
One of the catch cries of the Howie program is that what we offer is “real training, real ministry”. Doing the Howard Guinness Project for two years is not delaying the doing of any real ministry but it is a chance to get support, training and bucketloads of experience while doing an apprenticeship. I had some chats with some graduates from the Howie program who are all between 5-10 years out from their time with us on the staff team to hear about how their training is being used in the flood.

Ros Langley was a Howie who worked alongside the Science faculty in 2014-15. She has worked in Christian schools as a teacher and now as a mum of two young girls is doing theological study.
“The training and experience of leading Bible studies, teams and coordinating events/ministries have been helpful to me as I work and serve at my school and church. It’s useful as a lay person to know how to work in partnership with my minister and others. I have been given skills in personal evangelism and 1-1s that are so useful, especially in talking to neighbours and people in our community.
The LRLR (less reached and less resourced) priority has been burned into my heart and soul such that I feel constantly encouraged from my EU days to continue to consider and make that a priority, and to bring it to the attention of others who are often much more concerned with settling down and making forever homes.
One of the single greatest gifts that I received in my training as a Howie was to be shown and given a thorough understanding of what it looks like to work in partnership with others. After leaving our old area, we began life in a new church and it wasn’t long before we realised how different both the culture and leadership were to our past church. As a lay person, it can be tempting just to stew in the frustration of discomfort when church feels different. However, an understanding of partnership lead me to a conversation with my pastor where I found myself encouraging him and assuring him that I would back him as our pastor unreservedly, creating a relationship of partnership and trust, which meant that I could also convey both positive and challenging aspects of church to him within the context of high trust.”

Lachlan Millar (Howie 2016-17) has since studied at SMBC and is working as a Youth Pastor in Sydney’s South.
“What I learned through my time as a Howie was the most helpful experience I could have for future ministry, it gave me the underpinning of my theology and ministry practices for everything I do today as I engage with God’s people in God’s world.
One example of a theologically based ministry practice that has impacted me is from when we were doing our “Body Building” training series about the church in our Howie training time. Rowan defined Christian leadership as “Those who have been set apart by the Christian community to assume responsibility under Christ for the life of the community that is in their care”. This is still how I view Pastoral Leadership. During that training he also laboured the point of being Kingdom workers, and I find having a kingdom focus (not just a “my church” focus) has really helped in a range of situations and is often the viewpoint that I am most often thanked for having.”

Susie (Howie in 2015-16) and James Ward (Howie in 2013) returned to their professions (teaching and medicine respectively) after their time as a Howies but have been deeply involved in various churches since. They have recently spent time in Alice Springs, NT and in Perth, WA. Here are some of Susie’s reflections of the impact on her training since being a Howie:
“My time as a Howie helped me think through how to look after a community (Arts Plus) and how to help each of these different people grow; checking they are coming along. This has meant I have that same mindset in church; thinking about who is there, who is missing, how to encourage people as they come, how to help people in Bible Study and around me to grow and serve. That is something I think about as I serve in church.
My training and experience has meant I now feel more confident to offer to serve, especially after recently moving to Perth and talking about how to serve with staff at our new church. Chatting and finding out the needs when we arrived that there was a need for Bible Study leaders, however we are only here for one year. I have been able to offer to train up someone who is interested in leading, but has no experience. Hopefully next year she can take over leading the Bible study when I leave. In light of my Howie training, the church staff and I are considering how to develop a training program and resources to help train Bible Study leaders in the church here for the future.”
– Katie Ristevski, EU Senior Staff
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