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Learning on mission Reflections as a Moore College chaplain Ruth Sheath / Moore College Chaplain
RETURNING TO MOORE COLLEGE HAS BEEN A REAL JOY AND MORE ENCOURAGING THAN I HAD IMAGINED. I ENJOYED AND GREW IN MY TIME AS A STUDENT AND STUDENT WIFE AT MOORE COLLEGE, BUT AS A COLLEGE CHAPLAIN I HAVE GAINED A BROADER INSIGHT INTO THE COLLEGE COMMUNITY.
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t has been a privilege to be serving alongside humble, godly and encouraging chaplains, lecturers and many other staff who have a real concern and love for the students. The number of daily informal discussions and gatherings of students and faculty to encourage and pray for kingdom growth amongst one another and for particular people groups is extraordinary. One of the highlights of my experience as a chaplain is Moore College mission. As a Chaplaincy Group, we arrived in Maitland on, literally, a dark and stormy night—with flooding occurring up and down the coast. Many of the proposed activities were still in question due to the floods and forecast of rain. In the weeks before
Photos: Moore College Mission in Maitland
Mission, we talked with Maitland Evangelical Church (MEC) and joined them in praying, as they shared heavy grief and concern due to multiple sudden deaths, bereavements, and significant illnesses. So, on that first Sunday morning, it was a joy to meet the people of MEC in person and be among God’s people gathered in that school hall. We arrived hoping to encourage and to serve in whatever ways we could, but we found the servant attitude and welcome of the church a great encouragement and example to us all. Nineteen years of meeting in a school, with the setting up and packing down and working to make spaces welcoming, has developed a “can do” servant-hearted culture.
The planning and welcome by Taire Wilson and the rest of the ministry team meant that the students had many and varied opportunities to serve and observe different ministries on both Sundays and throughout the week. This created a great opportunity to do ministry, to get feedback and coaching, and to try new things. Some of our opportunities included preaching, serving in children’s and youth groups, observing SRE classes and helping set up for and speak at evangelistic nights. We were encouraged and fed too, as we got to hear each other proclaim the good news of Jesus and enjoyed working together and bonding as a team. The willingness of the students on mission to humbly serve in whatever tasks needed doing, and to work hard at clearly and warmly proclaiming the gospel in ways appropriate to the different contexts, is a great testament to the love and godliness of these students. We prayed together for the rains and flooding to ease enough for the men’s event to happen, for door knocking to go ahead, that SRE classes would resume, friends would come to the men’s and women’s events to hear the good news, that some would want to hear more, and we praised God for His provision for each of these. We were privileged to be a part of the launch of the “Go” purpose area, which seeks to equip, enable and encourage members of the church to share the good news of Jesus with others. People gathered in their connect groups for a “Kindle the flame” event, which included an opportunity to hear a story of Jesus’ power and offer of forgiveness
