First ministry apprentice

The first Ministry Apprentice appointed in the North West is a 26 year-old organist who describes himself as 'gap filler'.

Nathan Hiscock volunteered last year to learn the organ to fill the gap left by the retirement of Geraldton Cathedral organist Marjorie Smith after 40 years. For Nathan, it was the third time he'd picked up an instrument to ensure the Cathedral had a music team. The organ and choir play a key role in the traditional 8am weekly Sunday service.

"I know it's pretty unusual for a young person to play the organ but I appreciate the hymns.

“They are a form of serving God and talking about him. I see a benefit of my playing is to prolong the life of hymns in our church.”

Nathan’s willingness to serve the body of believers prompted the Cathedral Dean Lachlan Edwards to encourage him to begin a ministry apprenticeship and consider full-time ministry.

Nathan said: “It breaks my heart when I see people getting confused about things or misjudging God’s character or deeds.”

“I want to serve and love people and the best way to help them is to help them grow in their knowledge and love of God.

“I genuinely believe that the Bible is sufficient for people to come to salvation through faith in Jesus.”

He explained that the two year apprenticeship will help discern his suitability for full-time gospel ministry.

“We will look at character, conviction and competency. Is my character fit to serve? Is my conviction in God well placed? And finally, am I competent? Am I skilled or capable of developing what is required for ministry?

“These two years are sort of a test run. I get experience and I see what it’s like on the job.”

Nathan started with a bang when he and Lachlan attended the January Ministry Training Strategy (MTS) national training event, CMS Summer School in Katoomba and deputised at churches.

“A highlight was having a session in Sydney with St Andrew’s Cathedral Music Director and organist Ross Cobb. I picked up a few ideas to improve my organ playing and also about ministry in general.”

youth discipleship

North West churches have developed a unique model of discipleship to ensure young people in outback churches mature in their faith despite isolation.

Geraldton Cathedral’s assistant minister Mike Welham meets regularly one to one with teens in Year 12 to help prepare them to launch into life elsewhere.

Four young men are serving in church in new places following Mike’s discipleship.

“Meeting one to one creates a unique opportunity to talk on a much deeper level and to give intentional encouragement,” he said.

“By this I mean, helping them prepare to move onto the next phase of their life and stand strong in the Lord apart from their parents’ influence.”

They look at the Bible’s blueprint for relationships and for those heading to the city, Mike helps link them to a church and Christian groups at university.

Darcy de Vries (19 years) appreciated the sacrifice Mike made to commit to regular catch-ups before he moved to Kununurra in 2022. Motivated by the desire for Kununurra teens to have the same opportunity that he had enjoyed, Darcy started a youth bible study at his new Anglican Church.

“Since Year 7, I had had a bible study to go to with Cathedral youth and I really valued it.

“It’s helpful to meet in a group, to hear other people’s views and learn from others.”

Darcy is now discipled by an older brother in Christ who meets regularly with him over coffee to read the bible together, discuss life and pray.

“It’s encouraging to have someone else I can go to for advice, someone who cares enough about me to make time available,” he said.

Luke Harris (18 years) met weekly with Mike before moving to Perth. He is doing a cadetship at CRU West, which runs camps and bible studies for young people to consider the claims of Christ.

Luke said he was nervous about moving to Perth but Mike helped him think through issues, especially to prioritise his relationship with Jesus and to keep up bible reading and prayer.

Talk about ageing

Hospital chaplain Jeremy Rice

Hospital Chaplain Jeremy Rice urges young and old alike to talk more about ‘ageing’ to help people embrace the enormous challenges that come with this stage of life.

“It’s not all bleak in old age. There are special times, family times, pleasures, memories and things we can keep enjoying.

“But it’s hard for the younger generation to understand the enormity of the journey the elderly face – the most challenging stage of all.

“Thinking about it, talking about it can help younger people to understand a bit what it’s like. And it helps older people to understand more about themselves.”

Jeremy has visited the sick, dying, grief stricken and those who care for them, in hospitals, aged care facilities and in their homes for the past 10 years.

He is compelled by 1 Peter 3:15: Always be ready to give an account to anyone who asks you about the reason for the hope that you have in Jesus, and do so with gentleness and respect.

“I meet and talk with a lot of older people and their family and carers.

“It’s heartbreaking at times. There are people struggling with loss of independence, falls, a catalogue of medical conditions and pain; people living alone, or worried about not being able to live at home.

“There are families worried about elderly parents or grandparents; carers becoming exhausted; loved ones making decisions about nursing homes.”

Jeremy says old age has been touted as the golden age, but it’s not the golden age for everyone.

“It’s also been said that ageing takes courage. To preside over the disintegration of your own body, or to watch the same process taking place in a loved one, requires a kind of heroism.”

One development that Jeremy has observed and regrets, is what he calls the medicalisation of ageing. “One of the most dreaded diagnoses is Alzheimer’s. In a previous era, we might have become old, slower and forgetful. However, now we are more likely to be defined by a checklist of things we can’t do.

“Medical research is important, but so is learning more about holistic approaches to ageing and Alzheimer’s and seeing it as part of what it means to be human – an ageing human.”

Jeremy says that, while old age and dementia in particular can seem as life-minus, relationships remain the meaning of life.

“One thing I’ve noticed several times is that, though a person may be in a world of pain and difficulty, if they reach out graciously to others, with a word of care and interest, it can somehow bring them healing and blessing. They blossom.

“I think that is the way God wired us. It is in giving that we receive.

“Relationships are the meaning of life and the ultimate is relationship with our Creator God. We fall short of his righteousness so he sent his Son. Jesus came and died in our place and rose again.

“If we trust in Him we are forgiven, adopted and He will never let us go.”

Nor'West Postcard September

JOCELYN ROSS OAM

 It is Conference time in the Diocese of North West Australia! There was the Pilbara Women’s Conference held in Karratha on 19 August at Karratha. Then the CMS Dinner at Bluff Point Anglican Church in August. Followed by Amplify (Geraldton Anglican Churches Youth Group) who had a great Saturday with Ed Surrey from CRU West as speaker. Then the Mayor’s Breakfast with West Coast Eagles Premiership player Mark Seaby as speaker. In September is the Geraldton Women’s Conference with Amy Stopher’s studies in Ephesians “Walk in the Way of Love”. This is being held at the Bluff Point Anglican Church whose refurbished hall is a great venue! Following is the Men’s Conference a week later.

Our bi-annual clergy family conference comes up in the first week of the school holidays, with funding from Mothers Union Australia and a generous anonymous donor. Always an invaluable time of re-union with the Kimberley, Pilbara and Midwest families, especially the wives and children who love the time together; the wives sharing their lives with like-minded women, and children relating together as clergy children.

Bishop Darrell and Elizabeth ‘popped’ up to Carnarvon recently to take a communion service and have time with the very faithful congregation. He is seen here with warden Jim Williams, and below the Parish Council, then Elizabeth is seen with some of the ladies.

Teenagers were encouraged to meet Jesus during a recent Pilbara Outback Adventure Camp hosted at Exmouth Anglican Church. The Scripture Union camp was the brain-child of former long-term Pilbara residents, Graeme and Sandy White from St Matthew’s, Port Hedland, who could see a real need for North West Young people to have an opportunity to hear the gospel. A busload of young people came from Hedland and Karratha. The camp focused on meeting

Jesus in St Mark’s Gospel with Bus-Church, scripture devotions, and small group studies. There was plenty of time for snorkelling, swimming, hiking, bonfires on the beach, and lots of good food and conversations.

Port Hedland Seafarers’ Chaplain, Garry Hamersley, said seafarers love to receive a hand-knitted beanie when they visit the Centre. “It’s a very practical way to show that we care for them, as well as sharing the hope of eternal life through Jesus”, he said. If you are a beanie knitter and would love to send us beanies for the Seafarers Centres we can work out a way to get them delivered up north!!

FAITH: Forsaking All I Trust Him
Courtesy of Messenger, September 2023, published by the Anglican Church Diocese of Perth

Family, being and home

The Parker Family - Joshua, Darrell, Andrew, Jonathan, Eleanor, Elizabeth

By Bishop Darrell

I grew up playing and watching Aussie Rules Footy. I played for the Mighty Holbrook Grass Hoppers up until I was 13 years of age. Understandably, having a Grass Hopper as our mascot rarely struck fear into the hearts of our opponents – I often wished we could have been the Holbrook ‘Tigers’ or ‘Taipans’, but both of those mascots were taken. Perhaps that’s part of the reason I adopted the Richmond Tigers as my AFL team (VFL in those days) at the tender age of 6. They were winning at the time and ‘Tigers’ of course are scary and dangerous. I’m now a committed for life ‘Yellow and Black’ junkie. 

I love the fact that wherever I go in Australia, if I meet another Richmond supporter, …. we have an instant connection. We might not have a single other thing in common, but we are instantly friends – we share a ‘Tiger’ fellowship. My new friend might be an atheist, have body piercings on every available body protrusion,  he or she might vote differently than I do, believe in radically different things, come from an entirely different part of the country, belong to a different culture and people, speak a different language, and they might even like Brussel Sprouts – a green veggie I consider not worthy of being called a ‘food’. We could be the world’s two most different people and yet, we are ‘one’ in the name of our chosen Footy Team. 

How radically different it is when it comes to our fellowship together as Christians. When I meet a fellow follower of Jesus whom I’ve never met before, I already know so much more about them than I do my fellow Tigers Fan. Yes, we might still be very different, but our fellowship goes immediately so much deeper than any other fellowship this world knows. We have surrendered our life to the same Lord – the same person rules both our lives. We trust the same Saviour to pick us up from sin and death and to pay the price for our rebellion against our common Father. We both look to serve Jesus, we pray to Jesus, we believe Jesus defeated death, and we are utterly convinced that Jesus will one day return and the whole world will be made subject to him. Our earthly circumstances might in fact be very very different, but we share deep life fundamentals that bind us together in ways that transcend time and place. 

Many people have expressed much care and concern for Elizabeth and myself knowing we have left many close family and friends on the other side of the country to come and live and serve in the North West. That is true, we have, and we value the concern shown to us enormously. And yes, we miss our loved ones ‘back east’. Not a day goes past when we do not feel that distance. However, in another sense, and I say this most sincerely – we haven’t really left ‘home’ at all. As we have met followers of Jesus here in the North West, though we might be quite different in some ways (way too many Eagles and Dockers supporters here), we immediately share a profound bond that puts our differences in the shade. There are Christians  here serving Jesus in deeply sacrificial and faithful ways, and we are profoundly thankful to God for bringing us here, even though the task ahead is difficult. 

We’ve left home to come and serve among you – but ‘home’ is anywhere the Lord and his people are. It’s good to be ‘home’. 

In rocky times Amanda praises God

Newman gospel worker Amanda Kyngdon is thanking God despite their most difficult year yet of ministry in the remote mining town.

Many long-term residents have left, including about one third of the local school. Crime has spiked and life in Newman is seen as undesirable.

Amanda says it would be easy to focus on the challenges but she chooses to see the blessings and has found unexpected joy in teaching her own children the Bible.

“Ministry in small churches in the North West is not always easy but one of the great blessings is that it means we, as parents, are the ones who must disciple our children.

“As parents we are our children's first Bible teacher and we need to make the most of these opportunities. 

“People ask us if our children are missing out because of things like fewer educational opportunities in the Pilbara.

“As a family we have made sacrifices to serve in Newman but it hasn’t been a hinderance to our kids’ faith. It’s actually matured them in their love for Jesus.

“They won’t have access to kids and youth programs like in big churches but they have got to know people in our church from all stages and walks of life. Our nine-year-old daughter Ada still prays regularly for a couple who left our church 12 months ago who suffered a still birth while they were with us. 

“Last night she was doing a short devotion on the importance of going to church. In small churches it’s easy to focus on what we don’t have - live music, a kids program every week and lots of kids and youth.

“But when Ada reflects on church, she talks about the kindness of the people and the encouragement she receives in her faith.

“This is what the Bible says is central to church. All we need is to have someone in our life who is interested to open up the Bible and read it with us.

“We pray that our kids can keep teaching their friends at school about Jesus in ways we can’t as adults,” she said.

Amanda and her husband Roger, the Minister-in-Charge at Newman,  give thanks for the massive harvest field in their region.

Making reconciliation real

A big group from Broome Anglican Church and Broome Peoples Church gathered for a combined service during Reconciliation Week

At Broome Anglican Church, the ministry of reconciliation is bringing people together.

During Reconciliation Week, the church held a combined service and barbecue with members of the 8.30am, 10.00am and Peoples Church congregations and visitors.

Minister-in-Charge Michael Baines said the church plans to make this a regular event on months that have fifth Sundays and the inaugural service fell during Reconciliation Week, a significant event in the Broome community.

“In recent times we’ve been looking for points of connection between the community calendar and the message of the church, and Reconciliation Week is a perfect example.

“The Bible even talks about ‘the ministry of reconciliation’ because Christian ministry is about how people can be reconciled to God and each other in Jesus. He brings people of all cultures and backgrounds together.”

Broome Anglican Church’s main point of cross-cultural ministry is its Peoples Church congregation, run especially for Aboriginal people (though other people are also welcome).

Peoples Church services have a style of teaching and music - both kinds, country and western - that are familiar to people across the Kimberley. The ministry is led by Church Missionary Society worker and Broome Anglican Church staff member Chris Webb.

Michael added: ‘Reconciliation of any kind has never been easy. It’s amazing when you realise how much of the New Testament is about Christians from different backgrounds—especially Jews and Gentiles—learning to share life as one people.

“We’re still learning to do that today, and we certainly haven’t ‘arrived’ in our church. But I thank God for the small ways our church reflects the multicultural multitude we’ll see in his Kingdom.’

Thank God for mothers

Annalise Edwards (L) invited her family - including her mum and two sisters - to the Cathedral’s Mothers Day Service and loves this commemorative photo from the photo booth.

Geraldton Cathedral held a special Mothers Day Service so members could invite family who don’t attend church regularly.

 Acting Dean David Seccombe said Mothers Day was the perfect opportunity for mums to invite their unbelieving children to church before enjoying lunch together afterwards. “In the same way, we encouraged children to make a special day of it and invite their unbelieving mothers to come along to church.”

 As a result, six people invited family members who visited the service and heard a gospel message of God’s love shown through Jesus and his church. 

 “Mother’s Day can be painful for some. Perhaps you have lost a child, are estranged from your mother or even are unable to have children. But no matter the circumstance, we can all thank God for mothers,” David said.

 “Mothering is a good thing. When we step back from all the busy-ness of life, perhaps there is no more important calling. Each of us has a mother; we all owe our life to a mother.

 “In the Bible we read that God made them male and female and blessed them.

But in this fallen world there is no question that women have a hard road. Quite apart from the agony of giving birth, the hard work of rearing a child falls mostly to the mother.”

 To help make the day special, a photo booth was set up for mums to have a photo with their children or for children to get a picture to send to their mum.