To misquote Dinah Washington, what a difference a year makes. The primary reason this role at the Bathurst cathedral exists is to provide an opportunity to train new clergy before they lead a parish on their own. After a year, I certainly feel better prepared to lead a parish.

It has been a joy getting to know the parishioners of the Cathedral parish. Their love for Jesus shows in their concern for the lost, their warm welcomes, and their love for others. They have been a great encouragement to Charly and I, backing three new ministries we established: Christianity Explored, Next Steps for New Christians and Playtime at the Cathedral.

Christianity Explored has been so exciting. The highlight has been seeing how God used the course to bring three people to faith. What a joy to see new believers! We ran the course in our mid-week Bible Studies so our parishioners would know what the course was about and feel confident in inviting friends and family. Between the joy of seeing new conversions and the confidence in the course, several parishioners have started running the course in their own homes. It has been so encouraging to see parishioners’ confidence to evangelise grow. The whole process was a helpful experience in how to bring about change in a parish.

One very welcome consequence of conversions has been the need to run a discipleship course covering the basics of the faith. One of the parishioners and I wrote a course called Next Steps for New Christians.

It was a great reminder for me of the breadth of skills God gives to the body of Christ. The parishioner brought insights to the course that I hadn’t considered, and so the course turned out far better than I could have achieved on my own.

Playtime at the Cathedral has been a real joy. It has been great to meet this need in the community and to see families engage with the Bible stories. We finished the year with our largest group ever, of 15 kids from 12 families. Our next challenge is to figure out how to connect Playtime in with the larger church community.

I’m very grateful to Bishop Mark, Dean James and Senior Associate Minister Phil for their wisdom and guidance over the year. One of the things that concerned me about jumping into a parish straight out of college was not knowing how to run baptism, wedding, and funeral services and how to conduct a parish council. Being able to witness how these wise Christians plan services and run a parish council has been invaluable. Seeing one lady come to faith through a hospital visit was really the icing on the cake.

A final highlight to share of 2023 was participating in our Anglicare morning tea ministry. Not only has it been a privilege to show the love of Christ in action, it has been a great opportunity to sharpen my pastoral skills and learn about the different services they provide to those in need. It has been wonderful to walk with one client who was so moved by what we did that he bought a Bible and started attending church. Praise God!

I’m looking forward to 2024 and what learning experiences God provides, before God willing, we step out in faith and run a parish.