Reflections on 10 years of serving by Stewart Perry
10 years ago on the 15th of November 2013, I was commissioned as Priest in Charge of the Parish of Robina/Mermaid Beach. Because I came from another diocese the convention was that I was to be Priest in Charge for 12 months and then made Rector after people could be sure that there wasn’t too much wrong about me. Even though “Rector” is my official title, I more usually refer to myself as the “Senior Minister” mostly because it was the most common title for people leading churches in this region when I arrived and also “rector” comes from the latin meaning “to rule” and I don’t really think of myself as the ruler of the parish, rather the servant and head cheerleader of the people of this church.
A lot has changed in the 10 years that our family has been in this community, nothing more than our children. Anika was finishing the final term of Year 5 when we arrived and Caleb, getting ready to go to school the following year, went straight into the care of our amazing team at our Early Learning Centre. Anika has just finished 3rd year university and Caleb is about to finish Year 9. Leanne was able to keep her job and relocate her office to Brisbane when we arrived, since then she’s left that job and 2 others but is still based in Brisbane as well as some working from home as many do these days.
As a family we have made a home in Robina and the Gold Coast. After 12 months we bought our own house which we’ve lived in now for 9 years. For each of the 4 of us, not one of us has lived in the same house longer than this one at any part of our lives. But the house has changed in that time and so have we. A big part of how we changed is to do with the people of this amazing church.
Over the 10 years much has changed in our church as well. Perhaps more has changed than has stayed the same? When I think about the faithful members who have passed away, moved away or moved on, certainly our church membership has changed significantly.
Our church culture has shifted significantly in this time as well, when I first arrived we were trying to work out why, given our amazing location, our church wasn’t growing numerically. Now we are trying to work out what it means to be a a church that is brave for the benefit of others.
I preached on Wednesday at our 8am service, the actual day of my anniversary of commissioning. The reading was Jesus healing of the 10 leapers, where only 1 returns to praise God (Luke 17:11-19). In it I pondered what does success look like? In this healing Jesus seems to only have a 10% success rate…
As I look back at the 10 years, it’s not the times when our church was packed to the rafters, it’s not the things we tried and got right first go, it’s not the times we’ve been noticed in the media or in the wider church, it’s not the way our Diocese sees us as a parish of influence and example… none of these things are how I measure success.
It might sound counterintuitive for someone who is still a qualified Accountant to say, but for me the success is the 10% moments that I treasure most. The cups of tea discussing the woes of the world and the personal challenges people were enduring, sitting beside a hospital bed at the end of someone’s life, standing back and seeing a young person share their gifts and talents, it’s remembering the times when I’ve had to face difficult choices and even difficult people and seeing how that shaped my character and the character of the people around me. It’s the people who may have only come once or twice who you can tell that something clicked but I’ve no way of finding out what happened next. Above all it’s the ability to still imagine that it is possible to believe that the best is yet to come.
God willing I will be writing something in 10 years time reflecting on 20 years… if I do I pray that I will be as surprised at what I consider to be success as well as how surprising the change has been.
We have found a home with you. Thank you for allowing me to serve you. It is a humble privilege and a joy and I do honestly believe that the best is yet to come.
Blessings Stewart