Gathering Together - 2025 Fellow Workers Conference

The DNWA team together for Fellow Workers Conference

In early October, clergy and their families from across our Diocese gathered in Perth for Fellow Workers Conference. 

It’s impossible to over estimate the importance of this conference for the Lord’s work in the North West. Our workers labour hard and long often in isolated and challenging places. The opportunities to meet together are rare.

These are the core reasons that make this such an important week (every two years) in the Diocese of North West Australia. Not just our paid workers, but their spouses and children, all together in the one place, sitting under the word of God, being built up in the truth, enjoying fellowship as part of team DNWA, and sharing stories, joys, and struggles from the front lines of gospel declaration and discipleship.

We thank the Lord for this beautiful opportunity and pray he will use it once again to prosper his people and purposes in North West Australia. 

Vale Don Miller

Don Miller in 2009

In mid-October, Don Miller, one of the longest-serving ministers in the North West, went home to be with his lord.

Don joined the Diocese in 1982, first serving as Rector in the Parish of the North Eastern Goldfields.

While there, he was struck by the story of the Mardu people, some of the last in Australia to come out of the bush. Though initially they had responded in great numbers to the gospel, this waned quickly as they struggled to adapt from life in the bush to living as fringe dwellers in a white urban environment.

In 1988, Don moved to Wiluna, and purchased Ululla Station, a 120,000ha sheep station 70km out of Wiluna. He hoped to make this a place where the local indigenous people could feel at home. There he served as a chaplain of sorts for the local Mardu people, as well as Rector of the church in Wiluna.

In his retirement, he moved to Mullewa, where he served as Rector up until the present day.

Bishop Darrell commended Don's ministry, saying:
"Don has been a long and very significant servant of our Lord Jesus in the North West. He was particularly cherished and effective in ministry among the region’s indigenous population.

We thank the Lord Jesus for his faithfulness to Don in the forgiveness of sins through the cross and the resurrection to eternal life. We also thank him for Don’s long example of sacrificial service and for the fellowship in the gospel we shared with him."

Please pray for Don's family and those impacted by his life and ministry, and that the gospel would flourish among the Mardu people.

Diamond Jubilee in Kununurra

St James' Kununurra stands strong after 60 years

St James' Anglican Church Kununurra recently celebrated 60 years of God's faithfulness. 

Rector Daniel Faricy said it was a joy to celebrate that God has been at work, establishing and equipping believers, through the Anglican Church, for six decades in Kununurra. 

The ministry has been sustained through a partnership with Bush Church Aid. St James' is the longest continuing BCA-supported ministry in Australia, with Coober Pedy running a close second. 

About 90 people attended the service which was followed by a potluck lunch and celebratory cake. 

St James' is also preparing to farewell the Faricy family, as Daniel will take up the role of Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral Rockhampton in the Diocese of Central Queensland from 2026.  

Please pray for the Faricy family as they finish up and begin a new ministry, and for God to raise up a new minister to serve in Kununurra.  

Breakfast sparks gospel interest

Many Christians invited colleagues to the prayer breakfast

More than 180 people gathered to pray for their city and its leaders at the 2025 Geraldton Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.

Geraldton Cathedral Assistant Minister Mal Walker organised Christians to lead four sections of prayer for government and industry; youth, families and education; medical, health and emergency services; and community services.

MC Eugenie Harris said many people brought non-Christian work colleagues to hear award-winning physician and cancer researcher, Dr Bruce Robinson, speak about suffering and compassion.

One guest commented: "On my birth certificate it says religion - Islam. But I'm really more interested in the Christian religion." 

Please pray that this person would have the opportunity to learn about Jesus and the good news of the gospel.  

Dr Robinson told the event that: “Suffering handled badly makes you bitter, but suffering handled well makes you better. 

“I have seen families get locked in a cycle of bitterness, but with open sharing, weeping together, honesty, sometimes with professional help, they have been transformed. They are strengthened by their grief and grow from it in wisdom and compassion for others.”

Dr Robinson urged people caring for those who are suffering to LEAP – listen, empathise, act and pray.

“Listening is hard to do and most of us are not very good at it. Empathise means asking a second question. Act by doing something practical and, of course, pray.”

Filling the void with truth

Michael Baines, with his wife Karen, preached God's truth in Broome about relationships.

Broome Anglican Church has been filled with chats about love, marriage, sex and gender.

Rector Michael Baines said his recent teaching series of four Biblical talks, on topics that confront us all, were well received.

“Bishop Darrell rightly kept telling ministry staff that if we don’t teach people how to think about these topics, the world will teach them how to do so.

“There was lively discussion, especially in our mid-week Life Groups, which were provided with material to help them debrief on each topic in a helpful way.

“Church members said they were grateful for the opportunities to talk about topics everyone is thinking about in an atmosphere of calm and compassion."
 
Please pray that members may also be able to share with their non-Christian friends a Biblical view on these topics.

Fly-in-fly-out solves chaplain drought

Port Hedland Seafarers Centre has adopted fly-in-fly-out work arrangements to ensure chaplains are available to care for seafarers 24/7.

The new set-up was proposed to overcome the challenge of finding ministry workers able to live and serve in Port Hedland permanently.

Bishop Darrell said he was grateful that Rev’d Mee Ping Lau and Rev’d Un Tay are available to serve for 10 or 12 weeks in Port Hedland followed by four weeks at home.

After 40 years in parish ministry, Mee Ping is loving the chaplain role where “sharing the gospel is the most important thing”, which he does in Chinese, English, and a bit of Korean, Malay and Indonesian.

“The seafarers know we are Christian so if we don’t talk about the gospel, that would be strange,” he said.

“People quietly come and speak with me and ask, ‘Can I have a Bible?’ ‘Can you tell me more about the Bible?’ ‘How can I be admitted to the Christian club?’”

The Chaplain role brings many opportunities to support the shipping community. Mee Ping conducted a memorial service on board ship for a seafarer who had died and was surprised to find that it had been recorded by the captain and posted on TikTok in China. He also holds a Bible study onshore for a small group of Chinese migrants.

Prompted by conversations with captains and seafarers who shared about the challenges of seafaring, Mee Ping developed a support resource. The brochure covers issues like burn-out, fatigue, art of communication, and ‘Your Word, my Comfort’ which includes a prayer seafarers can use. The brochure is available in English, Chinese or Korean.

Mee Ping says that life for seafarers can be challenging, with months away from family and loved ones. Seafarers appreciate the friendship and care they receive at the Seafarer Centre. He says that sharing the hope of eternal life, which comes through faith in Jesus, is a natural way to show love for seafarers.

“If the founder of this mission heard we weren’t talking about the gospel, he would wake up from his tomb, I think,” Mee Ping added.

Gifts fund locum ministry

Our tiny and remote Shark Bay parish was blessed by supporters Australia-wide recently, when Rev Stephen Shearsby was able to locum for one month.

About 100 supporters have joined The 200 Club, designed to boost financial sustainability of the Bishop’s ministry.

Stephen said he and Heather received extra support for their second stint in Shark Bay, thanks to the Bishop’s 200 Club, which funded extra airfares to reduce travel time.

“Getting to Perth is expensive and then we would have to find a car and make the nine hour drive to Shark Bay. Being able to fly made it heaps easier and gave us two extra days in the Parish,” Stephen said.

“This was our second visit and we were very encouraged. It felt like we just picked up where we left off and got to know each other better.”

Stephen preached a series on idolatry, inspired by Tim Keller’s book Counterfeit Gods, looking at Abraham, Isaiah and Jonah.

People responded by wrestling with the reality of what that meant in their own life; and what should be the focus of their heart, their time and their money.

“I believe idolatry is the greatest problem facing our world today. You could also call it sin, but essentially, it’s breaking the first commandment. We are putting something man made in place of where God should be; turning from the creator to the creation and giving this honour beyond what it deserves.”

After the sermon exploring the book of Jonah, one member commented: “I knew the bit about the whale and now I see the whole story!”

Shark Bay is a small and struggling parish. Stephen said he was reminded of the enormous resources that God puts into finding the lost sheep, the lost coin – finding the one which has gone astray.

“It is not economically smart but it’s God’s way. In his economy every person is precious.”

Matthew Gospel hits the stage

An engaging stage dramatisation of the gospel produced kingdom fruit in Geraldton.

Geraldton Anglican Cathedral member Eugenie Harris produced The Matthew Drama, a 90-minute retelling of the Gospel of Matthew with a cast of 15 local Christians.

“More than 200 people attended the two performances which happen as theatre-in-the-round so the audience is central to the action,” she said.

“The production, a Wycliffe Gospel Drama, presents the life, death and resurrection of Jesus so powerfully that audience members even weep.

“By God’s grace we had a very encouraging response to Jesus’ message."

One audience member commented, ‘I think I’ll start coming back to church.’  Another returned to a second performance in order to bring her children, and one man - invited by his neighbour - knew nothing about Matthew so in preparation decided to read the Gospel.

Please pray for God to continue to work in the hearts of all who witnessed The Matthew Drama.

Wycliffe directors also assist churches to present Gospel dramas of Luke and John.