What’s been your journey into ministry?

I was a senior staff member with AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) at RMIT University. My assumption was that I’d start a family and take a break from ministry, but my husband and I struggled to have a baby for a few years. During that time I started thinking that if I wasn’t going to take a break to have a family, was I going to stay in university ministry for the next ten years? What else would I want to do? I’d been at Laneway Church for seven years at that point and was getting more involved in the leadership team. A role opened up and I got the job. 

A few years ago, I never thought that this kind of role was open to me. I thought church roles for women were mainly being the children’s minister or the women’s worker – roles I really didn’t think I was gifted in. It’s hard to envision a role into existence without someone modelling it or showing you what it could be like. But at Laneway Church, we have five purpose areas and someone leads each area. It’s such a great way of thinking about church life. At Reach Australia’s National Conference I saw that other churches employed people, including women, to cover each area. My church had structures in place where the type of paid role I could have was much more appealing to me.

Any exciting changes you’ve seen in the past year?

As a church, we planted Anchor Church Melbourne this year, and it’s been so exciting to see God answering our prayers. People who have walked away from the faith have come back. We’ve been praying and working towards planting for six years.

Our vision as a church is to see an endless crowd of people from all nations worshipping Christ as king. That’s by preaching the gospel locally, planting churches and sending missionaries. Planting churches is one of the three main ways we live out our vision. It’s something that we need more of in the west of Melbourne. We want more churches that are faithful to the Bible, healthy and doing evangelism. 

We sent about 20 people off to start Anchor Church. It’s been an adjustment – missing them, but being excited for them. A challenge has been change management – helping members process the grief of missing their friends and people they’ve served alongside for many years, and addressing the ministry gaps.

What’s one challenge your team has been wrestling with?

This part of Melbourne (Footscray) is a very transitional area. There’s a constant flow of people coming in and out. One of the biggest challenges is pastoring people through that – helping people join well, but also leave well. Helping people keep investing and getting to know new people is challenging too. It can be really tiring over time to keep saying goodbye and getting to know people. We’ve been thinking about how we can care for our members well.

What’s something that’s been challenging about being a woman in ministry?

I’m now pregnant, and I feel like I’ve thrown a spanner in the works! It’s funny, I had already started processing that I might never have a baby when I got the role at Laneway – and then got pregnant straight away! People have been very supportive of me, but part of me knows this will bring about more change. I feel bad that we’ve got to hire someone to cover my maternity leave. It’s hard not to think that if we’d hired someone else (possibly a male), this probably wouldn’t have happened. It’s just one of the unpredictable things that happens as a woman.

What would you like to say to women wondering if they should go into ministry?

I’d love for more women to go into ministry! Put yourself out there to serve God faithfully with everything that you have. Approach people and ask them about their roles, especially if they’re at a church with purpose areas. Look into campus ministry and mission organisations. Don’t let the limits of the roles you’ve seen stop you from venturing out.

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Angela is the Victorian representative on the Advisory Group for the Women in Leadership Network at Reach Australia.