The Rev Tara Thornley is about to give up the "best job in the world". It wasn't tasting icecream, travelling the world or mixing with the rich and famous. It was reading the Bible and praying on campus as women's pastor of Unichurch and Campus Bible Study at the University of New South Wales.
"For Christian people, reading the Bible with others is the thing that most excites us. To get to see God at work in people's lives and get to know God better myself is amazing. I can't believe I get paid to do this!" she laughs.
The role that has "lured' Tara (pictured) away has been the post of Dean of Women at Moore College, following the integration of the training of women students (formerly shared with Mary Andrews College) fully into Moore College at the end of last year.
Sydney Anglican Jane Tooher, currently working in ministry in London, will join Tara on the faculty of Moore in the middle of next year. A team of 15 to 20 women chaplains working one day a week will co-lead chaplaincy groups with the current male leaders, sharing in the pastoral care of students, especially the growing number of women students.
New structures for the support and development of the ministries of women are still being discussed with Moore College’s principal, the Rev Dr John Woodhouse and acting dean of women, Mrs Wendy Colquhoun, and will continue to be worked out in the new year. Possibilities include a ‘Centre’ for women's ministry, which could be resourced to encourage and promote the ministries of women, as well as incorporating scholarship and research by and for women.
Tara's passion is "training women for a lifetime of ministry", so that whether they are in the workforce, full-time mums, studying or in full-time ministry, they will "be followers and servants of Jesus through all the life stages they'll go through". Tara continues, "In some senses it's a natural outworking of the training I've already been doing, but it is a more formal setting and there’s not too many evangelistic opportunities at Moore!"
The number of women studying at Moore has doubled in the past 10 years, from 41 in 1998 to 82 this year. In addition, 83 ministry wives have studied at Moore over the last 15 years. In the last six years, 17 women have been ordained to the diaconate, more than triple the average yearly figure in the years from 1990 to 2002.
Yet Archdeacon for Women's Ministry Narelle Jarrett says for the first time in many years, there is a shortage of paid positions for women in ministry. There are currently 32 licensed ordained women employed in the Diocese, and 108 licensed lay women.
“Shortage of money may be the prime cause of this as more male leaders are needed if the Mission goal of planting churches is to be achieved,” she says.
Women on the front line
Vicki Brasington has been Springwood-Winmalee Anglican Church's paid women's and outreach pastor for the past 10 years. Her role now stretches across 10 congregations, some of which are plants.
"When I started, it was a lot simpler," she says. She describes her role as a supportive one to the pastors of each congregation, and says, "Managing the large structure, working within that and working with the pastors to be effective in that is one way I have had to change.”
Vicki says having a team of volunteer women representing the congregations is "the great strength", as she can only get to three services on any given Sunday.
"They're the ones that are in touch with the women in their churches and they work with me to work out strategies for effective ministry and outreach."
Now that more women are working full-time, Vicki says women's ministry needs to be more creatively designed.
Meanwhile at Padstow Anglican Church, Michelle Blight, whose husband Richard is the rector, is working hard to boost growth in Christian maturity among younger women as a volunteer.
She is pushing ahead with a monthly evening group, which includes prayer and Bible study, averaging up to six women.
The multiple demands on women's lives are especially felt in a small church attracting around 70 people on a Sunday. "It's very difficult to find a time we can all meet together, so a lot of the ministry relies on one-to-one connections being made," Michelle says.
"The big issue is it makes it hard for the women to connect… and encourage one another " if they're only sitting in church together and maybe having a brief conversation over morning tea, they really don't get to know each other's lives in any depth where they can support one another."
Michelle says ministry that "doesn't necessarily rely on… a ministry structure" could be the answer. "What we've been observing is that creating group time is very hard, especially on a weekly basis.”
"Monthly is sort of working, but I'm hoping out of that we might be able to develop some prayer partnerships… so we gradually encourage that sort of connection… between women at church."
Venus meets Mars: when two worlds collide at church
One particular challenge facing both men and women women in ministry is working with the opposite sex, which can reportedly feel like cross-cultural ministry.
Archdeacon Narelle Jarrett, who oversees women's ministry in the Sydney Diocese, indicates that difficulties can and do arise from a lack of understanding of the different ways men and women may think and communicate.
"Although there's a delight and joy in working with an all-male team and it is often lots of fun, sometimes the reality is that we may have different ways of responding and thinking," she says. "While all women love being in ministry, each one has a different experience. For some, because they may be the only woman on team, a difficulty may be a sense of isolation."
Michelle Philp (pictured) has served in ministry through Ministry Training Strategy, as well as the past three years as women’s pastor at Christ Church, Gladesville.
She understands the isolation that can be associated with being the only woman on an all-male team.
"It becomes difficult because you don't have buddies on your staff team. If the guys want to chat through an idea, they can just drop in on each other and it's no big deal. But as the women's worker you can't just drop in on any of their houses.”
She adds that this can be especially felt on difficult days, when close friends are often a driving distance away. "There have been times where I've been really feeling like I need to talk to someone and you get home and you just look around and you go, "I don't even know who is the appropriate person to talk to about this'.”
This isolation often surprises women who are used to the close and supportive community they enjoyed in their college days. "It sneaks up a little bit because you get so used to the college environment and you don't actually realise what a privilege it is while you're at college until after it's gone," she says.
While Michelle has been trying to instigate closer ties between women's workers in her region, the demands of a six-day-a-week job mean finding time to catch up with other women in ministry can be difficult.
Michelle, who has spoken to chaplaincy groups at Moore College in past years on this topic, agrees that both men and women in ministry can only benefit from learning to understand each other's roles.
“Because the women are in the minority, we run the risk of making the women do all the adapting, rather than spending more time training the guys in what working with a woman on staff means for them and the changes they also have to make."
This is perhaps a more natural exercise for women than it is for men, Michelle says, reflecting on her years at college.
"We did have separate women's Bible study groups and talk about what does submission look like? What does it look like for my role on a team?
“But many of the guys just never thought about what does it look like to have a woman on my team? How would I relate to her? How would I lead her? They've learnt how to lead their wives but that's very different to how you lead a woman on your team."
A key focus of Moore’s new structure is what Tara Thornley calls an “historic moment” in which men and women learn together how to understand, love and care for each other as men and women, rather than “gender-neutral people”.
Michelle is “excited” about these changes. “The discussions are opening up about team relationships for men and women. It’s not simply about "women's ministry' but about truly complementarian ministry involving both genders,” she says.
