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Each semester one or two College graduates are invited

to preach at our weekly chapel service. Invariably they are asked how their time at Trinity has shaped their ministries today. The top three answers to this interview question are: (1) learning how the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ; (2) since God does his work by his Word, we must prayerfully and diligently bring the Word to people and people to the Word; and, (3) the life-long ministry friendships that resulted from hours of discussion and table tennis on Level 3 (the student lounge). Tick, tick, and tick.

Sound ministry convictions like these are essential for any purposeful service of the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not emerge by accident and they need time and space to develop. One of the basic principles of our teaching and training is that biblical, theological, and ministry frameworks must be put in place before they are developed. For example, if we want to teach and apply a Bible passage well we need to know what the Bible is as a book and how it “works.” This philosophy of learning is hardly new, but it is increasingly rare in the student-centred educational environment in which we live.

A second principle of learning for us is that the formation of men and women

In this edition: 1. Developing Ministry Convictions That Last2. Trinity Serving Others

3-5. Trinity on Mission6. Wisdom and Trust

Preparing People for Effective Christian ServiceLaying foundations for a ministry that upholds, proclaims, and is shaped by the gospel.

ttc.wa.edu.au

Developing Ministry Convictions That Lastfor Word ministry – in either formal or informal capacities – requires intensive, life-on-life, preparation. Students need to see and hear reverence for God and the Scriptures, passion for the things of the gospel, seriousness in prayer, love for people, anguish for the lost, compassion for those in need, etc. Are the values and fruit of the gospel present in staff and student relationships? Is there ready and humble repentance and forgiveness, for example? Here we are not looking for perfection but progress. I thank God for our faculty team who not only bring clarity and rigour to their classroom teaching but also give themselves sacrificially to our students, our graduates, and to each other for the sake of Christ and the gospel.

This is an appropriate place for me to express my thanks to God for Clare Deeves as she leaves us to begin in a new ministry as Assistant Pastor for Women’s Ministry at Kallaroo Anglican Church here in Perth. Clare models the kinds of things I have been speaking about in her teaching and administration. You will be pleased to hear that Clare has agreed to continue teaching our first-year church history course from second semester this year. On behalf of the whole College community, I wish Clare God’s blessing as she begins her new ministry.

With every blessing in Christ,

Don West

Principal

Winter 2019 – Issue 87

Students on Mission – Lizzy Simes (L) and Lucinda de Vos (R) with Jo Nicol (C) in Exmouth

7. Leaving a Legacy

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Trinity on Mission

Farewell Clare

Chaplains from all across the state came to the training day

(from left) Thom Bull, Don West, YouthCARE CEO Stanley Jeyaraj, Madeleine Chaine and Tyler Swartzentruber

Clare came to Trinity in 2010. Her original role was teaching Church History and Greek, and the Dean of Women. In 2015 she became Academic Dean, and over the years has also taught in the Certificate of Ministry and Trinity@Night. Clare’s calling for teaching came when she herself was studying:

“While studying I became convinced that if we wanted to train more women for ministry, it was important that there were women teaching in theological colleges. Trinity was a place where I could be part of that. I think this training is critical in seeing the gospel faithfully preached in the world.

For me, the most fulfilling thing about teaching at Trinity is seeing students develop clear gospel and ministry convictions over their time here, and

then leaving to do gospel ministry. The College is doing what it was established to do; people are being trained and equipped for ministry and they are going out into the world to preach the gospel and be involved in building God’s church. I’m glad that even as I leave full-time I’ll still get to be part of Trinity doing that because it is so important for the health and growth of the church.”

Don West and Clare Deeves

As students prepared to return to school in late January, one

of our state’s largest not-for-profit organisations also prepared to send hundreds of chaplains into the WA public school system.

YouthCARE is the leading provider of pastoral care and values education programs in primary and secondary public schools, maintaining a Christian presence in more than 500 schools across Western Australia through their chaplaincy program. The Chaplains Formation Conference is YouthCARE’s annual opportunity to gather, encourage, train, and commission their entire network of chaplains and at their invitation, a team from Trinity Theological College (Don West, Thom Bull, Madeleine Chaine, and myself) presented three training sessions.

How do you train and encourage hundreds of chaplains from a variety of Christian backgrounds and traditions? We chose to lean in to the key instrument of Christian unity, the key text of Christian ministry, and the key source of Christian nourishment: the word of God. Our input aimed to introduce a framework for reading and teaching the Bible (based on

God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts). Through each session we shared the story of Scripture and showed how God’s redemptive work throughout history culminates in Jesus Christ. The sense of attentiveness and excitement amongst our audience was palpable, and witnessing the joy as they further grasped the narrative beauty and coherence of Scripture was so refreshing. The sessions generated plenty of questions and reflection, and prompted encouraging conversations over morning tea and lunch.

In God’s kindness, participants left the day with greater understanding and renewed appreciation for how the Bible

Trinity Serving Others

fits together and centres on Jesus. They were spurred on to further explore the Bible more actively in their personal lives. Praise God for a wonderful opportunity to ground us all in God’s Word, serving our Christian brothers and sisters as they prepared to be salt and light amongst the students and staff of our public schools. May this year’s YouthCARE Chaplains Formation Conference prove to be an event that not only bears fruit in 2019, but also for years to come.

Tyler Swartzentruber

Children’s Pastor at St Matthew’s Anglican Church(MDiv, 2014)

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Trinity on Mission

All Nations Presbyterian Church Our Mission Week at All Nations

Presbyterian Church was a valuable experience of being exposed to the unique ministry opportunities and challenges of an inner-city church.

We were very warmly welcomed by the members of All Nations, whom we engaged with over Bible studies and church services. As Pastor Simon van Bruchem explained, the multi-ethnic congregation is indeed a wonderful representation of all nations coming together as God’s people.

Optimising the church’s city-central location, All Nations holds free English classes as their main outreach ministry, creating unique evangelistic opportunities by reaching out to those new to Australia who are looking for community and to make social connections.

Our team helped Evangelism Pastor Gordon Waghorn to run the classes, which consist of two hour interactive lessons catering to a range of language proficiencies and a 30 minute Bible study held three times a week. As most of us did not have experience in teaching English or Bible studies for people studying English as a second language, it was a great ministry from which to learn.

The classes are popular and well attended by international students, working holiday makers, refugees and migrants aiming to improve their English. Having people from a wide range of countries, ages and backgrounds come to the church during the week was fantastic, and it was encouraging to see that the majority of people chose to stay for the optional Bible study. As Easter was just around the corner, we had the privilege to talk about Jesus with those who had not yet heard the gospel or accepted Christ as their saviour.

Over the week we were impressed by the effectiveness of this grace

ministry, which meets people’s practical needs while showing them Jesus’ love and teaching them God’s word. Many of the people we interacted with were open to conversations about faith and each of us could see the potential to build relationships and share the gospel with them. One person, who had never read the Bible before, came to an English class and ended up attending a separate Bible study and lunch that Saturday, and then church the very next day!

Another highlight was having dinner with the team and hearing from two local missionaries supported by All Nations about how they have been ministering to Perth’s homosexual and sex industry communities. God really does show his love and faithfulness through his people.

At the end of the week, our team assisted with running the church service, including delivering the sermon, prayer and teaching kid’s church. Dylan Twiss and Liz Shanhun shared their testimonies with the

congregation, emphasising how God is the only one who saves and the importance of choosing a life dedicated to serving and honouring him. Al van Zijl preached on Jesus’ parable of the tenants in Luke. The lunch after the service on our last day was a reflection of the church’s cultural diversity with a wide variety of delicious cuisines represented!

It was a joy and privilege to serve at All Nations. We give thanks to God for the work he is doing through them, and pray that God continues to use this church to reach out to, disciple and bless people in the Perth community, especially those from different nations who have yet to hear the gospel.

Linda Lee

(1st Year, GradDipDiv)

Trinity’s Mission Team with the All Nations Church English class

Trinity student Rob Lydon leading a class at All Nations Church

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Trinity on Mission Trinity on Mission

St Matts and UWA Exmouth

Clare Deeves and her team before heading into Mission Week

The Trinity Exmouth mission team

Our mission team spent the week primarily with St

Matthew’s Anglican Church in Shenton Park, with a couple of days at UWA with the Christian Union. Being a team of primarily third year students, we spent much of the week thinking intentionally about ministry and how to work in teams to plan and prepare everything from bible studies, to the Sunday service, to kids church and youth group.

We also had the opportunity to attend the English as Second Language classes and partner with them in this ministry, and three of us went to the international student ministry at UWA, which was great to see how ministry and training of leaders is happening in this context.

Highlights included getting to know the inner workings of a larger multi-congregational church, and thinking through how and why we do ministry and having practical experience at planning our programmes.

At times we were challenged by the number of things we could do, and how to be selective and focussed in our ministry. In this we were reminded of the value of taking time out of all the preparation and events to soak up God’s word and pray individually and as a team.

Jessica Bennett

(3rd year, MDiv)

Six members of our pastoral care group, along with our

group leader and lecturer Dan Cole, travelled over 1,000km by air to Exmouth in the north of WA. Our mission was to help the local Anglican church, Exmouth Anglican Community Church, and in particular their pastor Frank Nicol (a Trinity alumnus), with their ministry in town. We left Perth on Saturday and had a relaxed evening on our first night there, sharing a meal and enjoying fellowship with Frank, his wife Jo, and their three young children, Lydia, Eli and Silas.

The next day we hit the ground running. Frank had organised for the church to run quite a lot of events during the week we were there. Along with their regular weekly events like the church service, prayer meetings, and Bible studies, they were also running their first ever kids club for a day, a seminar for encouraging the local believers in mission, a day of walk-up evangelism at Coral Bay, works of service at the local retirement village, a women in ministry event for the ladies, and an evangelistic dinner at the church for which Frank had extended an open invitation to basically the whole town!

We were given the opportunity to take part in and lead Bible studies, share our testimonies, help out with the kids club in a number of ways (including acting in the drama skits), help the elderly by doing some gardening for them at the retirement village, share our past experiences of mission to encourage other believers, and share the gospel with people at the evangelistic events. Three of us were even given the opportunity to preach at the church services and the evangelistic dinner.

Needless to say, we were exhausted at the end of every day. But each night we were able to go back to the homes of our amazingly generous and hospitable host families and have a good night’s sleep in the cool of an air-conditioned 4

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Trinity on Mission

Exmouth

Trinity students Samuel Indrawan and Elardus Mouton leading Kids Club

room (it was scorching up there!). We were blown away by the Christian hospitality of our hosts.

We were also very encouraged by the warm relationship between the Anglican church and the other Protestant church in the town, Exmouth Christian Fellowship. Although the two churches don’t align theologically on absolutely everything, they regularly have Bible studies, prayer meetings and other events together to build each other up. Their love toward one another in recognising each other as part of the body of Christ and being willing to have fellowship with one another is a fantastic example for all churches.

Please join me and my fellow students in thanking our Father for keeping us safe on our trip (we almost had a cyclone pass over Exmouth while we were there) and giving us such an

amazing opportunity. Please thank him that we were able to share the good news about His Son to some people who had never

heard it clearly while we were there. Please pray that God would cause the seeds of the gospel that we sowed to grow in the hearts of those we spoke to, and that He would reveal Himself to them by His Spirit and save them from their state of spiritual darkness and death. Please also pray for Frank, his family, and both churches in Exmouth. Please ask God to continue spurring them on in their outreach to their town and to continue edifying them as a body of believers.

Thank you to all the generous sponsors of Trinity that made this trip possible. My team and I really appreciate your generous and sacrificial love.

Elardus Mouton

(1st Year, DipTh)

Exmouth Anglican Community Church pastor Frank Nicol with his wife Jo

Student ProfileTrinity on Mission

I had virtually no history with church in my upbringing. I went to church once a year for “Scout Sunday” at the local church which hosted the Boy Scout troop of which I was a member. That’s it! Some years after leaving university I found my atheism softening into agnosticism, and then an openness into considering whether there might be a deity or something beyond the natural world. Eventually I became persuaded that Jesus really was raised from the dead, and was baptised in May of 2000. A friend who studied at Trinity recommended it as both theologically sound and academically strong. I did a few units in the certificate course and found them excellent. A few years later I signed up for full-time study.

I loved the pastoral care times we spent in small groups with other students and a lecturer. I really enjoyed learning Greek, and Bible units were favourites too. I enjoyed refining my understanding of the Bible. I think it was great having students and lecturers from a variety of denominational and theological positions. Maintaining unity in the gospel, avoiding divisiveness over secondary issues without compromising faithfulness to primary issues, is a major focus I have taken into my ministry since graduating.

When I was asked to teach for Trinity at Night, I was excited by the idea. Not only was it another opportunity to use and develop my gift for teaching, but it was a way to take part in the work of the College, which I appreciated so much.

A year or two ago I was teaching Genesis and on the first night a student asked me why a good God allows evil in the world. This is a question I’ve been honed to handle through pastoral ministry, but also equipped by my study at Trinity to answer biblically. In the back-and-forth that followed, it turned out that this student had recently been bereaved of his son. Here I was answering the problem of evil in front of thirty other people to a person who was experiencing recent and intense grief, worse than I’ve ever known myself. I was moved to tears by his sorrow, but later that night I was moved to tears of gratitude to God that he let me be part of helping that man in his grief, through communicating biblical truth.

Larry Travis

Graduate: Bachelor of Theology (2007)

Swan Christian CollegeEven in a place where the

gospel is assumed, there is still much harvesting that can be done.

Under the guidance of Trinity Lecturer Thom Bull and Head of Christian Culture at Swan Christian College Matt Lovell, our team of eight students visited SCC for the week to speak to the students and see the work the teachers are doing.

Much of our time was spent visiting the Christian Living classes, where we would share our testimonies with students and engage in discussions with them as part of the class.

One that stands out was with Year 11s discussing ethics. After Michael gave his testimony, the class was given the opportunity to look at the stated values of the school and consider how well they and their peers actually upheld and lived out these values. It was valuable insight for us into seeing the ways that the next generation would sort out the moral issues arising when they realised they couldn’t perfectly uphold the values. We also got to see the enormous pressure on the teachers given how little time they had in which to break down and rebuild the students’ foundations on the gospel. There is a real need for these teachers to be theologically well-equipped.

We spent time one lunch time with the primary school kids running games, then Rachelle spoke to them about living their best life. The kids were shown how just as a fish is made to live in water, so people are made to live with God.

On Thursday afternoon Matt Lovell gave us some insight into the direction he sees Australian Christian education heading. This was a great opportunity to understand his convictions about working to share the gospel in a Christian school, and the challenges he has to go through on every level.

Our time at SCC was a rare opportunity to experience sharing the gospel in a place where both external and internal pressures against the gospel were high, but dedication to it was higher.

Alex Hofstra

(2nd Year, BTh)

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Charlotte Pennel teaching kids about the bible

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TWED 2019

Wisdom & Trust

Around 100 women gathered this year for the Trinity Women

Enrichment Day on the 6th April. TWED is an annual conference that seeks to encourage and equip women who are involved in ministry in various capacities.

Our speaker this year was Clare Deeves, who gave two excellent talks on Psalm 119. We were challenged to value God’s word as the Psalmist does, for God’s word is wiser than any other source, and completely trustworthy. We were also encouraged to turn to

TWED 2019 in full swing

Jesus and keep trusting in the promises of God’s word, even amidst the pressures of our secular society.

We were also privileged to have Anna Moss with us from Sydney this year to present a double elective on Relationships in Ministry. Anna works for the Presbyterian Church of NSW

supporting women in ministry, as well as doing clinical counselling. It was great to have her with us to share her expertise in these areas. Anna helped us to think through what healthy

(and unhealthy) relationship patterns look like, and how we might try to change our own patterns of behaviour.

Other electives enjoyed across the day were Getting Beyond Nice with Kate Schendzielorz; Priorities and Pitfalls

in Women’s Ministry with Kym Carly; Ministry with the Elderly with Lyn and Ray Arthur; Moving Forward in Evangelism with Cheryl Waldron and So you’ve been asked to lead a Bible Study with Belinda Colyer.

A big thank you to all our elective leaders, volunteers and the Trinity staff who made the day possible.

Rhianon Rae

TWED Committee

Register now for Term 3

Short evening classes for anyone who wants to dig deeper into God’s Word

Trinity@Night

The Word Became Flesh: The Gospel of JohnTuesday evenings | 7:30pm-9:30pm | 30 July - 3 Sept St Alban’s Church HIGHGATE

The Gospel Unplugged: Romans Thursday evenings | 7:30pm-9:30pm | 1 Aug - 5 Sept Trinity House, LEEDERVILLE

ccs@ttc.wa.edu.au | www.ttc.wa.edu.au

TWED special guest Anna Moss

DLLANDSCAPE

FRONT

ANNUAL LECTUREwith

GERALD BRAY

Monday 5th of August7:30 - 9:30pm

‘The Trinity in Christian History and Experience’

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SAVE THE DATE

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TRINITY THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE INC ABN 70 006 203 227 ACT CRICOS provider code: 02650EPO Box 115 LEEDERVILLE WA 6902 • 632–634 Newcastle Street, Leederville, Perth, WA 6007

info@ttc.wa.edu.au • Phone: 08 9228 9067 • Fax: 08 9228 3862 • ttc.wa.edu.auTrinity Theological College is an affiliated college of the Australian College of Theology TN87

Leaving a Legacy Life is busy. We all know that. Even in the days of the New

Testament Jesus had to remind people about their priorities: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Preparing men and women for ministry that upholds, proclaims, and is shaped by the gospel of Christ is both a privilege and responsibility. Your partnership and financial support makes that possible.

God is good and his plans will prevail. He is doing his work, while our role is to prepare ourselves as best we can; prayerfully, diligently, hopefully. One thing that the College is working on to prepare ourselves for the future is the Trinity Investment Fund. You’ll be hearing more about this in the coming months.

In the busyness of life, we must keep our eyes on God and what he is doing, so that the work we do here and now may bear fruit after we’ve gone. By making a provision for Trinity in your Will, you can ensure that future work of the College can be funded, and support for training gospel workers will continue beyond your lifetime. If you’d like to find out how you can support Trinity by leaving a gift in your Will, please contact me.

Please consider prayerfully how you can support Trinity’s ministry of equipping people to teach God’s Word faithfully. We are deeply grateful to our Lord for his generous provision through you to date.

Yours in Him,

Nathaniel Brown

Development & Communications Coordinator

08 9228 9067 development@ttc.wa.edu.au

03 Aug Quarterly Prayer Breakfast

05 Aug Annual Lecture with Gerald Bray

12 Sept Information Night

17 Sept Open Lecture

16 Nov Quarterly Prayer Breakfast

24 Dec College Closed– 02 Jan

2019 DATES

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Plan ahead for 2020!Find out how you can be better equipped for eff ective Christian service

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Prayer & Praise

Give thanks for:• Clare Deeves; for her Academic Dean role,

teaching ability and work with Trinity Women. Pray for her ministry at Kallaroo Anglican and continued work with Trinity

• The recent Preaching Seminar with Murray Capill; for the privilege of learning from him

• God’s unfailing faithfulness in all aspects of the College; finances, student numbers, teaching and admin staff

Pray for:• The selection process for the new Academic

Dean and for Faculty filling the gap until their commencement

• A healthy mid-year student intake, so that more people can be trained for ministry

• Good health for students during winter and whilst writing exams

• Churches to actively promote study at Trinity to prospective ministry workers in their congregations

• God to provide financially, especially via the Mid-Year Appeal