New Minister Welcomed

20th Feb 2014 Announcements

It is with much pleasure and grateful anticipation that we welcome Ian and Karen Brunton to the Southern Highlands.

Ian and Karen were married and raised their two daughters and a son in Sydney, initially in Cronulla then Penrith. During this time Ian worked in the IT and Telecommunications industry providing large computer systems for major telecommunication companies in the Asia-Pacific Region. Karen began working in a preschool and has since continued working in the offices of various primary schools. In 2005, they left Sydney and their young adult children behind for a new and different life on a fish farm in a place called Gum Scrub, near Port Macquarie. Their two daughters have since married and provided five wonderful grandchildren, and their son is engaged to be married.

Ian and Karen have always worshipped and served at the nearest Presbyterian Church wherever they have lived, and it was during their time at Port Macquarie Presbyterian Church that Ian received his call from God to go into full time pastoral ministry. This meant leaving the farm and returning to Sydney for another four years in order to undertake full time ministry training at the Presbyterian Theological Centre in Burwood.

Ian’s unwavering conviction since his call has been that God wants him to serve in country communities; hence Ian’s strong belief that God was preparing both him and Karen for this on the fish farm. Their experiences helped them to better understand God and their relationship with Him; and what it truly means to live, to work, and to be a Christian in the country. The culmination of all this is that God has brought Ian and Karen to the Southern Highlands and placed him as the pastor of both the Bowral and Moss Vale Presbyterian Churches.

To allow Ian to preach at both centres each Sunday the service times have been changed: Church at Bowral will be at 9.00 am and at Moss Vale at 11.00 am.

Bruce Christian.