Applied issue 4

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,KP[VYPHS�The word “Pastor” can conjure up a number of images: spiritual leader, learn!d preacher, wise counsellor, team builder … and of course clean-shaven, trouser-wearing male. “Woman” must barely register on the radar of many call-committees when they pen their situation vacant ad! And yet (thankfully!) there are such people as women pastors and female church leaders: women who have gone against the flow and perhaps overcome extra barriers to get there. As spouse of the Carey Baptist College principal I have the privilege from time to time to meet students and past students. The women I have met have been outstanding.

Women like Tracey Wakefield, youth pastor of Whakatane Baptist, with her compassionate heart and ability to reach out with love to the disabled and needy.

Women like Jody Kilpatrick, pastor of Ponsonby Baptist, with her ability to craft and lead a powerful, creative, content-filled, inspirational service.

Women like Sarah Biesly, missionary in India, with her strong passion, conviction and action because of God’s heart for the poor.

Women like Thalia Kehoe Rowden, former pastor of New Plymouth West Baptist, with her powerful prayers, thought-provoking preaching and valuable contributions in boardrooms.

I think it is fantastic that Applied is setting aside a whole issue to celebrate and pay tribute to the women who have studied at Carey. You will be introduced to and hear from a number of women students and graduates who, like Tracey, Jody, Sarah and Thalia, have heard and taken up God’s call on their lives to be leaders. Just the other day Charles was lamenting with me that there were no women in the Carey 2012 Pastoral Leadership intake and that in 2011 there had only been one woman. I was amazed!

As you read this issue of Applied, I hope you will recognise the value of and need for more women in church leadership. I hope you will be encouraged to think of the women around you who have the potential to be church leaders. I hope you will nudge them towards theological study at Carey.

Regards

(Spouse of the Carey principal)

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Joanne Hewlett

2 Editorial Joanne Hewlett

4 Graduate Profiles Susan Osborne, Tracey Wakefield, Tracey Morgan and Julie Belding

6 Memories of Carey

8 Carey News

9 Celebrating Carey Women Sarah Harris

11 An Interview with Neroli Hollis Maryanne Wardlaw

12 Carey Pastoral Leadership Students Summer Placements

14 Reflections on Life after Carey Diane Baldwin

15 Choosing to Serve Children & Families Elke Keeling

Applied / 3

Credits

Applied Magazine ISSUE FOUR

Editor: Charles Hewlett

Design: Roseanne Lee

Contributors: Joanne Hewlett, Susan Osborne, Tracey Morgan, Julie Belding, Tracey Wakefield,Shirley Thompson, Shirley Smith, Barby Windsor, Sarah Harris, Maryanne Wardlaw, Dianne Baldwin.

Photos: From contributors

Printing: CCL CommunicationsGroup Limited

For enquiries please [email protected]

Carey Baptist College473 Great South Road,Penrose, AucklandPO Box 12149,Auckland, 164209 525 4017www.carey.ac.nz

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I had no idea when I took my first class as a TEE tutor that teaching theology would become my passion. I had studied at Baptist Theological College for three years from 1971 and served with my husband John overseas with Tranzsend/NZBMS for 25 years when I decided to re-enrol at Carey 2001 to further equip me to train leaders in South Asia. The Carey courses were stimulating, stretching and challenging in my relationship with God and his world.

One course had a major impact on my life – I discovered that mission was God’s business. He is working in this world and it is my responsibility to see what he is doing and be a part of it. Mission is not my responsibility. Knowing God and recognising his mission is. This is how I seek to live my life now.

I am grateful for the wider vision and understanding of God and his kingdom that Carey has given me. It enables me to continue to be a part of what God is doing overseas – and in NZ.:\ZHU�6ZIVYUL�NYHK\H[LK�^P[O�OLY�)HJOLSVY�VM�(WWSPLK�;OLVSVN`�PU��

In 2003 I arrived at Carey Baptist College having done a little bit of youth work and a little bit of Bible study. I thought I was a natural at the youth work thing and I thought the study would be easy because I already knew everything. I quickly realised that being an extrovert didn’t automatically make me a good youth worker and knowing how to read didn't necessarily mean I had given thought to what the Scriptures meant. After four years, I graduated with Bachelor in Applied Theology and a Diploma in Pastoral Leadership. I then went on to do the ministry development course for registration. During my time at Carey I was challenged to face personal issues. Having the confidence to face my personal issues has made it easier to focus and last in a ministry context. My approach to pastoral ministry has changed. I now take time to reflect on Scripture and apply it in a thoughtful manner. This more thoughtful approach has enhanced the natural enthusiasm I have for youth work and helps me keep perspective.;YHJL`�PZ�UV^�[OL�@V\[O�7HZ[VY�H[�

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I am thankful that Carey is committed to encouraging and valuing women in leadership. In 2005 I was 40 years old and had just returned home from living six years in India with my family. Brent was often travelling overseas with his work at World Vision and our three children often asked “What’s for dinner?” My life was extended and full with being a wife, mother and theological student. My pastoral leadership training was challenging but very rewarding.

In 2012 I continue to be encouraged and challenged as Integration Pastor at Whangaparaoa Baptist Church.

My involvement in ministry is multi-faceted: preaching, welcoming, Life Groups, women, and being part of the core leadership group. I find myself asking more questions before looking for answers. I now know it’s about people not programs. I have discovered that communication and connection are foundational principles to help people integrate into the life of the church.

My life continues to be extended and full. Brent is now director of the Leprosy Mission and continues to travel overseas. Our two daughters are at university and our son has started senior high school. I sometimes now ask them “What’s for dinner?” Whether I am a wife, mother or pastor the greatest thing I can give people is Jesus’ love and compassion.

I have adopted a mission statement of “Christ-centred, people-focused” in whatever I am doing.;YHJL`�4VYNHU�PZ�HU�(ZZVJPH[L�7HZ[VY�H[�>OHUNHWHYVH�)HW[PZ[�*O\YJO��:OL�NYHK\H[LK�MYVT�*HYL`�)HW[PZ[�*VSSLNL�PU��

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I graduated from Carey with a BTh in 1997, after studying part time over five years. I was a “mature” student to begin with (not sure what that makes me now – we won’t go there), having

completed an MA from Victoria university in 1969. So why start a theology degree in middle age? Well, I’d been appointed editor of the NZ Baptist 1993 and felt a bit intimidated to think all my predecessors had been ordained ministers. I knew I could edit, but guess I wanted to prove to myself that I could hack it theologically as well. Anyway, I loved my years at Carey, although they spoiled me for any other discipline. (A years or so later, still excited about studying, I started doing some social policy papers from Massey University but lasted only two semesters. After doing theology I just couldn’t get fired up about issues that seemed so temporal.)I still love working with words (after my job with the NZ Baptist I edited Daystar magazine for almost a decade) but these days I’m a free lancer. I edit LIFT, the quarterly magazine of Windsor Park Baptist Church, and write a monthly column for the Baptist. Am also serving a five-year term as president of the Baptist Women’s Union of the South Pacific – a role which has taken me to many countries around Asia and the Pacific. I feel so blessed! And four beautiful grandchildren add to the joy.1\SPL�PZ�[OL�7YLZPKLU[�VM�[OL�)HW[PZ[�>VTLU�Z�<UPVU�VM�[OL�:V\[O�7HJPÄJ�

Applied / 4 Applied / 5

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My favourite memory has a touch of poignancy

about it. Why then did I choose it? Because its about a lemon tree and a student who, prior to his coming to the College, had been a horticulturist. And every time I see a lemon tree, it takes me back in time.

In the college grounds there was a small Lemon tree which never produced any fruit. I asked our “horticulturist” student what the problem was. “It’s too exposed and should be relocated to a more sheltered area,” he said. He warned me that it would take 3 months before it could be moved. I was rather skeptical and challenged him to prove it to me.

After three months, it was relocated and in due season produced a wonderful crop of lemons. Yes, he’d proved his point but I was still puzzled and told him so. He said, with a grin, “Well, Mrs Thompson (no first names in those days) you wouldn’t because you know nothing about horticulture!”

Unfortunately he died when still quite young and when, at his funeral, we were given the opportunity to pay a tribute to him I told about the lemon tree and his involvement with it. Returning to my seat I paused by the casket and quietly said “Yes, and I still know nothing about horticulture!”

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“Angel week” created a buzz in the College for several years. Students and sta! were each given the name of one of the College community to

became their “angel” for a week. The human didn’t know who their angel was

although surprises appeared for them at home or in their pigeon holes, or helpful things were done for them anonymously.

I remember our teenage sons preparing an elaborate treasure hunt for the Nunn children, and Brian making to!ee apples and secreting them into another home. Brian also arranged with the local dairy owner for a student to come in and ask for a free icecream. The dairy owner thought it a great joke and the student eventually received his icecream.

Strangely enough I have no recollection of what I did or who were my "humans" or angels, but I do remember the warmth and buzz the week engendered.

I would have to say that the highlight of the years at Carey was the amazing privilege of getting to know and love so many who were/are

part of the sta!, those who came to study or were there as a support to family.

Joining in with the first year students' small group, sometimes attending classes, Tuesday chapels and lunchtimes, being a part of the monthly "College Women" evenings and retreats were all wonderful opportunities to come alongside others as they trained and prepared for serving in churches

and communities here and overseas. Now I so enjoy reading or hearing about these who became my friends.

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Shirley Thompson’s late husband, Dr Bob Thompson spent 23 years as the Principal of the NZ Baptist Theological College (now Carey) in Victoria Avenue, Remuera.

Over the last few years as I have worked toward completing my PhD, I have met many inspirational women whom God is using for the sake of his kingdom and his glory. Let me tell you about some of the people I have met in person and from the pages of Scripture. Myrto Theocharous has just completed her PhD in Hebrew Bible at the University of Cambridge and has recently gone back to Greece to be the first ever women teacher in a protestant Bible College in Greece. She works four days a week at the College to give her time to continue her work with prostitutes on the streets of Greece. One day she is teaching Amos in the classroom and the next she is proclaiming it on the streets and helping individuals realise their worth in God’s eyes.

One day she talks of Isaiah’s vision for the kingdom and the next she is challenging the Greek government to care for the poor. Coming from a background as an economist, Myrto is aware of the immense challenges facing Greece, and yet she has a vision and a desire to see the kingdom of heaven come for the marginalised women on the streets. At Christmas time she went with ex-

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+Y�)YPHU�2Y\TCongratulations to Brian Krum on the successful completion of his Doctor of Ministry (Missional Church Leadership) from Fuller Theological Seminary. Brian’s thesis looks at the change process in getting the church out of the building and into the neighbourhood.

*HYL`�3LHKLYZOPW�)SVNCarey has developed a new leadership blog which gives people the opportunity to engage with sta! on leadership issues. Check it out and subscribe at leadershipblog.carey.ac.nz/ We are keen to engage with you!

3H\ZHUUL�*VUZ\S[H[PVU�VU�.SVIHS�;OLVSVNPJHS�,K\JH[PVUCharles Hewlett has been invited, along with 50 other theological college principals from all over the world, to participate in a Lausanne consultation in Boston in May. The goal is to find ways to meet the global theological education opportunities and challenges of the day.

4`Z[LY`�*YLLROver Easter Carey sta! will be providing the seminars at the BYM camp at Mystery Creek in Hamilton. Look out for Sam Kilpatrick and Carey tent.the

+Y�4`R�/HIL[Z�]PZP[PUN�7YPUJL[VUCarey’s theologian, Myk Habets, has been awarded a scholarship by Princeton Theological Seminary to undertake his sabbatical there in the second half of 2012.

:[HMM�9L[YLH[The sta! spent two days in early February, first listening to God and each other about 2012 at Carey, and then a day of fellowship around Auckland!

(ZPH�7HJPÄJ�)HW[PZ[�-LKLYH[PVU�=PZP[We hosted the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation executive committee at Carey Baptist College with a powhiri, and a day discussing Building Asia Pacific Partnerships in Church and Mission.

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Lecturer - New Testament

prostitutes to distribute gifts to working women, things the women had made since they had left the sex trade. They went to tell the women that Jesus makes the di!erence and that the hope they had found was hope they could have also.

How incredibly beautiful…one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

Myrto takes the challenge of Jesus in the text and translates this into the world around her with the zeal of Paul, the prayers of Anna and the compassionate heart of God.

Last year I was teaching Luke-Acts at Victoria University and encountered many

women who challenged and encouraged me in the biblical text. I think of Anna in the temple who Luke describes as devoted to God and her lifestyle of worship which was exemplary (2:36-38). I delight in the five widow stories that are peppered throughout the text (2:23-38; 4:26; 7:11-17; 18:1-8; 21:1-4) and how these show ancient societies most vulnerable women as model respondents. I think of Tabitha in Joppa who Luke describes as a disciple, the same designation as the men (Acts 9:36-43).

From the little Luke tells us she was impacting her community greatly with all that she did; she understood that the gospel (good news of Jesus) took her onto the streets of her community. Encountering Jesus had clearly changed Tabitha. I think of Lydia, the first Greek woman to follow Jesus, and how she frames the story of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:13-15, 40). And I

delight to picture Priscilla and Aquila work alongside Paul and wonder what they said to Apollos when they showed him the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:1-3, 18-19, 24-28; 1 Cor 16:19; Rom 16:3; 2 Tim 4:19).

The story of Priscilla has been an enigma in the church at various times and places. One textual tradition tried to omit her name and one reversed the order most likely because the scribes could not explain why a woman was so prominent, especially alongside her husband.

I have recently reviewed a new commentary on Acts in the Reformed Expository Series which tried to edit Tabitha out as a disciple by saying Luke’s use of ‘disciple’ clearly didn’t actually mean anything of significance! The commentator was wrong – the text tells us so. God chooses who will become disciples and he clearly chose Tabitha! My delight is that God continues to raise up women disciples to share the gospel in the church as Priscilla and Lydia did, and on the streets as Tabitha did. He raises up people from all walks of life and sends them where he opens a door…and people like Myrto just keep walking through these open doors. God is good!

As I begin work at Carey I am excited to meet the many women and men that God is raising up to share Jesus in the church, on the mission field and in the marketplace. Please join with me in praying for the new students and especially the women, for sometimes people still find it hard to believe that God uses women. If they come and join my Luke class, they too can discover the extent to which the text suggests the kingdom of God is painting another picture. Pray God’s blessing on the women who have heard his voice call them to theological training and pray for

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Something could happen today to change tomorrow and everything else, Neroli Hollis says with some conviction. She’s talking about the day in 2008 that she went into an Onehunga café at 12.30, set up on a blind date. She left at 4pm with the man she married later that year, an episode that gives her some authority on the subject of sudden change.

However, Carey Baptist College’s academic registrar, who spent her first 40+ years as “Neroli Hodges,” isn’t the impulsive type. This is her eigth year in the role, and she spent a decade before that taking care of Laidlaw (then Bible College of NZ) students as their hospitality manager.

Neroli had studied her BMin there from 1991 to 1993, initially planning to follow in the footsteps of her father, the late Baptist minister Alan Hodges.

However Neroli stayed at the West Auckland campus and collected a range of responsibilities ranging from coordinating functions to overseeing the halls of residence.

While she loved the atmosphere of the Bible college, the work was relentless. When she was o!ered study leave in

2002, she jumped at the opportunity and spent twelve weeks in England. She visited retreat centres and explored her interest in catering and leading retreats.

“It was my first extended time away, and I thrived with the release from work,” she said.

When she returned to her job, she felt restless. At the end of the year she resigned with no idea what to do next.

Neroli’s casual work the following year lacked the stimulation and community of her old position, so when the registrar role opened at Carey – a 9-to-5 job, no less – she applied. As a bonus, she knew then-principal Paul Windsor from BCNZ days, and she liked the size of the sta! team at Car y.e

“I loved being back in the theological world,” she said. “Once you’re used to that environment, it’s hard not to be.”

Now she works in a narrow o"ce beside reception. To her, the two filing cabinets dominating one wall and clusters of manila folders represent more than the admin component of her job. She says she enjoys “helping people in their journey to discover more about God, and more about themselves,” and lights up as she describes seeing God at work in people.

Every square centimetre on the pin board above her desk is covered in cards and photos: baking (a hobby for which she is popular among sta! and students), her wedding, friends and friends’ pets (some of which she looked after in her housesitting days) and trips away.

Neroli and Murray attend Epsom Baptist, which they can (and do) walk to from their home.

And every year she takes the PL students on a leadership retreat, pooling her varied skills into a two-day oasis

– both for her, and for the students she has so much in common with.

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At Carey we want to provide the best theological education and training that we can to our distance students – people who are keen to learn but are unable to move to our Auckland campus.

Examples include people on pastoral teams unable to leave their local church, those who cannot a!ord the move to Auckland, others called to continue serving in the marketplace, and plenty of mothers who just don’t have the time to study fulltime!

To serve these people the best we can Carey needs to update its technology. We need equipment and software that will enable us to interact with distance students so that not being in the classroom will not be such a big disadvantage.

We want to raise $20,000 in 2012 to make this happen. As a past student of Carey, or as one of our friends, is this a project that you might be willing to support financially? To contribute financially, or to ask further questions, please contact:

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Or make a deposit to our Carey account using the reference distance:

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Donations to Carey Baptist College do qualify for a tax rebate. We believe that by enhancing our distance training Carey will be able to make an even greater contribution to the work of God’s kingdom, both here in New Zealand and overseas. Thank you for considering this project.


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Most who know me well or even a little bit tend to be amused at my answers to the inevitable questions of “what brought you to Dunedin?” and “what DOES your husband do?”

I admit at times I avoid answering or sometimes I answer along the line of “he used to be a teacher.” To be honest I still at times feel incredibly unprepared and inadequate for my

role as a nurse, let alone being a minister’s wife, a role with no written but varying unspoken expectations.

I think back to a series of talks during chapel at Carey’s weekly community days presented by the sta! especially the series along the lines of “What keeps me grounded?” Also the ‘lunchtime interviews’ with people from real situations of life and workplaces. Also conversations with Carey people and the stories told in lectures. I read these people and stories with all the openness I could manage.

I am grateful for sharing their stories of greatness and also of vulnerability; the ‘applied ness’ of good myth busting theological teaching.

In my roles here I have seen openness and had conversations that might not have happened unless I was being the individual God has shaped me to be. Coping with roles that I find at times di"cult has also kept me grounded.

I guess it is a bit like one of my favourite things, training for and running marathons. I am not a natural athlete, but I run the same race as the world-class athlete even though I will never be one. I may even have to wait till I’m over 80 to win my age category! But the joy of crossing the finishing line is as great, having run the entire way within the limits of my ability and most importantly applying my training.

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My years of study at Carey were times of great spiritual growth and much theological grappling combined with application for children as well as invaluable insights into how God works in this world and in my life.

Studying at Carey mostly part time while in the thick of ministry was key to maintaining my own spiritual growth because I had to stay in God’s Word and wrestle with its application for me personally through each course I did. Keeping this up is a challenge in ministry but is crucial to healthy ministry.

Children’s ministry can often be a pragmatic place where we keep children busy, but studying theology gave me the opportunity to seriously wrestle with what God intends for children, how they understand him and how we can help children have a vibrant, real and lifelong faith. In my ministry I want to never stop this wrestling – it is the key to reaching the next generations. It also gives me the courage to challenge church paradigms on children that do

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not line up with God’s view of them.The applied nature of study at Carey

is great preparation for the ever-changing environments we work in. I learnt how to keep true to God’s Story while keeping current with my environment and my context – in ministry and personally.

Carey and its people have been key, faith-building influencers in my ministry and my life.

Ministry description: windsorKids ministers to about 500 children. We run two services each Sunday with four di!erent age groups hearing God’s word at each. We have a strong community focus with events and programmes to cater for many groups with children. We work hard to partner with parents to raise children who love and honour God.


Elke Graduated 2009

Children’s Ministry Course

With Dr Scottie May

Carey Baptist CollegeBlock course, second semester

25–29 June 2012

Dr Scottie May, lecturer at Wheaton College, USA, will beteaching this course, with input from some of our local experts.

Scottie brings a wealth of knowledge and theologicalinsight. She is the co-author of ‘Children Matter’ and

‘Listening to Children on the Spiritual Journey’.

Whether you are new to ministry or an ‘old hand’, you willreceive teaching that will grow and challenge you.

This course can be taken as part of the Certificate in Children and Family Ministries, or as a stand-alone paper. Audit options are available.

Contact the Registrar, Neroli Hollis, for enrolment and course information

on 0800 773 776 or [email protected].

Visit www.carey.ac.nz and search for MM672

Applied issue 4

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Transcript of Applied issue 4