Q&A: Hear from a Mentor and a VBC Ministry Apprentice

Tara Fryar undertook VBC training through her local church before becoming a Ministry Apprentice. Read on for an insight into two sides of the same coin: the Mentor and the Apprentice.

The Apprentice: Tara Fryer

Q: How did you end up as a Ministry Apprentice?

I never really imagined myself in ministry or as someone who would do a Ministry Apprenticeship. I was working in childcare when Rosemeadow Anglican Church where I was attending started offering Vocational Bible College Subjects and I knew that I wanted to know God better, so I started doing a couple of subjects while I was working full time. I also found that the style of teaching that VBC offers really suited me because it focused more on practical training rather than essays and written assessments, which was quite similar to my childcare traineeship.

As I got closer to finishing my Certificate IV in Ministry and Theology our Senior Minister, Brett Hall encouraged me to start thinking about doing a Ministry Apprenticeship and after thinking and praying about it with my husband we decided that I should do it, and I’m so thankful that I did! 

Q: How were you challenged during your apprenticeship?

I found that by doing a Ministry Apprenticeship I was constantly pushed out of my comfort zone. I’ve never thought of myself as a confident public speaker, but all of a sudden I found myself doing kids talks and preaching to women. I think it was really helpful for me to give things a go that I wasn’t confident at because it meant that I found gifts that I didn’t know I had and became easier to be okay with the times I failed.
The other thing that I was challenged by was the flexibility of work when you are doing an apprenticeship. Having the freedom to choose what you want to work on in a particular time slot is both a blessing and a curse and it took time to get used to working in that manner.

Q: What did you learn while you were an apprentice?

I learnt that God uses you for his good in whatever way he wants. Often the things I thought I messed up the worst (and probably did) were things that people were challenged or convicted by and that is a humbling experience, that God still uses you in your least polished and prepared moments. I think it also gave me an appreciation for all of the hard work and effort our ministers put into making a church run, and how thoughtful they are about everything they do.

The Mentor: Brett Hall

Q: What are the rewards and challenges of training a VBC Ministry Apprentice?

The rewards of training a VBC Ministry Apprentice are clear: you spend a couple of years investing deeply in another person's discipleship, and especially their ability to serve the Lord Jesus and his people. You potentially get to see someone else grow profoundly in their understanding of God and the Gospel, in how they live as a follower of Jesus, and in their service of others. Their wins are your wins.

I was conscious of two key challenges: as your apprentice imitates you, as you seek to imitate Jesus, you become especially self-aware of your own faults and flaws that you hope they don't imitate! The whole thing requires vulnerability. Secondly, apprentices aren't in any sense, 'cheap labour'. You have to go into training an apprentice realising that there will be a cost on your time—a very worthwhile cost— but still a cost. You have to be deliberate in carving out time to make a significant investment.

Sharing these challenges of training with VBC Trainers doing some of the work helps lift some of the burden. There are other experienced, trusted gospel ministers investing in your apprentice's training and growth at the same time.

Brett & Von Hall, Tara & Adam Fryar

VBC helped us identify people that should be doing ministry apprenticeships. Having a range of people undertaking the Certificate IV in Christian Ministry and Theology part-time gave us the opportunity to work out who might be a good fit to step up to continue their study and undertake an apprenticeship. I'm not sure that we would've ordinarily identified Tara to do a ministry apprenticeship, but seeing her enthusiasm for learning theology with Vocational Bible College, and trying out some ministry, helped us to see that it would make a great fit. I'm thankful to God for how VBC helped make this happen.

Q: How have you seen your VBC Ministry Apprentices skills develop?

During her apprenticeship, Tara had the opportunity to grow in existing skills and develop some new ones. Part of her role meant spending six months learning everything she could about helping new people integrate into church, and then implementing what she learnt in our church. She did an outstanding job. As we spent time reading the bible together every week, it was clear that Tara was growing in her understanding of God and the gospel. We had an emphasis in our staff team on growing in soft interpersonal skills, like how to recruit for, support and grow a ministry; it was great reflecting with Tara at one point how these were things that she was growing in. 

This was all a team effort. Tara's training in our church was wonderfully accompanied by her training at VBC: Sometimes what Tara was learning was directly relevant to what was happening at church. Other times, Tara took initiative in ministry because her VBC training required her to get experience in certain areas. Most memorable was seeing how Tara's confidence grew over those two years—especially that God could use her in significant ways for the building up of his church.