Read part one of Gavin’s story here.
Gavin credits the many ‘considering ministry dinners’ at university, reading the Bible with others and youth group leading at his church in helping him decide to pursue ministry. These have now led him to beginning an MTS apprenticeship in 2024 at Mayfield Presbyterian Church.
Gavin reflects, “I decided I wanted to do MTS (Ministry Training Strategy) and with those discussions at the full time ministry nights, I looked at what would be best for the future. Initially for me, it was important that I do at least two years’ of work first.”
Gavin had little experience in the workforce, only having worked part-time researching for the university, lab demonstrations and tutoring.
“My decision was to do full-time work first to get experience in relating with people at church who work with non-Christians full-time each week. This was highly recommended to me by lots of older, wiser people I chatted with.”
For two years, Gavin worked as a Control Systems Engineer with council water systems which he describes as both good and challenging.
Thinking through MTS
Prior to starting his MTS apprenticeship, Gavin met and spoke with the staff at the Christian uni group, and attended MTS Recruit in Katoomba. While there, he was able to have a meaningful conversation with Martin who was responsible for the Newcastle Christian students.
Gavin then had to decide if he was going to pursue his MTS apprenticeship through the Newcastle University Christian group, or Mayfield. Martin, a staff member at the university group, made a strong case for Gavin to join the uni group, but he didn’t want to pull Gavin away from the gospel need at his church.
“I decided to do it with church and I think seeing a community that is really missionally focused, even while small, that’s really encouraging to me,” Gavin shares.
“I saw a community that really loves the gospel and wanted to do more, wanted to grow, and so if I could get behind and support that, I knew I’d love to work full-time to do that.”
Training at Mayfield
Gavin believes that his MTS apprenticeship at Mayfield provides an ideal learning environment, allowing him to experience a wide range of ministry opportunities within the church.
Outreach ministry and youth ministry will be among Gavin’s main focuses.
“We do student lunches for uni students on Tuesday 12-1pm. Students come along, grab a free lunch and then they can grab free food from OzHarvest. We sit around tables having conversations for an hour but without the manpower to kind of sit with students and ask questions, we haven’t connected very well with any of them yet,” he says.
“One of my main projects will be going to the student lunches, seeing what I can do to help, but also getting alongside the students and being relational. Showing that God is relational, and ‘I want to get to know you guys’ and be able to ask questions like, ‘What do you think about Jesus?’. We also want to open up the Gospel of Mark with them each week through a short talk and discussions.”
“We had our first one last week and it was incredible. I read Mark 1:1-11 and asked Tim my trainer three key questions about this text. Then I asked a question to the audience and they had some amazing discussions. We had 42 non-Christian students to kick off the year!”
Gavin also has been helping coordinate the Christianity Explained course at Mayfield. Prayerfully, Gavin hopes to see many of these students back for an intensive course along with a handful of new people at church this year.
Finally, Gavin will be leading the youth group at Mayfield.
“I’ve been doing that for the past three years but I think there will be a larger commitment with me writing and delivering more Bible talks and studies, as well as thinking harder about how we can reach out to our community as a youth group.”
Gavin has been thinking through questions like…
- How do we make sure the program and our youth are friendly to newcomers?
- How do we encourage them to join us?
- How do we disciple our committed regulars well?
His simple answer so far, “We’re going to preach God’s word clearly, and show the love of Jesus’ example. And keep reflecting.”
Studying to be equipped
Gavin is currently pursuing the Academic Studies in Theology Certificate (Timothy Partnership Certificate) through PYNSW as part of his apprenticeship, the aim of which is ‘equipping every Christian, everywhere’.
“For me, I thought an important part of doing ministry is to be trained theologically at the same time. You want both the practical and the teaching at the same time and you get to see it in action,” he says.
“I love the idea of doing a course, doing some reading, seeing and applying it.”
As Gavin begins his apprenticeship this year, he is really wanting to see the gospel understood and accepted by the people of Mayfield and the wider Newcastle community.
“I really want to grow in my godliness. Stepping up to do something like this while growing in humbleness I think would be excellent. I really love new things and I’m really keen to try this and see and explore what God has in store.”
Pray for Gavin as he begins this ministry and for the people he works with to understand God’s glory and salvation, and for the growth of the Kingdom.