When Georgie Dezius began her MTS apprenticeship at Lighthouse Church, she wasn’t entirely sure where full-time ministry would take her, but she knew she wanted to explore it deeply and faithfully.
“I really became convicted at uni that full-time ministry was a path I wanted to pursue and try out,” she says. “Doing an apprenticeship seemed the most appropriate way because it’s two years of actual training and testing.”
Georgie completed her MTS apprenticeship just over a year ago, finishing just before giving birth to her son, Melchizedek (“Deki”). She lives on the northern Central Coast with her husband James and they are preparing to welcome their second child; she looks back on her apprenticeship as a season of stretching, formation, and opportunity.
A church willing to invest
Georgie trained under Connan O’Shea, Lighthouse Church’s senior pastor. “My trainer was Connan. He would train me for ministry skills and competencies,” she explains. “And his wife Belinda would meet with me for character development.”
Being the first female staff member at Lighthouse created both challenges and opportunities. It also sparked important conversations across the church.
“Just having me around as a woman was an opportunity for Connan and the staff to think a bit more about women in ministry across church,” Georgie says.
From kids ministry, to leading a growth group, to stepping into high-level oversight of the membership area of church, Lighthouse consistently opened doors for Georgie. She learned to lead leaders, manage budgets, set culture, and think long-term, all while being supported by her church family.
“It was really great to experience and also really challenging,” she reflects.
Opportunities for women in ministry
One of the biggest opportunities of her apprenticeship came when Connan encouraged her to collate her thinking on opportunities for women in ministry.
That thinking hadn’t come out of nowhere. It was shaped over two years through:
- Writing and delivering all three talks at the Lighthouse women’s retreat
- Preparing staff training material on opportunities and blockages for women in ministry
- Her own experience as a female MTS apprentice
- Deep biblical reflection during study and theological training
The final project, now published by MTS, began as, by her own admission, “a brain dump.”
“It sounds unprofessional, but that’s what Connan was keen for,” Georgie laughs. “I’d thought through all this stuff as I went into ministry… so it was just drawing all of that together and going, ‘Okay, how do I package this in a way that is readable and helpful for others to think about the opportunities and challenges for women in ministry?’”
Working with Clare Merkel from MTS and with feedback from Connan, the piece was shaped into a national resource.
The result is a thoughtful, accessible article encouraging churches to think clearly and biblically about how they train, deploy, and encourage women in ministry, as well as to help women think through the opportunities and challenges they face themselves. “It’s been published now on the MTS website,” Georgie says. “That’s been really cool.”
Why explore ministry?
Georgie’s desire for ministry began early in a childhood marked by the support of her Christian family.
“My grandparents have prayed for me every day before I was born until now,” she says. Her parents opened the Bible with her nightly, and she made a childlike commitment to Jesus at six. But it was at university, through the Evangelical Union at Sydney Uni, that her convictions sharpened.
“I grew to love and understand the Bible. Through being convicted of what God’s word says, I grew in convictions for what that would mean for my life,” she says. “The leaders were really good at saying, ‘Why wouldn’t you think about full-time ministry?’”
Two mentors tapped her on the shoulder and encouraged her to consider ministry. That gentle push changed everything, including meeting her future husband James, also now an MTS apprentice.
A story still unfolding
Looking back, Georgie speaks warmly of the model of MTS itself: real ministry, real responsibilities, and real growth, whether or not someone continues to vocational ministry long-term.
“Even if at the end of it I decided not to continue, it wouldn’t be time wasted,” she says. “It’s two years of full-time ministry and a whole lot of experience and skills for a lifetime of serving God.
“I know that I can rely on God and that he will never let me down. Every human relationship, even the ones you trust most, will let you down… but no matter what, God will always be there and be faithful.”
Today, Georgie is in a new season: motherhood, supporting James in his ongoing ministry training, and preparing for another baby. But the convictions and experiences of her apprenticeship continue to shape and enable her to further the cause of the gospel in ways she never could have had she not done her apprenticeship.
Her apprenticeship years helped her see more clearly the opportunities and challenges facing women in ministry, and gave her the platform to encourage others in the same space.
And, as Georgie puts it, the training never stops, because the goal is always the same.
“How can we use all of our lives to love and serve Jesus?”