The rainbow never sets

qualifications of you, the Reverend Dieter Tieman, Minister of the Gospel as well as of the suitableness to our edification of the gifts bestowed upon you by the Great Head of the Church, do hereby heartily invite, call, and entreat you to undertake the oversight of our souls, and to execute all the parts of the pastoral office among us; and upon your acceptance of this our call, and being inducted into the Charge by the Presbytery of Illawarra, we promise you all due respect, encouragement, and obedience in the Lord, and engage to contribute to your suitable maintenance as God may prosper us. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, this first day of April 1973.

I had not realised that they were 'destitute' of a fixed pastor. In fact they had been vacant for a rather long time, more than two years in Dapto, and over a year in the other parts. No minister seemed to want to go there. Gradually their past history became known to me. Presbytery had made it into a new charge only in September the previous year. Originally, Dapto had formed a congregation with Unanderra, and Albion Park and Oak Flats had belonged to the Shellharbour congregation. During the turbulent years of the anti-Vietnam demonstrations of 1969/71 Malcolm Black was the minister in Dapto. He was actively involved in the demonstrations, I was told, and had even been jailed. It was mentioned that he neglected the congregation because of his political involvement and therefore, the Dapto congregation had become smaller and smaller until at the end only a handful of people attended the services. Malcolm Black's ministry was terminated by the Presbytery, and there had been a big row at Assembly, the state-wide governing body of the church, as he had appealed against the dismissal. All this had passed me by while we were in Indonesia. Maybe it was good that I had heard nothing about it beforehand.

Meanwhile, a retired minister, Jan Groenewegen from Kiama, had built up the congregation again almost to its former strength. The people had welcomed us warmly, and we felt accepted and I enjoyed my ministry there, the first in a congregation. I was fortunate that there were people who helped me settle in. Mrs. Vi Duncan from Dapto was one of the most supportive of all. She had remained a loyal member throughout the turmoil. She remarked that when our family was presented to the Congregation, myself in the lead, followed by Alison, George, Mark James and Margie last, standing there like organ pipes, she knew in her heart that we would be all right for South Illawarra. She would tell me about what was going on in Dapto, who needed a visit, or who might be in trouble. She was always a wealth of information, but never the gossiping type. She became an elder at the age of 79. Thanks to people like Mrs. Duncan I was able to find out how things were done in the church, without treading too much on people's sensitive corns.

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