I grew up in a family who loved Jesus, as the baby of seven kids. Mum and Dad are just legends. They’re faithful Christians who, even in their retirement, are volunteering in the Armidale diocese, running different churches. Dad is leaving on Friday to go to Mungindi, on the border of NSW and Queensland. 

My parents' attitude has always been: serving Jesus isn’t an option. It’s what you do, until you can’t. I’ve had this modelled to me from my six older siblings, my Mum and Dad, and my grandma. When she was 98, she said, “I can still knit!” So she knitted, and donated her knitting to Anglicare. 

My grandma was an extremely faithful woman. From what I saw, she was always praying for us. Even when it was hard for her to get to church, she struggled on public transport and walked. She kept going. I look at my Dad, who is the most incredible man, and I can see where his attitude came from. You serve Jesus until you die. 

I know my kids will be looking at my Dad for sure one day, thinking, “He’s so faithful!” 

Even as a young kid, I always wanted to be either a teacher or a minister. I accidentally fell into school chaplaincy. I loved chaplaincy and for a while I bounced between chaplaincy and classroom teaching. 

I’ve always loved holistic education. What does it look like to grow a child, and form them to be who God made them to be? Whether that’s in school or in church, that’s pretty special. 

Now that I’m at St Phil’s, I love that I get to serve alongside my wife and children in this ministry, something I wasn’t able to do as a chaplain. I want the kids there to grasp their identity in Christ. I keep saying how precious they are to God, despite any other circumstances in their life. They are children of God and they are precious to him. 

My favourite doctrine by far is adoption. Since having my own kids, well, you love your kid more than you can imagine. So how can God love me more than that? That’s insane!

My prayer is that I will be a disciple-making disciple, and that the people I disciple will be disciple-making disciples. There’s always big prayers in our church, and the aim is not to have big numbers at youth – we need to be thinking about lifelong disciple makers of Christ. 

My prayer is that I will be a lifelong disciple maker, and the people I make disciples of will also be disciple-making disciples. 

Matthew Richards is an assistant minister, kids and youth, Caringbah