Today (Saturday) I was teaching the 40 or so full-time and part-time chaplaincy students at Mater Dei. Most of these are school chaplaincy students although there were some who worked in different contexts.

I did 4 sessions:

1 Chaplaincy in Australia - I began by introducing myself and singing the group a song 'Such a Time as This'. I got the group to introduce themselves before we looked at the wide range of contexts where chaplains are found, within Australia...Emergency services, Armed Services, Hospitals, Aged Care, Correctional, Sporting groups, Workplace, Schools & Universities

2 School Chaplaincy in Australia and New Zealand - quickly sketched the denominational scene in Australia and the 2 main kinds of school chaplaincy in Australasia - those servicing Government and Non-government schools. Just before we broke for lunch I had a text message saying that they were praying for me to do a great presentation (I shared this the group and they said - the prayers were working!)

3 Government School Chaplaincy in Australasia - after lunch the group did a Lectio Divina on James 2, and then looked at more detail at state school chaplaincy in Australia and New Zealand - then spent some time exploring what I know best - chaplaincy in Queensland State Schools.

4 A Journey from School Chaplaincy to Community Development - in this session we looked at the community development research and work that my colleague Garth and I, and our students have been doing over time to develop a community association at Flagstone. This work was a natural outworking of the school chaplaincy service I was involved in there. I left the group with a challenge - did the chaplaincy paradigm offer a new and exciting way of the church ministering to communities - with a shift from Sunday being the main game to the focus being the demonstration of the Gospel from Monday to Saturday as we seek both to serve Christ and people in the power of God's Spirit. I prayed for the students in their contexts before they left.

The day ended with the students giving me a round of applause - can't have been that boring then, eh??

I am looking forward to a day off with PJ and his family tomorrow.