The Joys of Ministry

When I first discerned a call to ordained ministry, I was strongly influenced by the role model of one of my former ministers, Rev Rob Brown, who was minister at Sandy Bay Uniting Church for 10 years. Rob was a great operator; he didn't subscribe to the "minister does everything" style of ministry. Rather, he almost seemed to be working to do himself out of a job. He was very good at identifying gifts and potential in others, and challenging them to develop those gifts, and exercise them in the church. It was Rob who met with me for lunch at the university refectory one day, and suggested to me that when our congregation changed its structure to have a single church council, that I should accept nomination to be the chairperson of that newly formed church council. It was also Rob who had put my name forward to the Synod as someone who might have the gifts and graces for ordained ministry, and it was in response to this suggestion that I ended up on the pathway to ordained ministry where I now find myself.

It's always been my aim as a minister to follow Rob's example of being an enabler and encourager of people in my charge; to help them discover and develop and exercise their particular gifts. On Sunday, I witnessed what I believe is a significant success in this particular area of my ministry.

On Sunday the Beechworth congregation commissioned our two prison chaplains, Rosey and John. The UCA is contracted by Corrections Victoria to provide 3 hours per week of chaplaincy services to Beechworth Correctional Facility. As an interim measure, I had gone into the jail a few times to try to get to know the guys and spend some time with them, but realised that I just didn't have the time to do this on a regular basis, and that ideally we needed to get someone from the congregation who lived locally.

Enter John, a lovely guy and dedicated member of the congregation. He was nominated for the church council, and when I was discussing this nomination with him, he made the mistake of telling me that he isn't much into committees, but sees his particular gifts as being able to get alongside people and talk to them one to one...(do you see where this is leading? :-) I tried not to appear too eager as I suggested that he might like to think about the prison chaplaincy ministry. He initially thought it might be a good idea, but after a while came back to me with some doubts. I talked him through these, and wondered if it might be helpful for him to have a partner, to share the chaplaincy with him...

Enter Rosey... who is already very busy in the congregation, serving as an Elder, teaching RE in local schools, as well as working as a nurse and on the farm she and her husband run. The new chapel at the prison was officially opened and dedicated, and a group of people from the congregation (including Rosey) attended. As we were leaving the jail, Rosey wondered what else we could be doing in the jail as a church. So I asked her about chaplaincy, and she was quite interested.

That was some months ago now, and John and Rosey have been working together as UCA chaplains in the prison for some time. On Sunday, as part of their commissioning (where as a congregation we recognised their ministry in the prison as being a part of our congregation's mission, and so acknowledged our responsibility to support John and Rosey in prayer and other ways) they shared about their work.

I selected Matthew 25:31-45 as the reading, as it contains a good theological basis for prison chaplaincy, and there was a theme throughout the worship of caring for those who might be dispossessed or damaged. One of the hymns we sang was A Touching Place, by John Bell and Graeme Maule, and the refrain goes like this:

To the lost Christ shows his face;
to the unloved He gives His embrace;
to those who cry in pain or disgrace,
Christ, makes, with His friends, a touching place.

As we sang this, I couldn't help but think of how great it would be if all Christians were able to be as radically inclusive as this hymn calls us to be; in being Jesus' friends to make this touching place for those who are rejected by the world.

(but I digress... :-)

When John shared about how he came to be doing this work, and how my encouragement for him to move outside his comfort zone played a significant part in his decision to accept the challenge, I couldn't help but feel proud. Proud of/for John, that he has discovered this great area of ministry that is just right for him and his personality and gifts; and also proud that I had played a part in this process. My ministry is bearing the kind of fruit that I had always hoped it would.

Praise God :-)