I was in the small flat in Ngukurr with my colleague, Karen. We were intentionally reconnecting with students who were part of the Faith & Family course at Nungalinya. Rachel* had popped in to see us, the conversation soon turned to the impact of the course.

It was as though we had unleashed a tsunami of words, which began, “You need to come with me, you need to see this.”. A lot of words
later we visited the community well-being centre where Rachel’s granddaughter was fine-tuning a program she had developed and trialled with a local women’s sporting team; a program inspired by the ideas Rachel had taken home from the Faith & Family course. Coincidence? I don’t think so. At that moment I realised that our BCA prayer points had regularly included reference to the Faith & Family course. Thousands of people had been praying regularly for this to happen. In Karen’s words: “Why are we so surprised?”.

This is just one example. There are many more: the unbelievable success of the Chaplaincy project; graduations of particular  students when circumstances were so hard; ‘bumping’ into students in unexpected places, just when they or I needed to talk; the stories of God’s hand at work in individual lives – healing, restoring, bringing comfort in sorrow and hope in dark times.

Lee & I are so grateful to God for an amazing four years with BCA. It has been a privilege to serve alongside our Indigenous brothers and sisters in the NT both at Nungalinya College and in the remote communities from which they come. There are many things we will miss as we leave our formal roles, but stories like Rachel’s have made us realise that one of the more significant losses will be the
link with BCA.

Initially this surprised us! During the early months it seemed there were so many layers of governance, each wanting a bite of our time. I worked embedded in Nungalinya College, responding to the myriad of tasks essential to my role. I was employed by the Diocese and had obligations to the Ministry Development Team in addition to those of the Diocesan Office. But we were funded and supported by BCA, who, appropriately, asked us to communicate with a much wider audience, formally through the Prayer Notes, newsletters, & The Real Australian, and informally as BCA supporters kindly wrote to us, visited and called. However, there were days when it seemed too much.

Yet, as we come to the end of this adventure, it is this BCA connection that we value and will really miss. The support of the BCA team has been remarkable: timely phone calls, words of encouragement, answered questions. Connections with other Field Staff and Board members, especially at Field Staff Conference, have added a richness to our experience. But ultimately the support of the BCA prayers from all over the country is the icing on the cake. In all honesty, we have no idea of the real impact of your prayers, but we do have so many memories of happenings that demonstrated the hand of God at work. We are sure that these are the result of someone, somewhere praying.

So, thank you for your partnership in the ministry. Thank you for praying, God does amazing things because you pray. Therefore, we echo Paul’s sentiments in Philippians 1:3–9: We are confident that the One who has worked in response to your prayers in the past will continue to do so until Jesus returns… and this is our prayer for you: that your love and prayers may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.