After 20 years of faithful ministry at Figtree Anglican Church, Rod Irvine is heading north of the border.
The Rev Dr Rod Irvine had his final service as rector of Figtree last Sunday and has commenced retirement from full-time parish ministry after two decades in Sydney Diocese.
Mr Irvine left the Wollongong region for Queensland yesterday with his wife Helen who will take up the position of associate professor in accounting at the Queensland University of Technology.
Remembering unusual beginnings
Dr Irvine was teaching high school in Brisbane and attending a Baptist church when he received the invitation to lead Figtree in 1987.
"We felt overwhelmingly that this was the right thing to do and that God's specific call was in it," Dr Irvine says.
Dr Irvine is appreciative of former Archbishop of Sydney Harry Goodhew who, as then Bishop of Wollongong, helped push for his nomination as Figtree rector.
"He certainly helped the process along," he says.
Dr Irvine adds that Figtree was "a great church' long before he arrived.
"Previous minister Richard Andrews had overseen the completion of a new building and the congregation was a thriving, energetic, outward-looking group of people who were in favour of progress," he says.
Dr Irvine says he has been privileged to oversee a growth in the ministry during his two decades at Figtree.
"The church paid off the debt for the old building and has since built a new one. The staff team has increased from being a curate, a community social worker and myself to about 23 staff including seven full-timers," he says.
Dr Irvine says this all equates to a larger amount of Christian ministry taking place in and around the church community.
"When I arrived it was already a strong, large church of 330 adults plus kids and we now have about 800 adults and around 200 kids. We still need to be doing better though. Whoever comes after me needs to take on the challenge for the next step forward."
Dr Irvine says he has seen "amazing things' happen during his time as Figtree rector.
"We have seen people wonderfully converted. We have seen lives changed. We have experienced dead ends only to have miraculous answers fall from the sky through prayer," Dr Irvine says.
Dr Irvine does not yet know which church he will join in Queensland but he hopes for many opportunities to train up ministers.
