Last weekend, Leadership Team was on the road (LTOTR) to Adelaide. We have never strayed this far away and its hard to expect we ever would again! [1]
However, this trip was planned in March 2023 in Sydney during our Reach Australia Consultancy. During one of the intensives (with 40 or so other pastors) I was able to have an informal lunch with the Rector of Holy Trinity [2] in Adelaide, Paul Harrington. I knew of Paul and also Richie and I had heard him preach as one of the keynote speakers at the Reach Australia conference in 2022. Over the informal lunch with Paul Harrington, he told me a little about the Trinity Network of Churches in Adelaide. I knew they had planted some churches, but I was flabbergasted when I heard they had planted 14 churches since 2001!
However, I think I was even more impressed when Paul took a very active and keen interest in Southern Cross and our church planting experiences. He was thoughtful, kind and sought to listen to our story. You know how they say you know you have been in the presence of humility when you walk away and think, “Hang on I don’t think I really asked them any questions!? They were soooo kind they just kept listening to me!!!” I felt moved, refreshed and genuinely heard by Paul. So, at the end of our conversation (and as the next session was about to begin) I said to Paul, “One day I would love to visit the Trinity Network and listen to you and your wisdom in church planting.”
Over the weekend, that day arrived. Kindly, Paul spent about two hours with the elders of SCPC simply answering our questions and offering little anecdotes along the way. He was overflowing with experience having served at Holy Trinity for decades. Please consider reading the spring edition of the Moore College magazine to find out more about their story.
I concluded our time with Paul by reading a portion of a biography about J.I.Packer. As we arrived in Adelaide, I had just finished the first chapter and was struck as I read about Packer. What I read reminded me of my interactions with Paul Harrington. Thus, at the end of our time I read a few paragraphs and inserted “Harrington” whenever the text referenced “Packer”. I felt very comfortable about the comparison (and I am quite confident Paul Harington did not)! Read below and when you read any reference to Packer, imagine you are putting Paul Harrington’s name there! So, here goes…
I can recall the first time I met “Packer” each time I was in his presence, I came away sensing, that there was something of greatness in him. Of course, “Packer” himself would bristle a such language. He is, as Carl Trueman aptly describes it, “the classic example of a modest Christian gentleman”. Whatever greatness is in him (and it is there), whatever constructive influence he has exerted on the Christian church (and it has been incalculable), he himself would attribute to the sovereign grace of God working through yet another “clay jar” (2 Cor 4:7). In our age of Christian celebrity, “Packer” feels oddly out of place. He is, as best I can tell, entirely devoid of self-promotion. I echo Timothy George’s assessment:
I have seen him buffeted by adversity and criticised unfairly, but I have never seen him sag. His smile is irrepressible and his laughter can bring light to the most sombre of meetings. His love for all things human and humane shines through. His mastery of ideas and the most fitting words in which to express them is peerless. Ever impatient with shams of all kinds, his saintly character and spirituality runs deep.
I understand this high praise! Therefore, you may be interested to hear from him yourself in the following resources:
Now, the weekend captured our usual program for LTOTR. Three-hour planning for 2025 on Friday night, four-hour five year planning on Saturday, afternoon free time, personal check-in on Saturday night, then visiting a local church on Sunday. We were privileged to visit Modbury church in the Trinity Network at 10am Sunday. Modbury was the first church plant from Trinity cathedral in the city of Adelaide in 2001. Remarkably, and in the kindness of God, Modbury has gone on to plant a few churches from it too. Amazing! You can check in with LT, Tilly or Cam [3] to get the correct number, I found it hard to keep up as Paul explained where all the plants came from on Sunday afternoon!
Another generous blessing of our good shepherd, was connecting with two precious women from SCPC who now call Trinity home. One of them works with AFES in Adelaide and the other (kindly) with her family, sponsored part of our trip.
Like any weekend away you may experience, there were things that didn’t go to plan! Many of us suffered some digestive discomfort in the early hours of Saturday morning after eating Indian on Friday night. One of our hire cars was hit by a Jaguar (the car variety) on Sunday. On our travel home early Monday morning we saw a member of church family in the airport and as I hopped on the plane to sit down, I was sitting next them! Crazy! Finally, in our time with Paul Harrington on Sunday at the top of my notes I had written in big letters: “TAKE PHOTO!” But I forgot. Sigh. Yet as we touched down in the Gold Coast airport, who was it that walked past? None other than Paul Harrington himself (on his way to holidays in South East QLD)!
In all the bizarre and painful activities of our lives, we have a good shepherd don’t we? Let’s together cling to him!
SP
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:1-4
________________________________
[1] In 2025, Leadership Team on the Road, heads to SEQ to Lake Moogerah about two and a half hours drive from Lismore. We will also be attending the Sunday service of a FIEC church in Springfield, in the South West corner of Brisbane.
[2] Holy Trinity is an evangelistic church in the Anglican diocese of South Australia.
[3] We were able to have Ritchie’s ticket changed to Cam.
