In every cartoon story of Road Runner, Wily Coyote uses bombs to stop him – but Road Runner just keeps popping up and makes it to the end! Yay!
In 1975 the Whitlam Government was intent on passing a bill requiring all RE teachers in high schools to have theological degrees. This would have effectively removed Christian education from classrooms because very few of the dedicated people performing this task held appropriate qualifications. Whitlam lost office, the bill was buried, but my heart response to the call of God to academic study was not. The word God put on my heart was “I will put your feet upon a path that will never vary.” I didn’t realise how literal those words would turn out to be!
At the time I was living in country Queensland in the days before the internet and the proliferation of local Bible colleges. I found just one with an external program – Launceston College of Theology, later to become Vision College in Sydney. It was a lonely road, but eventually in 1982, I graduated with a Bachelor of Pastoral Theology, only to discover that as an “off-shore” degree, it was not recognised in Australia.
A few years later I was able to use these studies as credits, completing a Bachelor of Ministry with Garden City School of Ministries in Brisbane in 1989, only to find that because the accrediting body was American, this degree was not accepted in Australia as qualification to teach in a Bible college. I could not face the thought of studying for a third graduate degree, so I threw in the towel. My husband did not. “Why don’t you see if your credits can be used as RPL (Recognised Prior Learning credits was a very new thing in those days) towards a higher degree?”
I was sceptical, but approached Brisbane School of Theology, and yes, with the prerequisite of four bridging subjects, I entered the Master of Arts in Theology program, finishing in 1997. With that I was finally able to begin teaching in a Bible college, a dream come true. But, there was yet another hurdle that I had to face. In order to teach at a higher level I needed a degree with a substantial thesis. And so, another ten years passed before I completed a Master of Philosophy at Australian Catholic University in 2007. I was certain I was finished with formal studies, but no, as I was now engaged in international missionary work as a biblical educator, I recognised I had little knowledge of anthropology or missiology, all my previous endeavours having been in biblical studies. I wanted to do something very practical that informed the ministry work I had embraced. I found a Doctor of Ministry in cross-cultural studies at Tabor Adelaide and thankfully graduated in April 2016.
True to God’s faithfulness, my path hasn’t varied for 41 years. I have had the privilege of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Many scholars have been involved in equipping me and in turn I have taken up the baton to equip others in Australia, Pakistan and Africa. God’s overall plan and purpose for me was much greater than anything I could have asked or thought when I took that first step of obedience. Jesus Christ is building his church and formal theological education is part of the equation. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
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