Tuesday, June 03, 2014

pioneer exits

Yesterday at chapel included naming the transition that is happening for one of our candidates, Karen Paull.

Karen began at Uniting College as I began in 2010. As a first year, first semester student she demanded her way into my Missional Church Leadership class. She was on about mission she said, and so was determined to take every single class she could on mission. Her candidature included fieldwork as a Netball Chaplain, being a Christ presence among a local church’s sports ministry. Over the four years she has mixed her study with a rich range of practical mission experiences, including attending, and then leading as part of the team running mission-shaped ministry course here in Adelaide and travelling for mission trips to Thailand.

Karen is leaving to pioneer, moving into a fully paid placement as a pioneer, working ecumenically into a local community in Sydney, NSW.

She spoke at the chapel service, reflecting on her experience of God’s love as she has moved through this pioneer training, the highs and lows.

Earlier in the day, she had shared in a candidate group about the significance of Phoebe on her sense of call. A leader, woman, a diaconal serving ministry, a willingness to travel a lot – this deep resonance between this Biblical character and Karen’s evolving sense of call.

There were so many dreams that have become reality in this story. Karen’s dream of being a pioneer, Uniting College’s dream of training pioneers, a local church’s dream of setting aside significant financial resource to practically love a community.

Posted by steve at 08:39 AM

2 Comments

  1. ‘Demanded’ is a bit rough! Pleaded, cajoled, reasoned? There certainly was an urgency not to miss a subject so relevant to me. I had no idea there would be so many more, well taught and highly interactive to boot.

    Comment by Karen — June 5, 2014 @ 6:41 pm

  2. Cheers Karen. The irony is I’m now teaching a mission intensive in Sydney for UTC next month. Following you

    Steve

    Comment by Steve — June 5, 2014 @ 11:56 pm

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