Jon and Kara Thorne's reflections

Humidity. Crazy motorbikes. Amazing smells. Children playing in the streets. A scene far removed from the quiet hallways of Melbourne University and attending Christian Union (CU) main meetings. Yet amazingly these scenes are linked. How? In both places, we needed Jesus and were challenged to deepen our Christian faith. What we learnt 18 years earlier in CU, has continued to sustain, anchor and protect us in the streaming, and steaming, streets of South East Asia, living amongst a people group whose faith disagrees with our core beliefs.

We both, Jon & Kara, studied at Melbourne University from 1995 to 2000 and met at Christian Union. Together we were involved in leading Science Faculty Bible study groups. At that time David was a senior staff worker and teacher and Cathy a mentor for Kara.

So 14 years later we find ourselves serving in South East Asia with our four children in a country that is predominantly of a different faith. We have now lived here 2.5 years. Kara is a fulltime mother, part-time homeschooler of four children (ages between 9yrs to 16yrs) and a ‘taxi’ driver. Jon has started a business as a way to connect and support local people as well as to support the local church.

Dave and Cathy Walter were a key part, 18 years earlier, of us being in South East Asia. How you may ask? Cathy and Dave built us up in understanding so many truths about Jesus, on how to apply these truths into our daily life and were patient with us as we asked many questions. We were not treated with scorn or seen as doubters but were given room to mature and be shown how to study and digest the scriptures. Cathy & David walked through so many of our life transitions with us at University (ie marriage, children). BUT it did not stop there. Over the next 15 years they continued to input into our lives as our family grew in number, studying at theological college, through Jon’s cancer, when wrestling through the decision of ministering overseas as a family and then visiting us in our new home in South-East Asia.

Living in South East- Asia has bought many hardships, and even evil, into our lives. Our abilities, our good works, our knowledge, our feelings, our relationships, familiar cultural cues did not sustain us. But our Christian faith has! We knew that truth comes from the Word of God alone and the dependence on this truth was even more real when we moved to another country. We had to trust in Jesus & not in ourselves.

In each (and more) of these places & situations, they were willing to talk of spiritual things, share of themselves and speak the truth in love to us. We knew of their prayerfulness for, and over, our family when apart (even by state boundaries) and it moulded the way they conversed with us when we were together.

Our prayer is that they can continue to be mentors and friends to many other people like us, from many nations. Dave and Cathy have been an invaluable influence on our lives and many others like us. We pray that they are able to bless many more lives in the future through their work with university students from all around the world.

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!

Michael and Christine Cheung's reflections

Back when we first joined the Christian Union in the mid 90’s Dave and Cathy were already carrying out leadership responsibilities for God’s ministry on campus. They were to us big brother and sister who always welcomed and provided encouragement to those of us who were still young in our faith. Towards the later years of our lives at the Uni, we had the pleasure of being part of Dave’s leadership team as well as the weekly 5M training sessions.  Meeting one on one with Dave towards the end of my (Michael) degree was tremendously valuable because I was taught on a personal level how to nut out the bible for myself, a skill that I was able to take away from CU and apply to the local church groups we’ve served. After several years of joining the workforce, through the Melb Uni Regional Action Group (MURAG), we were able to reconnect with the ministry on Campus and see in detail how the ministry has continued to thrive with the hundreds of young believers growing in their faith.

Partnering with Dave and Cathy through the years, we could see God’s great work constantly spreading and evolving through ages, cultures and demographics. And so we look forward to journeying with the Walters as they head up north to take on a big slice of Australia. May God’s faithfulness continue to empower Dave and Cathy and the work of AFES in years to come!

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!

Vaughan Crawford's reflections

Hi, I’m Vaughan Crawford.  You may remember me from gatherings such as MUCU Small Groups, or Cross Cultures Kitchen Kapers!

Growing up attending a small church in Melbourne’s north, my faith grew in fits and spurts depending on the preaching roster of pastors & lay preachers, or annual beach missions.  More consistent & substantial growth commenced when youth group & bible studies were shaped by leaders who had been trained & mentored by AFES groups at La Trobe & Melbourne Universities.

So when I began studying at Melbourne Uni, I headed straight for the campus Christian Union group, hungry for more.  God was very kind, and as well as providing great biblical teaching through the public meetings and small group syllabus (Mark/Romans, Genesis/Acts, letters/prophets, …), I also learned a great deal about applying what I learned in how I served others, worked and studied.

During this time, I met Cathy and David Walter and was part of many small groups with and led by them.  David & I met regularly, working through questions and key concepts from the public meetings and small group studies.  It was often important to remember two things for the following week, although there were probably more and David was just being patient with me!  In my final year I led a group with Cathy, learning a great deal from her wise leadership, patience and group development.  I was profoundly influenced by the ways that Cathy and David integrated their faith in daily lives and service.

By the time I graduated, my faith and understanding of God’s love and sacrifice had drastically deepened, and I had been challenged and trained to apply this in all areas of my life and circumstances.  Thanks to God’s work through people like David and Cathy at CU, I was one of many leaving uni better equipped to live out my faith in my workplace, relationships and my local church.  It wasn’t a hard decision to continue to support the work of AFES in prayer and financial contributions.

It’s been a delight to observe up close and from a distance how Cathy and David have continued to serve Christ as they moved into work with international students in Melbourne, Adelaide and (soon!) Queensland.  Similar to the great work I enjoyed at uni, students from many countries are encountering Jesus through the bible and are growing in their knowledge and love of him.

As the years have progressed there have been moments of laughter, understanding, challenge, disappointment, struggle and perseverance.  What endures most is the joy of seeing so many people who grew under God’s care through the work of David and Cathy at Christian Union, Cross Cultures and Focus, now working in a huge variety of industries, families, organisations and church communities, across many cities, states and countries.  Under God’s grace, we continue to work out our faith in these situations, building on the foundations laid at such a critical time in our lives.

Individuals, families and churches equipped for many ministries and good works, growing mature in Christ and working for his glory.  That’s a great thing. 

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!

Daniel Gebert's reflections

Some people are reluctant to get involved in their campus’ Christian group, but hang around on the fringes – you can tell they’re just there for the free sausage. I wasn’t one of those people. Despite the fact that I’d never heard of ‘Christian Union’, ‘evangelicals’, or ‘expository preaching’, I jumped in head first. After realising in my final year at school that I had hardly any Christian friends, I hoped there would be some Christian group I could get involved with when I started Uni in 2003. There was something about the culture, the welcoming attitude, the warm acceptance as a brother, which made it clear that this was the group for me. 

God had more planned for me than just making friends. I would say that God used my 6 years at Christian Union to turn me from a believer in Jesus, into a disciple of Christ. Before this time, I believed the gospel, I read my Bible, but I didn’t know what difference this made day-to-day. The Bible teaching at CU was more in-depth, but also more accessible, than anything I had experienced before. I remember a particularly lucid series Dave preached on the book of Revelation, which opened it up to me for the first time. When I was disoriented by new ideas, there was support. I recall sending Dave quite a melodramatic email after questions were raised in my mind about the persistence of the more dramatic gifts of the Spirit. He patiently invited me to his house to talk it over. 

As my comprehension of God’s word grew, so did my realisation of its implications. If Jesus had bought me at the price of his own life, if I was freed from sin and raised with him; if this was a free gift of God’s grace, how could I but be willing to give my whole life to his service in thanks? I was able, by the support of my CU leaders and peers, to grow towards this goal. The initiatives organised by CU provided practical experience in Christian ministry and local mission. I am now an ordinand with the Anglican Church – a path in which Christian Union played a significant role. I thank God for how he used my time there. I pray that he will use Dave and Cathy’s work in Queensland, the Northern Territory, and overseas, to turn many more young believers into disciples of Christ.

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!

Charlie Fletcher's reflections

Dave and Cathy have been faithful Christians for as long as I've known them (we were students together at the University of Melbourne in the early nineties). They have a track record of fruitful gospel ministry among Australian and international students in Melbourne and Adelaide. I'm excited that they are going to continue in student ministry as they head to Queensland. I commend them to you enthusiastically and encourage you to consider being in gospel partnership with Dave and Cathy by prayer, giving and encouragement.

I've watched Dave in action as a student, a leader, a staffworker, and a team leader in various student ministry settings over more than twenty years. In that time, I've been encouraged by Dave's care in handling God's word, by his growth in godliness, by his hard work for the sake of the gospel, and by his giftedness in growing student ministry and Australian and international students. I spent a year as a volunteer member of the staff when Dave was the Campus Director of the Melbourne University Christian Union, and it left me thinking how good it would be to do a ministry apprenticeship under Dave's leadership. Your support could help make that possible for others as Dave and Cathy head to Queensland and continue in student ministry.

Charlie Fletcher.
Melbourne University Christian Union student 1991-1996
volunteer staff at MUCU 2000
sent by CMS to work with IFES in Mexico 2001-2011
chair of MUCU support committee 2011-2013
currently Dean of Global Mission at Ridley College and Senior Missiologist with CMS Australia.

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!

Tim Allen's reflections

Dave and Cathy helped me to think through the relevance of the bible, God's word to us, for all areas of life - where I'm at with God, relationships of all kinds, work and ministry.  Their godly example of living out a life following Christ really helped to encourage me to persevere in doing so and their teaching encouragement helped to give me the tools.

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!

Rick and Miranda Starkey's reflections

Rick says:

I first met Dave Walter in 1993, as a Commerce student who had been invited to his CU Bible study group.  Dave seemed to emanate godly wisdom and a firm trust in the Bible.  He was one of the first people I met who treated the Bible as a text to be wrestled with and understood as opposed to a ‘magic’ artefact to be quoted in times of trouble.  He was one of a few people in the CU who passed on this revelation to me, and over the years of church ministry in some small way I hope to have passed it on to others.

Miranda says:

I remember meeting one-on-one with Cathy (at Melbourne Uni in 1998) & her really challenging me in being serious about ministry. She convinced me to give it a go as a job! That experience is beneficial in my ongoing ministry today, serving at church around all the other things I do.

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!

Aileen Humphrey's reflections

Dave is an awesome guy to work alongside, and as a boss. He takes the time to chat and to listen to people. His approach to life is profoundly shaped by God's Word and that comes through in my interactions with Dave. His approach to ministry encourages me to think outside the box and to be bold in my own ministry context. It has been a pleasure to minister with Dave and to learn from his godly example and visionary outlook.

Dave and Cathy truly operate as a team and are single-minded in their focus to see people come into God's kingdom. Their example and dedication to ministry inspire me to have that same focus.

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Would you help Dave and Cathy to continue in student ministry with AFES?

Please consider:

• Giving a one-off gift to help send Dave and Cathy to Queensland debt-free*
• Signing up for their regular newsletters so that you can pray and keep in touch with them
• Sharing this with others who might help Dave and Cathy go to Queensland debt-free

* Or even better, become a regular supporter!