Some of Wesley Mission’s Outreach
Twenty-first century Christian charity incorporates more than the orphanages, hospices, and homes for unmarried mothers that served our troubled world a generation ago. Today’s problems come in all kinds of different guise.
“Wesley Mission is carrying on its proud tradition of lending a helping hand no matter what the need,” says Rev Dr Gordon Moyes. “We own and operate millions of dollars worth of hospitals, homes for the aged, orphanages, rehabilitation centres and such for those who need physical assistance, but we also endeavour to meet the community’s spiritual, mental and social needs.
“A tremendous number of our helpers are volunteers, unpaid workers who give back to society their time and energy in a two-way operation that helps themselves while they help others.” SCHOOL FOR SENIORS
Alarmed by the rapid deterioration of inner city men and women who retired from work and had no hobbies and no gardens in which to potter around, Dr Alan Walker inaugurated a school for Senior Citizens. He believed that if seniors had some interest, they would remain alert and active.
In 1963 the School for Seniors began by offering as many subjects as WCM found volunteers to teach. For a nominal fee any senior could enrol to learn crafts or history, book-keeping or Bible, languages or philosophy. Since then a long line of dedicated principals and teachers directed the school. In 1983 there were 800 students enrolled under principal Richard Chambers. In ten years the number grew to 1350 students in 110 classes.
Gordon had launched a similar school at Cheltenham so he was right behind this project. With his encouragement Richard Chambers led the Sydney School for Seniors from one pinnacle of achievement to another. Within a short time there were three branch schools, offering 140 classes in subjects as diverse as Archaeology and Scottish Highland Dancing. Students choose from seven different languages and a wide range of exercise and dancing as well as literature and the arts, crafts and religion.
Dr Keith Suter, well-known broadcaster, President of the United Nations Association and member of Wesley Mission’s staff, gives weekly lectures on world affairs. He is amazed at how many in his audience have a better grasp of current affairs than most others in the community.
Seniors travel from as far away as Katoomba and Campbelltown to meet at their inner city school.
“It’s the only outing we get,” quavered one old lady and her aged, newly-made friends nodded. Clearly the School for Seniors’ classes are the highlight in their otherwise drab lives. WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY
In 1812 the founding fathers of the Wesley Mission in Australia began Tuesday evening Bible studies. During the years the program has seen many changes in format but the religious concept has never altered. Tuesday nights are given over to Bible-centred studies usually concentrating on some aspects of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.
Gordon’s lecture series on Christ’s life proved so popular that it became incorporated into the Tuesday night Bible studies and eventually as a requirement of the Lifeline Volunteer training course. During the next twenty years he perfected the series into a set of twenty-four lectures which he repeats every six months. To date more than 2,000 people have completed this course.
“I could nearly give those lectures in my sleep,” Gordon confessed to an interviewer. “The congregation changes twice a year but the lectures remain constant. Well, not quite the same,” he corrected himself. “For my own sake I would never want such a precious subject to become trite, so each time I give the series I try to add little bits of information that I have picked up from my on-going reading and study.” WESLEY INSTITUTE FOR MINISTRY AND THE ARTS
“We must have it. It’s just what we need. If only we can persuade the government to let us have it for a price that we can afford.” Gordon paced the kitchen talking half to himself and half to Beverley.
“Have what? Which one are you talking about now?”
Beverley was accustomed to hearing all the pros and cons of whatever pet project Gordon happened to be peddling at the time.
“The school, of course. We must have it for the Institute for Ministry and the Arts. We need something close to the city and close to transport but with plenty of room for expansion because it’s bound to expand. This school has all that plus a large concert hall, plenty of classroom facilities, yes, it’s just what we need—if we can get it. I’ve heard that some big businesses are after it, some entrepreneur wants the site—probably to bull-doze down all those beautiful buildings and build apartments. Turn the area into a slum in no time.”
“Where is it? What’s this place you’re after?”
“Drummoyne. The Boys’ High School. It’s been closed for a long time. It would suit us ideally—classrooms, toilets, assembly hall, everything’s there. It’s only twenty-five years old so it has plenty of life in it yet. Just needs fixing up a bit.”
“It will need a lot of fixing if it’s been a school for boys.” Beverley made a wry face.
“Yes, but in those days they built schools to last. This one accommodated 900 students.”
Many prayers and tough negotiations later—after an expenditure of three and a half million dollars for purchase and repairs, the coveted school belonged to the Wesley Mission. By the end of 1994 the multi-cultural, inter-denominational college was more than a dream. Capable of accommodating 500 to 600 day students, there were already 200 enrolled. These dedicated young people representing twenty different denominations, came from every state in Australia and a few from oversees. They wanted to use their talents as Christian entertainers and musicians, counsellors, teachers or ministers.
They pay tuition fees or earn scholarships that enables them to study at university level. The Faculty, mostly working part-time from other universities, are all professionals in their field. The school offers a variety of subjects such as music, drama, mime, psychology, Christian T V, theatre and dance, ministerial subjects and symphony orchestra.
The Wesley Institute for Ministry and the Arts has the highest level of such a college in Australia with recognition from the New South Wales and Commonwealth Offices of Higher Education as a fully accredited Tertiary Institute. It is accredited to offer Bachelor of Music degrees, post-graduate diplomas, Bachelor of Creative Arts degrees, and in 1996 they became affiliated with Sydney College of Divinity, which enables them to grant Bachelor of Theology degrees.
The theological library possesses 25,000 volumes. A Rotary friend of Gordon’s gave $50,000 to expand the library; another friend from Melbourne days, Mr Noel Miller, responded to a request for help in the music school, with a gift of $100,000.
Today a staff of more than 60 oversee the development of the Wesley Institute. No other educational institution in Australia has started from scratch and achieved degree status in such a short time. MISSIONFEST
Reverend Gordon Moyes has not served in a foreign field but he admires men and women who devote their lives to preaching the gospel in non-Christian lands. He has vivid childhood memories of sitting spellbound watching slides of fuzzy-haired natives wearing only grass skirts and tribal chiefs brandishing spears with which they had killed people before the missionaries came.
In Cheltenham he had organized a band of young people from his church to go to New Guinea for a short experience of working with resident missionaries. Now he determined to expand that idea.
“Let’s call it `Missionfest.’” His brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as he presented the idea to his committee.
“I guess you got that from the German `Oktoberfest’ where people can wander around sampling beer,” chipped in another.
“Yes, but our emphasis will be on mission service. These days there are so many different types of service that need people: nurses doctors, dentists, teachers, builders, preachers, agricultural experts, evangelists.
“In the old days a missionary couple was expected to do everything from deliver babies to dig wells to teach school. Now even the most isolated Third World Countries have been exposed to 20th century education, and missionaries have to be experts in their particular field, not Jacks-of-all Trades.”
The idea caught on and the first Missionfest attracted crowds. It not only encouraged people to give generously to support foreign missions but it urged them to go. Theologians, doctors and returned missionaries lectured and answered questions. By the time the experiment ended 62 people had committed themselves to serve God and their church in a foreign land.
Gordon had never before had such a response and it remains a highlight of his life. In the following years these people trained and went into service.
The next `Missionfest’ results were even better. Then someone mooted the idea of inviting other church bodies to join in.
At the following `Missionfest,’ eighty other churches and foreign-aid organizations set up booths advertising their particular brand of service. As a result mission board needs and prospective missionaries are successfully matched, no more square pegs find themselves in round holes. COUNSELLING
Since the days of his ministry in Melbourne’s inner city, when he was catapulted into the position of caring for wayward youth, Gordon has realized the importance of Christian counselling.
Back then he didn’t know of any courses offered in counselling skills, so he read every book he could find that dealt with Christian Psychology. Years later he had the opportunity to make a proper study of the subject and to attend advanced courses in Melbourne’s Cairn Miller Institute. The more he learned the more he understood the importance of the subject in today’s stressed-out world.
“Everyone needs a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on,” Gordon tells his prospective counsellors. “Not pushy advice, just a little friendship. Each year more shattered family relationships leave hurt, bewildered people who have no one to whom they can go for comfort and guidance. That’s where Christian Counselling comes into its own.”
At the present time the Wesley Centre has more than 400 trained volunteers manning a daily, twenty-four hour counselling service known as `Lifeline.’ Hundreds of thousands of lonely old people, hurting middle-aged, and mixed-up, rebellious youth, take advantage of this free service. No one knows how many potential tragedies have been averted by the kindly wisdom and practical help of `Lifeline’ volunteers.
As well as this service, Wesley Mission maintains its own Psychiatric Hospital which employs nineteen qualified psychiatrists and psychologists. The mission has one of the largest ministries in Australia of healing the mind through prayer, faith and the best psychiatric and psychological procedures. DISABLED.
Soon after his pastoral ministry began Gordon developed a tender regard for the physically disabled among his flock. He never failed to visit the sick with whatever succour he had to offer, but it was not until he went to Cheltenham that he fully realized their needs.
As he shook hands at the church door one Sunday morning a distressed elderly lady approached him:
“I brought my little grandson to church in his wheelchair but I couldn’t get him inside.”
Gordon immediately swung around, ready for action but the lady caught his arm.
“No, no. It’s all right. We eventually got in. The deacon at the door called some of the other men out of the church and they carried the boy in his wheelchair up the flight of steps and into the church. But it was all so terribly embarrassing.”
Apparently the old lady didn’t want everyone staring at her crippled grandson so she had planned on creeping quietly into the church, sitting in the back seat and creeping out as soon as the sermon ended. But the flight of steps that led from ground level to church door thwarted her plan.
During the next week Gordon visited the lady. She was a stranger who had been attracted to the church by the carillon.
“I’ve just come back from England where my daughter lives,” she said. “Danny is her son and as you can see he suffers from cerebral palsy and can’t do anything for himself. His parents divorced recently and neither of them want him. Rather than have him put into a Home, I went over to get him and care for him.”
Humbled by such devotion Gordon and the church members rallied around. They discovered that with a minimum of adjustment a ground floor side door would accommodate the wheelchair so that Danny could attend the service with Gran. But Sunday School was more suited to his age, shouldn’t he attend Sunday School?
So Danny attended Sunday School and the other children soon grew used to his appearance and sometimes unorthodox behaviour. Gran faithfully taught him his Bible lessons at home so that he could have a perfect record like most of the other children. Week days Danny attended school for the disabled and later on he learned to type, using a `wood-pecker’ strapped to his forehead.
With a little encouragement from Rev Moyes the local Rotary Club presented the Cheltenham Church with a golf-ball electric typewriter which the church secretary used on weekdays. On Sundays little Danny pecked out his Bible lesson answers on the same machine.
Eventually Danny and his devoted grandmother moved away from Cheltenham, but they had done their work. Gordon’s eyes had been opened to the needs of the disabled and he did not forget. ORANA FELLOWSHIP IN SYDNEY
By far the happiest people enjoying Wesley Mission facilities are those attending Orana Fellowship. These Oranaites are mentally disabled people from hostels or sheltered workshops around the city. Although some of them are grey-haired adults they are childlike in their total unconsciousness of worldly cares.
Andy is typical of these ageing children hungering for love and acceptance. Almost every midday he waits outside the office and when Gordon emerges Andy takes up a position at his side. As they walk down Pitt Street together Andy asks, “You’re my friend, aren’t you, Gordon?”
“Yes, Andy,” Gordon flashes him a warm smile. “I’m your friend.”
Before they take another three steps Andy asks his question again and receives a similar assurance.
So it goes on. Question asked and answer given again and again until Gordon reaches his destination. As he enters a building to keep an important engagement he says, “Don’t wait for me, Andy. I might be a long time. You go back to the mission. I’ll see you there.”
In New Testament times Jesus said: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25:40 NKJV.
