Dear sisters and brothers of St Michael’s,
My name is Benji, short for Benjamin, and I’m super happy to introduce myself as your new Community Pastor. While we may not have met personally yet, I’d like to share a bit about my journey and what brings me to your community.
My Journey to the Illawarra
If you have heard me speak you’ll have worked out I’m not a ‘born and bred’ Aussie boy. I hail from Switzerland, a teeny tiny country on the other side of the world. In 2018, I moved to Australia to join my now-wife, Courtenay. Although I’ve long dreamed of going into ministry, it wasn’t until I arrived in Sydney that my path truly began to take shape.
My experience in the Sydney Anglican Diocese renewed my passion for the Gospel, the Church, and its mission. Coming from a background where biblical knowledge and evangelism weren’t priorities, I found it of great encouragement to encounter people who shared a desire to see the Gospel at work in their communities, and to serve alongside them
My Passion for the Church
In 2022, Courtenay and I briefly returned to Switzerland, where I began a doctorate on the doctrine of the Church (what Christians believe about what the Church is), focused on the writing of the great (and somewhat confusing!) German minister and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This time of study deepened my love for the Church and convinced me I should spend more time living and serving in it before writing about it.
Studying Bonhoeffer’s writings, I came to realise that while individual churches may disappoint (and they will), the Church as a whole is greater than these disappointments – and God even more so. The Church is God’s family, His project, and His gathering of children from all nations through the death and resurrection of His Son. As Bonhoeffer wrote:
“It is not the experience of Christian community, but firm and certain faith within Christian community that holds us together. We hold fast in faith to God’s greatest gift, that God has acted for us all and wants to act for us all. (…) We are bound together by faith, not by experience.”
Bonhoeffer, Life Together
My Role at St Michael’s
As your Community Pastor, I’m excited to serve in our Evangelise and Engage ministries. Two quotes from Bonhoeffer frame my approach to this role:
- Evangelise: “According to God’s will Christendom is a scattered people, scattered like seed ‘into all the kingdoms of the earth’ (Deut 28:25). That is its curse and its promise. God’s people must dwell in far countries among the unbelievers, but it will be the seed of the Kingdom of God in all the world” (Life Together).
We are God’s seeds in Wollongong. We are a city on a hill (Matt 5:14), which points to God’s Kingdom. My prayer is that many people will join our family and wait for Christ’s return in Glory. God is sovereign, but He has chosen to work through us. Would you pray with me for our church, that we would love the world just as God did through His Son (John 3:16), that we would share the Gospel clearly, and that many would come to Christ?
- Engage: “The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from everyday Christian life in community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; for in the poor sister or brother, Christ is knocking at the door” (Life Together).
Although not all our Engage ministries focus on the marginalised, I believe that the Church witnesses God’s love particularly clearly in her care and love for those in situation of vulnerability. My prayer is that our brothers and sisters from all walks of life can be met in their physical and spiritual need, and that through fellowship and acts of generous love many would come to meet Christ himself.
In these times of global division and uncertainty, I believe rediscovering a greater love for the Church is crucial. There is no way to be a Christian outside of it, and there is no life outside of Christ. May we witness to our family, friends, and neighbours in Wollongong what it looks like to live as God’s people. And may they see in us the seeds of God’s Kingdom, and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
I look forward to meeting you all and serving alongside you in our community. May God bless our time together as we grow in faith and service!
Yours in Christ,
Benji
