Page 117 - moondani kyema
P. 117
ndani kyema, My Story - Ray Moore 117
Becoming a Baptist minister highlighted for me the dichotomy between my inner
instincts and the effect of my upbringing. The message from my upbringing was that
I should be involved in some Christian work, preferably missionary work, and if I was
not ‘good enough’ for that then the ministry at home would be second best. The
message deep inside me was to break free from all that and be a motor mechanic or
truck driver, maybe a journalist.
Meanwhile as a first time pastor, I found that the training I was getting at the
Theological College was good as far as it went, but there was (in those days) a large
gap in the training. We were being taught all about the Old and New Testaments.
We were learning about theology and Church History. There was also Greek and
Hebrew, Hermaneutics, and preaching class. But when I found myself in the
Rainbow Church, I found that the main element of the church was people! There was
no teaching about how to handle people, and dealing with the general caring and
conflict resolution that was all a part of the role of the pastor.
So I set about trying to work out how to handle the situation. Firstly I realized that
very few of them were terribly interested in my hourly activities, but they responded
very positively when I showed a real interest in them and their activities. This meant
that at Rainbow I had to learn a lot about farming, especially sheep and grain crops
such as wheat, barley and oats.
My memories of each church are mainly positive ones. I have become pretty good at
forgetting the down side of my life. The people of the Rainbow district were
extraordinarily warm hearted. They took us into their lives, and in a couple of cases
we have felt even now that we are part of their family. Ian was one of the few people
in one farming area that did not come to our church, but I found that I had just as
warm a relationship with him and his wife as I did with our church members. Ian was
very intelligent and a thinker and writer, so when I was studying Philosophy at the
Becoming a Baptist minister highlighted for me the dichotomy between my inner
instincts and the effect of my upbringing. The message from my upbringing was that
I should be involved in some Christian work, preferably missionary work, and if I was
not ‘good enough’ for that then the ministry at home would be second best. The
message deep inside me was to break free from all that and be a motor mechanic or
truck driver, maybe a journalist.
Meanwhile as a first time pastor, I found that the training I was getting at the
Theological College was good as far as it went, but there was (in those days) a large
gap in the training. We were being taught all about the Old and New Testaments.
We were learning about theology and Church History. There was also Greek and
Hebrew, Hermaneutics, and preaching class. But when I found myself in the
Rainbow Church, I found that the main element of the church was people! There was
no teaching about how to handle people, and dealing with the general caring and
conflict resolution that was all a part of the role of the pastor.
So I set about trying to work out how to handle the situation. Firstly I realized that
very few of them were terribly interested in my hourly activities, but they responded
very positively when I showed a real interest in them and their activities. This meant
that at Rainbow I had to learn a lot about farming, especially sheep and grain crops
such as wheat, barley and oats.
My memories of each church are mainly positive ones. I have become pretty good at
forgetting the down side of my life. The people of the Rainbow district were
extraordinarily warm hearted. They took us into their lives, and in a couple of cases
we have felt even now that we are part of their family. Ian was one of the few people
in one farming area that did not come to our church, but I found that I had just as
warm a relationship with him and his wife as I did with our church members. Ian was
very intelligent and a thinker and writer, so when I was studying Philosophy at the
