the twisting of Scripture in his second epistle (2 Pet 3:16). Yes, some of Paul’s letters contain things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort. Yet Peter did not deny the truth of anything Paul wrote but, rather, dignified Paul’s words as Scripture, which people also distort elsewhere. So, yes, big care is needed in handling Scripture that is hard to understand.
But it’s the people we need to guard against, and their efforts at distortion. What could be clearer than Jesus’ words on servanthood in Luke 22?
Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
(Luke 22:25-26)
This was a coronation text, as recently with King Charles, and last year for Her Late Majesty’s jubilee. But if the wording suffuses such occasions, how much more for leaders in the church?
And how much more for those in that most intimate relationship of marriage?
The language used by Peter and Paul regarding the relationship of husbands and wives (see Ephesians 5 or 1 Peter 3) cannot simply be cancelled – censored out of our formularies or Scripture. But, however you interpret it, it is even more unimaginable that anyone can read Mark 10 or Luke 22 and ever think that even a hint of “lording it over” another can be acceptable, let alone in the context of marriage.
demanding to be lauded as “benefactor”… or “head”! Incongruence with our Lord’s words here exposes folly, and sometimes even cruelty.
Of course, this is not the end of the help I feel I have received from Scripture. Following the advice of my first bishop, I’ve made it my practice to read the Proverbs slowly at least twice a year. But until it was pointed out by American marriage counsellor Leslie Vernick – disagreeing with “the advice to simply try harder” –I had not noticed or applied the proverbs that show it is good for a woman to protect herself and her children from the violence or threats of an abusive husband.
For example, Proverbs 22:2 says, “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty”. Here, to call someone “simple” is not intended as “blame” language but simply alerts us about how naïve and inexperienced people can be in the face of danger.
Furthermore, church leaders, Prov 22:10 says there is a time to drive out a mocker so strife will go and quarrelling and insults will cease. Prov 19:19 warns that, “A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty; if you rescue him, you will have to do it again”.
I have found proverbs like these so helpful, in counselling a committed Christian woman suffering abuse, that to silently “endure” a husband’s treatment of her will not rescue the marriage; to say to the simple-hearted that separation for safety is not only permitted but may be very wise.
Of course, even sensitively exploring Scripture is by no means the first step in such situations. There’s generally lots of listening first. “Quick to listen, slow to speak”. Slow to hand out my advice. Careful to seek professional advice (as our Domestic Abuse policy advises all pastors!).
But my testimony is that so many who are connected to our churches, who have had Christianity in their journey, who see the way Christ loved women and cared for the vulnerable, also have a high respect for Scripture.
And I have found that trusting Jesus and God’s good word, which he commends, has given me the most wonderful breadth and depth of resources; resources to explore beyond the obvious; resources to empower them for freedom, and against abuse. SC
Next month’s Synod will consider a revised Domestic Abuse Policy and Guidelines.
It is unthinkable that one who claims the name of Christ, even if they think they have some legitimate authority, can go around The Very Rev Sandy Grant is Dean of Sydney.
As God is my judge, Jesus Christ is my redeemer.
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In early June the Rev Dan Bidwell became rector of the Southern Highlands parish of Robertson, after more than three years serving as the senior pastor of a church in California.
“We’d really enjoyed doing ministry in a semi-rural environment, and so coming back to Australia we were interested in seeking a position in a church outside of suburban Sydney,” he says.
“I had my first conversation with Robertson while I was in the States – an interview over Zoom... all of the nominators were involved in ministry at church but had ministry interests outside the church as well, which in itself shows a depth of ministry commitment that was very appealing.”
With many years’ experience in planting and replanting churches in Sydney, Mr Bidwell and his wife Joanna had gone to the US with their children in 2019 to “replant and revitalise” the Yountville Community Church in the Napa Valley.
This is in the San Francisco Bay area, which Mr Bidwell says has “the most dechurched and the most unchurched population in all of America... so when God calls someone to go and replant
a church to an unreached people group, that was the call that we answered”.
He adds that God was gracious to the ministry amid the restrictions of COVID, as they were able to meet people online that they wouldn’t necessarily have met in person. “When the physical church reopened in August 2021... God had brought along just the right number of godly, mature and ministryminded people to help us replant the church,” he says.
What began as a group of 30 people became a core of a little over 100 adults and 30 kids, “and for close to half of those regulars it was the first time they’ve made a significant commitment to a faith journey. They were exactly the people we’d been praying for –they were unchurched and dechurched and we had the privilege of introducing them to Jesus.”
While Mr Bidwell is still new to Robertson, he is already impressed by the ministries in the parish and the mission heart of its people.
“On my first day in the office there was a combined youth event with four churches from the Southern Highlands, with
about 100 kids in attendance, and over 30 of them came from the Robertson church – and that influence is no doubt in part due to our kids’ and youth minister Bek Glasson,” he says.
“Throughout the week there are lots of different kids’ programs, from preschoolers up to high school, [and] generations here have done things like take part in SU camps and teach Scripture in schools.
“God has also brought us a bunch of young families who’ve been deeply involved in ministry at church, so they’re bringing with them ministry gifts and a real desire to meet other young families with Jesus, which is amazing. God’s given the church gifted evangelists and people who are deeply involved in hospitality and education!”
The family has certainly hit the ground running, with Mrs Bidwell already working parttime at Robertson Primary School in learning support and chaplaincy and their son Jamie spending 2023 with Year 13.
“We’re really excited to be here, be part of the local community and see what God does next,” Mr Bidwell says. “We trust that God has us exactly where he wants us to be.”
The Rev Colin Mackellar retired from Greystanes-Merrylands West on July 29 after more than 23 years as rector of the western suburbs parish.
On August 14, the Rev James Galea will become the rector of Freshwater, moving up to the northern beaches from an assistant minister’s position at The Bridge Church in Kirribilli.
After almost nine years as rector of St Matthias’, Centennial Park, the Rev James Harricks has accepted the position of chaplain at Trinity Grammar School. He will begin his new role in Term 4.
List of parishes and provisional parishes, vacant or becoming vacant, as at July 25, 2023:
• Belmore with McCallums Hill and Clemton Park
Beverly Hills with Kingsgrove
• Castle Hill
• Centennial Park
Concord and Burwood
• Eagle Vale**
• Glebe
Liverpool South**
• Lugarno
• Regents Park*
Rosemeadow*
• Shoalhaven Heads
• South Hurstville
* denotes provisional parishes or Archbishop’s appointments
** right of nomination suspended/on hold
As Christians around Sydney – and around the world – sing songs written by composers and music groups from Sydney Anglican circles, it’s always exciting to discover another addition to the mix.
One & All, a group born out of the parish centred on Christ Church, Springwood, started in early 2020 when Ngaire Buckley, her husband Jonathan and James McDonald – who attend Springwood’s evening service – began writing together.
They created the songs “He Is Faithful” and “The Wondrous Christ”, but were these songs any good? They turned to other members of their church to find out.
“We were trying to write music that we could sing at our church and that, God willing, others could sing at their churches,” Mrs Buckley explains. “So, we spent some time workshopping them in a band rehearsal setting to see whether they were any good, and what happens when you get into a room and start to play them together.”
As this larger group continued writing into 2021, the next step was to teach the songs to members of the evening service to see what they thought. The feedback was encouraging, so they started to consider publishing some of their work.
“We didn’t really have a name originally, but when we began to think about releasing the music, we had to put a name to it!” she says with a laugh.
With financial support from church members, One & All entered the studio and recorded the EP He Is Faithful
“When we said we were going to make an EP, people were really excited, saying, ‘When’s it going to be out? We want to listen to it!’” Mrs Buckley says. “That’s a real blessing.
“We have only been able to do it due to the generosity of members of our church. It’s expensive to put music out, so we’re very grateful to all the people who contributed... and then told people about it! Our church put a huge amount of faith in us.”
Co-writer and musician with One & All, James McDonald, is currently a trainee with Emu Music. He says the bulk of the title track was written during the first COVID lockdown, when the church was working through a sermon series in Genesis called “Faith of our Fathers”.
“We were struck by the continuing faithfulness of God, which never wavered – not when his people had faith in him, but even still when they failed to have perfect faith in him,” he says. “The song took on even more meaning and strength [because of the lockdown], as we were each personally challenged to keep trusting God in the midst of uncertainty: that his promises were still true and that he was still faithful to us.”
Mrs Buckley says One & All aims to create songs that are enjoyable to sing and biblically “right”, so that whether the songs are being sung in church, or by someone in their car, what is heard
and sung will “write the truth of God’s word on their hearts”.
“It also needs to be musically simple – which doesn’t mean that musicians will go, ‘Oh, this isn’t fun to play!’” she adds. “Rather, it needs to be singable by a congregation. If you want to write for the church, it needs to be within the capacity and ability of the church.”
The group is still busily writing, although a song they recently began is so “weighty” that it will require much more thought and reading before they can proceed.
“We’re trying to distill really broad theological concepts into four minutes!” Mrs Buckley says, adding that the group eventually reaches a point with each song where “we’ve all looked at it and prayed over it, and trust it is at the point where it will be of service. From a creative perspective we always want to improve things. And from a spiritual perspective, we want them to be the best they can possibly be to give glory to God, but we know he works through our imperfections.
“[With the EP] we’re now seeing people listen to it and hearing them say they enjoy it and putting it on their playlists, or saying, ‘I sent this to my music director at our church’, so that’s encouraging. From here on we pray that if God chooses to use it, he’ll use it in other churches that need it.” SC
He is Faithful is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music. You can also download the music from www.oneandallmusic.com
The film’s real drama is internal and reflective. There are no explosions, no car chases, no gun fights – not even a proper shouting match, although everyone has a great deal to say – and watching three powerhouse women of cinema navigate this together is a rare treat. Maggie Smith just gets better with age, and her interactions with Linney are particularly poignant.
Perhaps Eileen, Lily, Dolly and Chrissie haven’t fully understood the forgiveness and peace of a repentant sinner at the foot of the cross, but you can see a taste of it in the joy they experience when their burdens are lifted from them. Expect to laugh, be filled with compassion and shed a tear or two along with them as, together, they make their pilgrimage of discovery. SC
The Miracle Club
Rated PG
Who are we in the place that no one sees (well, no one but ourselves and God)?
When we’re honest, we know that what lurks there are decisions we should not have made, words we should not have said, and people we have hurt. We know we are flawed, yet all too often we live as though this is only an issue for others. And we judge others by a standard we ourselves cannot reach. This is essentially the backstory of The Miracle Club.
Set in 1960s Dublin, it begins with three women preparing to perform in a community talent show, where tickets for the parish’s bus trip to Lourdes are offered as first prize. Elderly Lily (Maggie Smith) has always wanted to visit the Catholic pilgrimage site but we’re not really sure why. Eileen (Kathy Bates) has a lump in her breast she’s told no one about and hopes for a miracle cure; young mum Dolly (Agnes O’Casey) wants a cure for her son Daniel, who seems unable to speak.
While past regret and present trouble are papered over with gentle humour, the return to the community of Eileen’s younger cousin Chrissie (Laura Linney) during the show is akin to a bomb going off. She has come back from the US on the death of her mother, and an angry Lily and Eileen all but ignore her, to Dolly’s confusion.
Chrissie is poised and reserved amid their disdain, but Linney’s face shows the hurt as she begins to confront the ghosts of her
past. What has she done? Why has she stayed away for so long? There is clearly unfinished business here, so it’s no surprise when all four of the women end up on the bus, with Daniel and other pilgrims, on their way to Lourdes together.
For the three who haven’t travelled, excitement at their adventure away from a housewife’s daily life gives way to surprise at the “business” of Lourdes. “I didn’t expect all this selling,” says Dolly, as she looks through a gift shop with Eileen – who adds that she “thought Jesus didn’t want all that”. She’s dead right, of course... but they still buy the souvenirs.
In their own way, each of the women is adrift on an ocean of regret and unforgiveness, which time together and their differing experiences of the place bring to light. Each has a story to tell, and each fears judgement – either from God or from others. Could anyone understand? Could anyone forgive?
One of the most telling observations is made by the kindly parish priest who leads them on the pilgrimage: “You don’t come to Lourdes for a miracle... you come for the strength to go on when there is no miracle”.
But perhaps, for these women, there is a miracle of a different kind – that of forgiveness and restoration of relationship. That this will be the trajectory of the story is pretty clear early on, so mentioning it is no spoiler. However, it’s the way The Miracle Club takes you on this journey that you will enjoy the most.
Judy Adamson