Hannah Felsbourg
2 September 2025
Topher Hallyburton is a community pastor at Alice Springs Anglican Church and is supported by the Bush Church Aid Society.
How do you see God at work through your work in Alice Springs?
Every few months we get people just coming into church saying, “I’ve been on this journey. I’ve been thinking about this and I really want to hear about Jesus now.”
Through my work at the youth correctional centre, I’m reminded that God is calling people from all nations into his family. The young people I’m meeting are from different Aboriginal people groups, and they have a place in God’s family when they trust in Jesus. In the church you can see people from all around the world coming to share together, knowing that even though they are completely different in every other aspect of life, they are united in Jesus. They’re putting the effort in to show love to one another, to grow as a church together.
Are there any unique considerations when ministering to people from Indigenous backgrounds?
A lot of the young people speak English as a second language. So, we’re thinking about how we use English in our church services. I’m using the Plain English Version of the Bible. People that I’m reading this Bible with have gone, “I can actually understand God’s word for the first time.” Some older people that are part of our church have gone, “Why hasn’t this been around for longer?” It’s a shame that here in central Australia we don’t have a full Bible in an Indigenous language. So that would be a next step.
Read more: Preserving culture, strengthening faith: Bible translators
Can you share a story about someone you’ve encountered in your ministry?
One young man I met was in trouble with the law. He got his hands on one of these Bibles and he found Romans 7.
In the Plain English Version, Paul says in Romans 7:22-24, “Really, we ourselves, we want to live the right way, but there is a big fight going on inside us. That bad part of us makes its own law. It makes us think the wrong way. It makes us its prisoners so that we can’t do the things we really want to do. We feel really sorry for ourselves. How can we get free from this bad boss in our bodies that will make us die? Who can make us free?”
This young guy was reading this, and he just went, “That is my life. I want to do what is right, but I just can’t.”
The verse 25 goes on to say, “Thank God, Jesus Christ can make us free. He is the answer. God made a way for us to be free.”
So, I was able to share how Jesus can make us free.
What fruit do you hope to see in Alice Springs and what’s your dream for your ministry there?
As much as it would be good to see some of the young people stay out of prison or the youth justice system, or I’m hoping they’ll finish school, find a great job that works for them or a place to live that’s safe, my dream is for these young people to be part of the church. To be fully part of God’s people. That they find in the church love and acceptance. That they find Jesus and that they belong because of the work of Jesus on the cross.
Read more: ‘You belong here no matter what’: Bush chaplain
How did you first get involved with the youth correctional centre?
There’s an Indigenous woman who was originally an education officer at the youth correctional centre. She had been part of our church for years. But it was only after three and a half years of us being here that she was able to say, “Some families would like someone to come in and talk about Jesus to the young people. Will you be able to do that?” So, I started going out last year on a weekly basis. We’d kick the footy, sometimes sing some songs and would always do a short Bible study and prayer.
It’s an interesting place of connection because people are aware that they need help, so they are thinking about what God has to say in all this. I haven’t been able to go in recently because now all the young people from the correctional centre are up in Darwin. But I met enough young people that now, if I walk through town, I see one or two of them. Some of them have family in the government housing block just down the road. It’s just relational and just being around in a few areas of their life, whether it’s footy, school, corrections, whatever. It enables that relationship to grow.
What encourages you in your work?
The fact that God is calling people from all nations. The fact that God is calling people with all types of background, including messy backgrounds. I’m encouraged by God bringing people to church out of the blue and them saying, “I’ve been thinking about this, and I want to check him out and maybe become a Christian.” So, we know that God is doing his thing. And we just get to play a little part of that.
Read more: Greatest cultural divide but ‘all one in Christ’
The support of the BCA is amazing. We do really feel valued, loved, supported and cared for by BCA staff, but also by supporters that reach out and pray. And the love of the local church family here. People that are willing to share their lives and look for ways to serve one another.
What’s one thing you would like Christians in Melbourne to know about your work?
The good news of Jesus is for all types of people, and people living in remote locations need to hear that news, too. Without the work of BCA it wouldn’t happen in some places. So, I encourage supporters to continue to pray and get involved, and for others to think about how they can support the work of BCA. The amount of people living in remote regional places in Australia has grown. We want to make sure they have the opportunity to call Jesus Lord. To be part of this family.
Topher Hallyburton will be the keynote speaker at the Bush Church Aid Society’s 2025 Spring Gatherings in October, including in Glen Waverley, Sunbury and Ivanhoe. Information is available on BCA’s website.
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