by Vanesia To (Communications Cadet)
Jess Sheely was working as a maths teacher and considering going to Bible college. But when she attended a MTS Recruit conference she was challenged to think through not just having the right knowledge, but also loving people with that knowledge. It was at this conference that she decided to do an MTS ministry apprenticeship so that she’d be equipped to love people well with Bible knowledge.
Jess is now an assistant minister at Scots Church, a newly planted congregation in the historic church at Wynyard in Sydney’s CBD. She is also helping to train an MTS apprentice.
The need for women in ministry
As Jess started her MTS apprenticeship at Hunter Bible Church, she was inspired by her trainer, Jo Clark, to ponder deeply the message of the Bible and how that should shape the way she thinks about life and ministry. She was given the opportunity to be involved in different ministries, with women in different life stages. She realised the great need for more people, especially women, to be equipped to encourage, teach and reach the lost.
MTS expanded Jess’ experience from only university student ministry to ministry with women of all ages. Joining a women’s Bible study where everyone was older than her was a different experience at first.
But Jess says, “I learned so much through that kind of experience of knowing that the gospel is for everyone and I don’t have to have the same life experience to share the Bible with people because it’s Jesus who unites us, not our common experiences.”
Witnessing God’s power to grow others
Jess is now training an MTS apprentice, Abi, as they both navigate how God uses both their differences to serve alongside each other. She says, “I have been really thankful for how God has made us really different…and it’s been really exciting seeing how Abi’s able to just reach out to people within our church and in the community that I don’t have access to or the kind of skills to do well.”
There was an instance during the week when Jess and Abi were praying that God would bring them some more unbelievers to come in contact with and perhaps read the Bible with. Then the next week Abi said, “Oh, I have four new non-Christian friends and two of them want to read the Bible with me.”
Jess loves being an MTS trainer. She reflects:
“We need more women training with MTS because…there’s something important about having women who are a little bit further along walk beside people as they think through, ‘What does it look like to serve Jesus and how do I understand his word more? How do I encourage people who are different from me?’”
A real highlight for Jess in her role at Scots is seeing how Jesus continues to work in and through his people. She points out how her Bible study co-leader, in his second year leading studies, stepped into a leadership role because there was a need. Jess shares that, “It’s been a joy seeing him have a go at something new, trusting that God will use him.”
A real highlight for Jess in her role at Scots is seeing how Jesus continues to work in and through his people. She points out how her Bible study co-leader, in his second year leading studies, stepped into a leadership role because there was a need. Jess shares that, “It’s been a joy seeing him have a go at something new, trusting that God will use him.”
The growth doesn’t stop there.
Another opportunity that Jess has at her church is reading the Bible with someone who has never read the Bible one-to-one before. It’s been Jess’s joy to see this believer wrestle with living for Jesus in her workplace and how to respond to her boss’ jibes at her faith.
Jess shares, “I love seeing God grow and use women in their different life stages to be living for Him and reaching out with the gospel to the lost. It’s a privilege being able to walk alongside women as they do that.”
Finding joy in being part of Jesus’ mission
Jess shares that there are many different options for others to be a part of Jesus fulfilling His mission of reaching the lost.
One of those opportunities is MTS.
Through MTS, as both a trainer and apprentice, Jess has been able to equip others, read the Bible with a range of people, talk to international uni students about Jesus and dabble in many different areas of ministry
So, Jess says, “If someone is thinking about doing MTS and wise Christian leaders are encouraging you to consider it, why not? Give two years and have a go, and even if it doesn’t mean you go into full-time ministry, then that’s still a good outcome of MTS.”
Outside of MTS and now in full-time ministry, Jess recognises that it’s God who is at work. “It’s not me and my own strength, but I can trust that he loves and cares for people and can work within them without me and I rest in him and not in my own strength.”
The special joy of church ministry
Jess wants to encourage more women to consider ministry, especially within the church setting.
“There’s something about the diversity of people that come to a church, which shows that it’s the Spirit who unites us because there’s nothing else, really,” Jess says. “If I look around my church family, I don’t think many of us would choose to be friends if we weren’t Christians, but it’s because the Spirit has changed our hearts and united us to Jesus that we are united. We don’t have much else in common and there’s something beautiful, I think, about a church family in all its messiness of showing how powerful God is and how great the gospel is in the fact that we can somehow muddle through and get along with one another.”
To that end, Jess recommends that women seek out teams where they can really trust each other and the leaders. “Trust your team. I think having a team leader who I can trust and know will give me good feedback and push me to grow, but also give me the scope to try new things, that’s really crucial.”
As much as she loves serving in a church, what Jess wants others to remember most of all is that “There is a great need for more Christians to sacrificially take on the difficult task of leading others, both in Australia and worldwide.”