St Peter's Anglican Church East Lindfield

Missionary Support

Our Church has one core missionary whom we support substantially and a number of other missionaries whom we support in a more modest fashion. The reason for this is our desire to really focus on two or three missionaries for our main support but also to have a broader spectrum of people in differing roles and countries to provide our congregation with a more diverse appreciation for the multifaceted nature of this ministry.

Core Missionaries

Mike & Robyn Young – Nepal (Interserve)

Mike & Robyn Young

Nepal

Mike & Robyn were involved in the Fellowship in the 1980’s and 1990’s and were married at St Peter’s in 1994. They have two sons – James (8) and Josh (4) and they lived in Westleigh.

Mike is an environmental scientist/planner who was working for the NSW Department of Planning until last year, and completed studying full time in 2007 at Sydney Missionary and Bible College in Croydon. Robyn is a dietitian/nutritionist who looks after the kids.

Mike & Robyn and the boys left Australia in August 2008 to do communty aid and development work with Interserve in Nepal and are presently undergoing language training in Kathmandu.

Andrew & Muriel Schachtel

CultureConnect

Andrew was a member of St Peters’ congregation before leaving to serve overseas over 20 years ago. He met and married Muriel in Nepal.

They lived and worked firstly in Bhutan, then in Cyprus, and for the last few years were based in Chiang Mai in Thailand. The Schachtels – Andrew and Muriel, and their children, Sarah and Peter, returned to Australia in August 2006 for their final Home Assignment.

From 2008 Andrew is establishing a new ministry for Interserve in Australia called “CultureConnect” which is aimed at reaching out to ethnic minorities living in Australia. The ministry will be focussing on four areas:

Networking and co-ordination – following up likeminded groups.
Training Individuals & Groups – understanding other cultures and relating to other faiths.
Creating a collection of database and resources – filling in any seen gaps.
Recruiting & deploying works for specific opportunities eg Suzanne Rowe is working amongst Chinese students in Melbourne.

Andrew & Muriel have been involved in Interseve ministries in several cultures for the last 25 years and are well placed to serve this new ministry.

Christine Platt

SIM Ecuador

Christine grew up in Sydney and studied electrical engineering. It was while she was training that she became a believer. After graduation she studied at Croydon Bible College, applied to SIM and was sent to Ecuador to help with church planting.

Irwin & Gay Hodder

MAF Papua New Guinea

Irwin and Gay Hodder are serving with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Papua New Guinea. Currently living in Goroka, Irwin is flying the MAF’s Cessna 206 aircraft in support of the churches and remote communities in the Eastern Highlands. Gay is a trained librarian and is involved in the prison ministry to women in the Goroka jail.

Irwin has been a pilot for over 25 years working with several different organisations. They studied at SMBC in Croydon during 2006 and moved to PNG in 2007.

Irwin and Gay formerly lived in Bowral, NSW, and have 3 children who now live in Australia: Joel (23) who is studying at the ANU in Canberra; Alexander who is studying at the Bible College of Victoria in Melbourne and Caitlin who is completing her final year of school at Bowral, NSW.

Read their latest newsletter.

David & Catherine Cotton

Latin Link Spain

David and his family including Sophie (12), Laura (10) and Joshua (8) left early in 2007 to work in Spain at with an organisation called Cascadas which is a Christian Education Centre located in central Spain in a town called Salamanca with all the L’abri resources and residential facilities. They will be involved both administratively and pastorally in running the Centre from which span four strands of work namely Mission running events and courses for non-christians and christians. Training personalised study or short residential courses. Resources making available from their extensive library. Care working in co-operation with local churches.

David was converted through St Peters and involved in the Fellowship during the 1980’s. For further details see the website www.latinlink.org.

Cameron & Alex Jones

England

Cameron & Alex Jones were active parishioners of St Peters, East Lindfield, until 2005 when Cameron gave up his job with Telstra and answered a call to be a Parish Assistant Minister at Basingstoke in England.

The Parish has three churches and Cameron assists the Vicar at services, preaches, takes Bible Studies and is involved in Parish visitation and other activities. They hope to serve in this Parish for a number of years.

David Blackman

Wycliffe Bible Translators, Alice Springs

David is serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Central Australia. He and his wife Marie and their two boys, Paul (now 8) and Simon (now 6), lived for a number of years with the Alyawarr speaking people in Epenarra, an Aboriginal settlement near Tennant Creek and about 500km north of Alice Springs.

Tragically Marie died in December 2004, and following this David and the boys moved to Alice Springs where he is now based. David has been working on a number of Alyawarr language projects including the translation of Luke’s Gospel and other parts of the Scriptures, an Alyawarr to English Dictionary and an Alyawarr Picture Dictionary for use in schools and literacy education.

David’s mother lives in a retirement village at Lindfield and worships at St. John’s Anglican Church.

David & Leonie Painter

Bible College Lecturer CMS Cambodia

David and Leonie Painter went to Cambodia in 2000 to teach the Bible and Theology to students at the Phnom Penh Bible College. The College has 60 students in one and three year programs and graduates serve the rapidly growing Church throughout the provinces of Cambodia.

They are preparing men and women for servant-style leadership in churches and to teach clearly and proclaim the gospel throughout Cambodia. Dave teaches Old and New Testament, while Leonie helps in the library and the college community. They also disciple a small group of students. They have two children, Joshua and Grace.