Clergy Couple Take up Posts in Ministry
at the date of
Kamis, 11 Agustus 2011
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The Reverend Rachel Franklin will be inducted as minister of St Stephen’s Uniting Church in Wodonga tonight.
Her husband, also styled Reverend, will be chaplain to the almost 700 students at The Scots School, Albury, where he will also teach Christianity, religion and values.
The two were ordained in 1987, Mrs Franklin being a former speech pathologist and her husband a chartered accountant.
They met at a Uniting Church faith and culture exchange in Tonga and subsequently studied at theological college.
Their first ministry was a “job sharing” one at Murchison and the second a similar post at Mansfield.
After that, they worked in separate parishes in Geelong while Mr Franklin was a school chaplain for some of that time.
After nine years in Geelong, they had their eyes on eventual retirement to the Murray Valley.
“Being a clergy couple it isn’t easy to find placements that are compatible but these two came up,” Mrs Franklin said.
She said she liked what she found at St Stephen’s, where there is a strong UnitingCare agency.
“It’s a community of faith that is vibrant with an outward, community focus,” she said.
Mrs Franklin, daughter of Congregational Church missionaries, was born in Bristol, England, and arrived in Melbourne on her first birthday as the family travelled to Papua New Guinea, where they stayed four years.
Mr Franklin, who was born in the Mallee, will conduct occasional services in addition to working at Scots. (The Border)
