What’s been your journey into ministry?

I was at a uni conference when Tim Thorburn said, ‘I think 50% of you should consider doing ministry, so turn to the person next to you and make a decision’. I thought, ‘I like this. I’ll do it.’ After uni I worked for my family’s agriculture business, and it was always the plan that I’d run it. There was family pressure – who would run the business if I didn’t take over? It was a pretty hard choice to step out of that role and do ministry. It came down to the gospel having eternal value. People’s greatest need is knowing Jesus.

After doing a ministry apprenticeship and going to theological college, I did a church residency program at Bayswater and realised that Paul (the senior pastor) is really great to work with. It makes a difference having a great boss you can really trust. Now I’m six months into my role. It’s been fabulous, I love it so much!

Any exciting change you’ve seen this year at church?

Our church has lots of young people and kids. It means we don’t have many older, wiser people in the building. I prayed over the summer that God would bring some older people, and he has! An older couple and a lady who lives on the same street have come, and she’s now brought her daughter and grandchild. It’s been great to see God answering that prayer through many different people.

Our congregations are getting the hang of the idea of working in teams. Our ministry directors are seeing that their job is actually to disciple and train team leaders, not to just run the ministries themselves. That’s great, there’s so much less pressure on the pastoral staff. It’s a joy to just watch everyone doing their thing, and you’re just there to encourage and keep training people. I’ve been so amazed by how working in these teams works so well!

What’s one challenge your team is wrestling with this year?

The constant growth of our church has been incredible. We launched with 30 adults and 20 kids three years ago, and now we’ve grown to 100 adults and 50 kids. God willing, we’re hoping to get to 130 adults by the end of this year. We’ve set up some ministries really well so that if 15 new kids rocked up, we’d have the structures to run it, whereas other ministries don’t have that yet. The biggest challenge is continuing to level up. I don’t know yet if you get change management fatigue! I’m so impressed with people who plant churches, because it’s constant change.

What’s something you’re thinking through theologically at the moment?

Theological thinking is not my favourite thing in the world … But I would say that I’m trying to figure out how close the church community should be. In Perth, people’s networks are already full. New people can come to church and struggle to make friends. What does it look like for our church to be family? How close is that family? How does our church family function with your biological family?

Do you have any suggestions for people in similar roles to you?

One thought is that I hope you’re spending time with your boss. I hope you’re able to speak to them about what you’re up to, how you’re going and what you need help with. I don’t think I could do my job without being able to chew my boss’s ear pretty regularly. It helps me have reassurance to know whether I’m on the right track or not.

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

I think women feel the anxiety in the room more than men, and that can be pretty hard to watch when you watch a guy run a meeting and just not pick up on the tone of the room. I reckon women often have a different read, or maybe a better read. Women’s intuition or something?! Helping guys to reflect and read the room is a worthwhile use of our time. It’s worth speaking up if you think their perception was significantly out. These are hard conversations, but if we don’t do it, who’s going to do it? It’s exhausting. It can be tiring when you feel you’re the only one in the room speaking up about stuff. But ask God to give you some backbone and keep going!

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

It might not be clear to you what roles are around (at least in Perth, they’re often not advertised) but there are plenty of opportunities. I’d encourage you to go to Reach Australia’s National Conference. 40% of the people there are women! There are roles, and lots of them can work around kids and family, which is pretty amazing. God’s made men and women to complement one another, and we need to work together in ministry. It’s beautiful when it works well!

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Jacinta is joining Reach Australia’s Team Development Program this year. More info here: www.reachaustralia.com.au/team-development-program