Service is in our DNA. We have been preparing students for service since our founding in 1897. The Avondale School for Christian Workers set out to prepare people for service in the developing work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific – a mission that remains true to the university today. If anything, our scope has widened, with our graduates becoming employed in private, public, and Christian sectors alike.
For over 125 years, our priority has been to provide our students with a holistic and unique Christian education. Preparing them to serve their world for good is the essence of our motto ‘A greater vision of world needs’ – penned in 1924. We ask them to step outside of their comforts and serve the world in new and transformative ways.
We encourage them to live this out in various expressions. Over the years, our students have served overseas at summer camps in the United States and Canada, including Big Lake, Mivoden, and Sunset Lake, as well as camps throughout Australia.
Local Service Opportunities
Students have also participated in various Urban STORMCo trips over the past few years. Organised by our Lake Macquarie Campus Ministries team, students have visited Victorian, South Queensland and Sydney schools to host chapels and give both our students and school students an opportunity to engage with one another. “We are given a call, in Galatians 5, that our freedom is to be used to serve others,” says Associate Pastor Aubree Harrington. “That’s really the attitude we have; once you’ve found freedom in Christ there is an opportunity for us to look outside of ourselves.”
“That’s really the attitude we have; once you’ve found freedom in Christ there is an opportunity for us to look outside of ourselves.”
Students have also engaged in service initiatives locally in Morisset. Serve day, a key event of Festival of Faith, allowed students to touch the local community in various ways. Three teams set out in the community, one cooking pancakes at Morisset High School, another offering a free car wash, and the third mowing lawns, tidying yards and maintenance for residents. “These were wonderfully attended. We had around 60 students that came – when some of them were finished with one service project, they’d drive to another to give a hand,” says Pr Aubree. The response was extremely positive among the students, which meant another day was organised to give students another opportunity to serve. The projects are largely student organised, “a lot of the effort was by Mikael Falculan, our Serve leader on the University Student Ministry team. He put a lot into making sure these projects happened.” Pr Aubree says that the COVID-19 Pandemic majorly effected how we interact and relate with each other, and the service opportunities that Avondale offered. “We are in a season of rebuilding trust because for so long we were told “do not be around others”. Now we want to come back to what we know God has called us to – people matter, and we should be giving where we can”.
Thailand Trip
In November 2024, a team of 10 Avondale University students and staff worked at the Udon Adventist International Mission School (UAIMS). The school caters 400 students from Kindergarten to Year 8. The Avondale Uni team contributed to UAIMS in various ways with half the team working on building a new fence for the school’s safety, while the others assisted teachers in classrooms. Jasmin Ringrose, Student Life/Sport Coordinator and trip leader, reflected on the classroom experience, “it was particularly beneficial for our team members studying education, offering them invaluable hands-on teaching practice”. Brooke Howard, one of the students on the trip said of her experience, “I love being able to see different parts of the world and how God is working in those places … We're called to serve, and God will always use those who are willing.”
Ministry of Teaching Overseas
Teacher Education students get the opportunity to teach their Professional Experience Placement overseas. Ministry Of Teaching Overseas, known as MOTO, started in 2007 due to the efforts of Dr Jason Hinze. The idea was born when an education student came into his office asking to complete her placement in rural town in India. The school had over 150 students and they desperately needed teachers. Dr Hinze recalled his own experience of living with a refugee community on the Thai/Burmese border when he was 17 – an experience that changed the trajectory of his life. So, in 2007 he took a group of 11 education students to that small town in Northern India on the first MOTO trip. Since ’07, 27 MOTO trips have run, involving 444 Avondale Uni Education students. The trips have been to six destinations around the globe: India, Cambodia, Nepal, Tonga, Darwin (during the COVID-19 Pandemic) and Fiji. Speaking about the importance of the experiences, Dr Hinze says, “As a Christian Educator one of my main aims is for my students to discover the joy of service. I also want our graduands to see teaching as a service opportunity and to approach their teaching careers with a service mindset.”
One Mission
One Mission provided multiple annual mission trips for students to serve overseas. During the programmes time, it ran trips to Brazil, Vanuatu, Nepal, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia and other destinations around the globe. Colin Chuang (Avondale Alumni, ’05 graduate) was on the One Mission committee and got to see the idea come to fruition. “I believe that travel, especially service, helps overcome ignorance and complacency,” says Colin. “You are there on the ground in these places to fill a need, to work together as a team to accomplish a goal, and in turn, just make the world just a little bit of a better place.” In the latter years, One Mission collaborated with ‘ADRA Connections’ through ADRA Australia, who ultimately took over the running of the trips. “Service is the heart of the gospel – it is looking at things from another person’s point of view, not being me-focused,” says Colin. “The very nature of service is a mentality and a viewpoint that everyone is important and loved. That itself changes how we live and what we see as important and valuable.”