“By mid 2005, we will have the wonderful opportunity of locating positions for more graduating Sydney Candidates from Moore College than ever before.” So wrote Dean Phillip Jensen, Director of Ministry Training & Development on 22 March 2004.
In a letter to all rectors Phillip Jensen suggested that parishes set the goal of employing one of these fine Christian men and women for 2006. He also foreshadowed significant numbers of additional graduates in the years to follow.
What type of figures are we looking at?
There are 39 ordination candidates (male and female) in the current 3rd Year at Moore College. As such we can assume that there will be about 39 people seeking employment for a first year ordained position starting in January 2006. There will also be other graduates from Moore looking for non-ordained positions.
Let us assume that 15-20 Assistant Ministers are appointed as Rectors during 2005. The Parishes that employed these ministers will be likely to employ one of the 39 students in the 2005 graduating class to replace the minister that has just left.  As a result 20-25 new positions need to be created.
So why should a parish with no Assistant Minister consider employing one in 2006? Why should parishes with Assistant Ministers consider employing additional ones in 2006? The answer is not simply so that someone can have a job. Rather, the answer is because the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Diocesan Mission demand it!
There are still millions of our fellow citizens who do not know Jesus and are therefore facing a Christ-less eternity. These ministers in training will be frontline soldiers of Christ declaring the good news of peace with God through the death and resurrection of his Son. As they do so, people will become Christians and those new believers will then become active participants of churches – almost certainly the same churches that employed the extra workers to till previously unploughed fields.
However, 39 positions, filled at the same time, is significantly more than the number of positions on offer last year. Where will these fine graduates go? How will churches find the money to fund an extra member of staff when times are so tough and funds are scarce?
I think I will scream the next time I hear someone say ‘times are hard’ with respect to many of our churches’ ability to raise finances. We have never had it so good! There has never been a better time to raise finances for ministry! God is good and gracious and he has blessed us with enormous wealth. As Commsec economist Craig James said in March, “The Australian economy has found its ‘sweet spot’.”
The economy is in its best shape for 25 years. Unemployment is near historic lows, inflation is well under control, interest rates are below the long-term average, and, as I write, the Australian stock market has reached a number of consecutive highs. Australians have never been richer and, more importantly, Sydney Anglicans have never been so wealthy.
What many churches could do is step out in faith, perhaps hold a fund raising dinner to raise, in advance, enough funds to employ one extra worker for 12 months (by asking the current members to dig deeper into their wallets), then make the appointment, relying on God to work through that new worker’s ministry. In all likelihood the subsequent growth in church members will finance the additional worker’s costs in the second and subsequent years.
Many of us have been praying to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest field. The Lord is answering the prayers of his people. However, more than that, he has also blessed our wallets, so that we are able to support not only these workers but the many more who are needed for our Mission!
‘He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.’ 2 Corinthians 9:6

The Rev Zac Veron is Senior Minister at the Parish of St George North.