"A JOURNEY WITH GOD IN PARISHES

I think my faith journey started with my Baptism at St James’ Church Croydon NSW, but my faith pedigree goes back many generations for my Maternal Grandparents were Salvation Army Officers and on my father’s side my Great-grandfather was on the staff of St Matthew’s Windsor and my Grandfather who was a Builder of large City Buildings, built St Clement’s Church at Marrickville.

My first recognition of things spiritual was worshipping in St Peter’s Church Burwood East and also my many visits to the Catholic Convent over the road from my home where I would join the Nuns in their Chapel and later I would visit their pantry for a small bottle of lemonade. I was about 3 or 4 years old at the time.

My mother and father were members of the choir at St Peter’s so I would sit the front pew and try to behave myself. It was easy as my mother said that I was perfect----a perfect little nuisance.

My next experience in faith was during my membership of St Nicholas’s Church, Enfield. There I learnt the Canticles of Morning Prayer and all the Hymns by heart before I was able to read them.

I was confirmed at the age of 14 years and from then on I taught a Sunday school class at St James Church, Berala.

When I was 16 I started an Electrical Fitter’s apprenticeship which I finished in January 1949 with a Credit pass ( I completed the final examination of 3 hours duration in 20 minutes).

It was in my late teens that I had a spiritual encounter and experienced a "Conversion" during the ministry of the Rev Gordon King.

In 1950, at the age of 22, I entered Moore Theological College as a private student- that meant I had to pay for my tuition for the three years I was there. I found it a difficult time as I had never studied in my life. Technical College  was a breeze but now I had to study and study hard at Moore. I found New Testament Greek a very difficult subject.

Students at Moore College were expected to serve as a Catechist on Sunday in a Parish of their choice. While a Catechist in Merrylands Parish I met Elaine and we fell in love and married on February 1954.

In April 1956 I was made a deacon by Bishop John Moyes in St Peter’s Cathedral, Armidale, and became Assistant Curate in the Parish of St Paul’s West Tamworth. The Parish was building a new Church and, as I had an Electrical Contractor’s Licence, I spent most of my spare time working on the electrical installation of the building.

After St Paul’s Church was finished in 1959, I became Vicar of Delungra. My first parish had four centres but there was a small number of people living in each area and as most of the land was in a poor condition the Soldier Settlers had a struggle to survive. The Vicar before me had built a new Church which had a lot of money still owing on it. The day I arrived, just before the Induction Service, the Parish Treasurer called in with the Church cheque book and account books saying he did not wish to continue as treasurer.

When I opened the books I found they were not up to date as the treasurer had never entered any transactions in the account books. I had a hurried lesson in book keeping by the Local Bank Manager while we both reconstructed the books so he could audit them for the diocesan returns.

In 1964 we went to the Parish of Bundarra. This parish had special problems as the previous Vicar had a drinking problem. He left in disgrace with debts all over the place. Parish accounts were unpaid and so there was a great deal of ill-feeling in the town and even as far as Inverell.

During our stay at Bundarra I convinced the other Churches to join with us and support a Landline Broadcast of the Sydney Billy Graham Crusade. It was difficult to get a team of councillors. We were three -Elaine, myself and one other lady from the Baptist Church on the last night, after Billy Graham made the appeal, the whole of the company in the School of Arts stood up to acknowledge their acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives.

We panicked !! For a moment we were spellbound. It was a very late night when we finished with all the people as we led them in their faith.

Our next parish (1969) was Werris Creek, the Railway Town. This was an altogether different type of Parish. The drivers and guards spent every second night at home with the other nights in rail dormitories at Newcastle or at the country terminals. The Parish finances were different as the railway employees were paid fortnightly. All spoke of "payweek and off payweek". They had plenty of money one week and none the next. Most of the men sent their wives and children to church for they were too exhausted with their ‘out of town’ adventures.

In 1974 we were called to Tenterfield Parish, a lovely town with friendly people and a healthy congregation. It was even necessary to roster the Organists for we had more than we needed. The only problem there was the extremely cold weather both summer and winter.

For fifty years the parish had been trying to build a new parish hall. Each time they collected enough money to start building there was always something to stop them starting their project. The costs were always increasing so it was a never ending story of disappointment. I told the Parochial Council that we could build our hall if we were prepared to build it ourselves. I found out that there was a building fund of $5000, so we started and completed the hall free of debt with the building fund still with the $5000 intact.

Elaine and I both developed health problems while at Tenterfield and we felt that a change to a warm place would help so we moved to our home at Narara in April 1981 not knowing what was in store for us. We stepped out in faith knowing that the Lord would lead us.

Near the end of 1981, I had an opportunity to apply for a position in the TAFE System. There were a large number of applicants (about 180) only 21 were required. In February 1982 I was appointed as a teacher in the School of Applied Electricity. I later found out that if I had been a year older I would not have been appointed.

The rest you know as I have been assisting in this Parish for over twenty years.

Bruce Holland."

Article from the Booklet "These are our Lives" Published by the Holy family Anglican Church Wyoming Edited by Margaret Douglass October 2004