By Joseph Smith

Stephen Tan, fresh off the plane from Singapore, was hand picked by the Rev David Gilmour, rector of St John’s, Campsie, to lead the church’s Mandarin congregation. “We could not find someone in Australia who was theologically qualified, who could teach the Bible faithfully and speak Mandarin, so we went international,” Mr Gilmour explains.
Mr Tan comes to Sydney with a zeal for church planting: he was a minister in Singapore for eight years and before he came to Australia was serving as a pastor in the Church of Christ of Malaya, overseeing the mission program and planting their first church.
Having trained at the Singapore Bible College, an institution with “a not dissimilar philosophy to Moore” and received a Masters degree in Missions from the Bible College of Victoria, Mr Gilmour believes Mr Tan is well equipped for his role as the Chinese pastor at St John’s.
“One of the things that drew me to Stephen is that he is committed to Mission. We needed someone who could teach the Bible, train new leaders and motivate people to be involved in outreach. He really believes in equipping lay people for ministry,” Mr Gilmour says.
“We want to slot people into ministry positions according to their abilities, regardless of their maturity,” Mr Tan said.
A quarter of Campsie’s population is Chinese and the Chinese Congregation has grown fast. Many young families are joining the congregation with as many as 65 adults attending each week.
While some of the Chinese congregation are involved in Bible studies, integrating all members into small groups is one of Mr Tan’s main tasks.
“People come to Australia without much. They work many hours, often at low paying jobs, which makes it hard to come on Sundays,” Mr Gilmour says.
“Our ministry differs to some churches where the ethnic congregation has separate goals to the English speaking congregations. We want people in the Chinese congregation who get on well with those in the English congregation to be more involved in joint outreach projects.”
Mr Tan will be contributing to the ministry team to help meet the strategic goals of the parish. He will join David Gilmour, ministry worker Ian Lobb and Stephen Mansfield, who coordinates of the church’s New Settler Project for migrants.
Mr Tan, who arrived in Australia with his wife Sylvia and two young children, has made a five year commitment to working in Campsie. He will also do some work at Moore College with a view towards being ordained as an Anglican minister in Sydney.