The Melbourne Anglican editor Elspeth Kernebone interviews Kyabram based
BCA Field Staff Jacob Kelly

What led you to feel called to train for ministry? 

I really felt called, and I felt the desire to do everything I could to play my part in God’s kingdom. The more I followed that call, the more it just seemed that ministry was the way to do that, and the thing that God was calling me to. I was the most hesitant person going into ministry. I did a lot to try and run away from it, because I really didn’t think it was the right thing. 

How do you see it fitting in the big picture of God’s work in the world? 

I was reading 1 Corinthians 3, and Paul talks about people building the foundation of God’s house, and the debates about different apostles and so on. And he says at the end of the day, the foundation is Christ. 

That’s how I see what I’m doing in Kyabram: encouraging the people here to follow Jesus, to play their role as God’s people in God’s kingdom. The prayer is at the end of the day, is that God gets proved faithful. 

How do you see God at work through your work? 

Probably the greatest thing I see God at work in is in a ministry of healing and reconciliation.

One thing that is quite prevalent in our town and community is domestic violence, and the other thing is trauma. Farmers and the farming industry have the highest rates of deaths in workplace accidents, so most people know someone who has died on a farm, and often in quite a gruesome way. So, learning to live again after trauma, is something I’m often invited to be a part of. It’s wonderful to see God give people hope after they’ve had trauma in their family, trauma in their relationships, trauma in their life.

That really comes from God’s big story of Jesus overcoming trauma and tragedy and bringing hope. And that big story plays out in little stories across our church and our community. 

One story that comes to mind is a family that we were able to share Jesus with. Mum and Dad had both been through rehab, they’d both experienced tons of violence and abuse in their lives. Somehow, they got connected with our church, and we were able to share the message of Jesus – something they’d never heard before. They were awestruck by what Jesus would do for them. All their life they’d known people who would take from them, or hurt them, not people who would do something for them, or give up their life for them. And that really overwhelmed them, they said, “How can we get Jesus in our life?” 

We’ve seen a large amount of growth at the church across the last three years, particularly in families, but also across the whole span. Even this year, we’ve had about 10 people join our church. Given we’re a small church this is a lot. We average about 50 on a Sunday. 

What encourages you in your work? 

I’m connected with Bush Church Aid, and I’m encouraged by the many people who’ve heard God’s call and chosen to go to all sorts of rural, regional and remote places.

I grew up with violence in my household, and something that encouraged me was the local church that I was a part of. They really invested in my life. They saw themselves as the hands, feet, heart, and mouth of Jesus, so they came with that sense of healing, sense of hope. 

When I remember what Christ has done for me, that work started with the incarnation, finished on the cross, but is still carried out by the work of people in churches; that encourages me to keep going, because of the ministry I’ve received from Christ through them. 

This is an abridged version of an article first published by The Melbourne Anglican.
You can read the whole article at tma.melbourneanglican.org.au