It has only been five months since Anita and I packed up our camper trailer and headed on the long journey from Queensland to be taking up my new placement here in Western Australia.

At times like this, we have our assumptions about ourselves and what it means to be a disciple [challenged].

We also need to brush up on our skills on how we learn to relate to a community that in many small and large ways is so different from what we are used to.

One day the sun setting over the sea will lose its fascination for us, and one day I might give up my subscription to a Queensland newspaper for in-depth rugby league coverage – at least you still call a potato scallop a potato scallop.

As Christians and as a denomination, we are aware that we will be different after this time of the pandemic, and I am heartened to be a part of many conversations regarding this already.

In many ways it is easy to [make changes] do this after such a dramatic event as the COVID-19 pandemic, but we also need to be aware that, while we have been dealing with the challenges of post-modernism, the philosophical assumptions of our society have moved on to an articulated sense of secularism.

This effects not only our means of connecting with the community, but it also affects the place that each of us as leaders of the Church holds in our community.

This is why I am looking forward to the School Of Ministry presenting its annual continuing professional education opportunity with Rev Andrew Dutney as the keynote speaker. The theme in 2020 is ” Ministry in a Secular Age”.

I am looking forward to hearing Andrew giving us a framework for each of us to reflect on these important issues, and what it means for us to be called to discipleship and ministry in this space.

I am also looking forward to being able to spend some time with other people who are seeking to serve God with all their heart and soul and mind.

We all need companions on our journey of faith, so I am looking forward to the chance to see God through the sharing of the insights, dreams, lives, and stories of others and pray that others may similarly do so as I share.

Hopefully, I’ll see you there!

Grace and peace,

Rev Dr David Ferguson
Presbytery Officer

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.