My area of expertise

I did highschool at a fancy girls' school. The other day I received an invitation to either participate in their upcoming 'Careers Expo' or to be part of their guest speaker program. I have mixed feelings about my highschool years, but thought this was a great opportunity. Here's my spiel. My aim was to make it comprehensible, professional and engaging.

I began my working life as a Speech Pathologist dealing mainly with adults who had experienced strokes and head injuries. I worked in this field for seven years, in Hobart, Canberra, England and Ireland. Then, after becoming a Christian, I decided to combine my spirituality with my working life. I began by doing an apprenticeship with Crossroads Presbyterian church, a local Hobart church, then went to Sydney to do formal training at a Masters level. On completion of my course I returned to Hobart and resumed working for Crossroads church. My main role involves teaching the Bible to the women of the church and mentoring them as they seek to live as Christians in their everyday lives. I also help the leadership with the day-to-day running of the church, with evaluation and planning for the future, and with coordination of various events. I am also currently preparing for work as an overseas missionary, inspired in part by my love of Latin American people and culture.

"Why you should buy your own home"

1. It feels good.
2. It gives you emotional security.
3. It gives you financial security.
4. It occupies you.
5. It takes care of you.
6. It records your life.
7. Your home is you.

from "Real Estate News: Information to Help You When Buying or Selling", Dignam Real Estate (2011), Issue 6, page 2

hmm

Going the way of Europe?

Greg Sheridan "celebrates and loves Australian diversity", is a "proponent of a big, non-discrimatory immigratory program" and "would be happy to have the refugee quota enlarged", yet he no longer believes in multiculturalism. He explains why in a fascinating article in last week's Weekend Australian. I was going to have a go at summarising the article but it's complex and nuanced and you would do much better to read it here.

The new Lady Vicar :P

Just suppose you found yourself the sole pastor of a rural parish which had tiny congregations scattered throughout. What would you do? We had a go at brainstorming this in our staff meeting the other day. Here are our top five (in no particular order):

1. Find someone to regularly mentor and support you. Find a friend. Value your wife's role in this and encourage her to find this too.
   
2. Be both decisive and gracious early on. If you say 'no' to something, look for an opportunity to say 'yes' to something else or to invest in a positive way. Alternatively you could give yourself permission not to stress too much about changing things, but just ride it out for the first year.
   
3. Pick one main congregation to focus on. You might have services there weekly and only go to the other churches monthly.
   
4. Work out what your community involvement will be (eg regularly visiting everyone in town, teaching Scripture at the local school). To do this you will need to immerse yourself in the local community, getting out and about and chatting to the shopkeepers.
5. Invest in two or three people who you see as influential people or potential leaders. Read the Bible and pray with them each week. If you don't have any of these people, try to attract some local Christians who don't currently have much church involvement.

We also thought about the usefulness of getting to know the people in your congregations really well (going around to their houses, drinking lots of tea and listening to their yarns); preaching really solid sermons but without altering the style the people are used to; and looking for wider evangelical support, including people to import into your parish.

I heart AGMs

Crossroads has been around for a bit over ten years and it really does feel like we're starting to grow up. We had our twice-yearly Church Summit on Monday night and it was so encouraging. For the first time we have more than enough money coming in and we can pay our pastors properly; we're sending out a missionary; another apprentice is starting up; we're employing a Childrens' Ministry Coordinator part-time; we've got big, humble plans for the future and we still cherish the Gospel. It's a joy to be part of my church right now, but I'm also very thankful for all the innovative and persevering work that has gone on in the past. We didn't get here by staying where we were comfortable or by being cautious or passive. We've always experimented with creative events and new structures and we've always trained up apprentices and sent people off to Bible college even when we couldn't quite afford it. There have been many mistakes and much hurt and heartache, but I thank God for keeping us teachable and for graciously keeping and leading us.

No greater joy

Discipling women is what I want to do, but I have to say it's not always very exciting. When I did my MTS apprenticeship I met with a handful of women week-in and week-out for a couple of years. We'd read a chunk of the Bible, talk about what it meant, talk about our lives and pray. It felt pretty ordinary. It's only now, three years later, that I can really guess at the fruit of what we did back then. Some of these women have progressed steadily, trusting God through good times and bad, some have flourished, some have gone a bit off course, but in every case there's mutual respect and trust and I consider them my friends.

¿Adónde?

I think I've worked out my small city/big city conundrum. I've been looking for Hobart in Latin America when I should just be happy that Hobart is here. Rather than seeking to replicate the experience of living here I should embrace something different - a big Latin American city!