Elspeth Kernebone
4 January 2024
Peter Young is 62, he has 30 years’ ministry experience, and his Bible college peers of the ‘80s are starting to retire.
But instead of winding down, Dr Young is about to take a step into something new. On February 10 he will begin his life as an ordained minister when he is deaconed at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Why be ordained only eight years from retirement? Well, Dr Young just doesn’t think God is done with him yet.
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He has spent most of his career working in mission, living in Nigeria and Thailand with his family. After he returned to Melbourne in 2022, ordination seemed to be what God wanted.
Dr Young said being so close to retirement meant he was not particularly ambitious, he was just taking the next step.
“I don’t think I’m building a career in this, I’m just moving into what God wants me to do next,” he said.
“We’ll see where he leads next. Because … there’s not too many things that are permanent with God. He leads us into things that we might not expect at the start of the process.”
During his curacy, Dr Young will work to start a new 5pm congregation at St John’s Blackburn to reach people living in newly built, high-density housing in the area. This will be through Holy Trinity Doncaster.
Dr Young said he would have his L Plates on, despite his decades of experience, as he had mostly worked in a very different cultural milieu.
He said he was excited to learn more about Australian culture during his curacy, particularly the experiences of young people who are likely to make up most of the congregation.
He’s also keen to grow his pastoral experience and learn about the administrative side of running a congregation in Australia.
“I’m still very much a learner, I’m a rookie like every other curate starting out,” Dr Young said.
“I’ve got a few miles under my belt but … maybe that’s all part of the mix in what God can use in any of us.”
But Dr Young said he hoped to use existing skills in sensitivity and cross-cultural relating while ministering to the people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds living in Blackburn and Box Hill.
Dr Young’s work overseas began with three years working in Nigeria as a pharmacist in the 1980s, with the Sudan United Mission.
He saw and prayed about a lack of theological training and depth in the parts of the Nigerian church during his first period in Nigeria, and realised that God was calling him to be part of the answer to his prayers.
So, he returned to study at Ridley College, then worked in Nigeria again with his wife Elspeth for 16 more years.
Dr Young first taught at Bible college, then was involved in a theological education by extension program.
He later worked in internationalisation with Pioneers in Thailand, engaging with the changing nature of mission work to help younger sending countries and groups work out their approach. During this time he travelled across the world, to Latin America, North America, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Europe.
One thing Dr Young is grateful for is that when he is ordained, his 95-year-old father will be able to attend. He himself worked in the Diocese of Melbourne after originally being ordained in the Diocese of Quebec, in Canada. In fact, Dr Young will be the third generation in his family to be ordained in the Anglican Church.
For Dr Young, the threads he sees throughout his career are teaching God’s Word, and involvement in cross-cultural mission.
He joined the Year of Discernment feeling he wanted to use his teaching and preaching skills in Australia. During this period, Dr Young said confirmation from godly people built his confidence that ordination was the right path for him.
“It hasn’t been one thing, it’s been a slow evolution of that,” he said.
“I don’t think God’s finished with me yet. I’m 62, but I still think that God can probably even use an old bloke like me.”
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