My name is Mal McKenzie, and my wife Jan and I have been involved with the Nambour/Burnside LCC on the Sunshine Coast for about 15 years as supporters and prayer partners. Jan has been fundraising at our church, Faith Community Church in Buderim, for that time with a ‘Bring and Buy Stall’, which raises between $3500 and $5000 per year for chaplaincy in our area. We regularly meet at Hope Community Church and Flame Tree Baptist for Committee meetings, and twice a year for a prayer breakfast to support our chaplains and involve our supporters where possible in a social setting.
Evangelist John MacDonald once said: “In planning your career, you should remember this, the real goal of your life is to glorify God and to represent his interests on earth. Everything else is incidental. The believer has one great occupation – to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Our way of doing that is to support our five chaplains in their daily activities of helping the least fortunate and most vulnerable children and their families.
So at end of the 2015, when the LCC Chair Paul Lanham decided to retire and spend his energies in another direction, our friend and long-serving LCC secretary, Yve Cruickshank, thought of us and nominated me for the vacant position left by the very capable and impressive Paul. We started the following January.
So began the adventure, and getting to know the wonderful chaplains even better as we work with them, encourage them, and try our best to fundraise enough to employ them for a significant part of the week where we can.
What do I enjoy the most about the role?
Getting to know more about the role chaplains play in the schools, getting to know these very special people more intimately, having the privilege of being a small part of their success, and supporting them in the face of opposition.
What do I wish I knew when I started that I know now?
Just how much more work needs to be done, and how many more people need to be involved to make chaplaincy work, especially in the face of dwindling government support.
The biggest challenges to chaplaincy?
Funding! Not only government funding, which we know doesn’t cover all we need to do, but making parents and local Christians, churches, and organisations aware that the government money is only a drop in the ocean to what is required; and to fundraise enough to be able to supply a chaplain to children for the entire week and not just a small part of one. It’s also a challenge to make the community aware of how valuable chaplains are to schools.
What do we do well?
The strong points of our chaplaincy service is the commitment of our very dedicated people. One of our chaplains has served for a total of 23, going on 24 years! He has been successful in steering young lives in the right direction for longer than most, and our other four chaplains have equal dedication and are all gaining the experience that time at the coal face brings. All are encouraged by the response from the children and their families who they help on a daily basis.
5 tips for those consider taking on the position of LCC chair:
- Be prepared to be awed by the dedication of wonderful people who will impress you with their commitment.
- Be prepared to be awed by the results of changed lives of
children and families exposed to these wonderful people.
3. Realise that your role is part of a bigger machine.
4. Realise that they need your support and encouragement.
5. There is always someone to go to for support, resources, and information.