Student Story: Kath
Kath and her family at their church in Coonabarabran
Knowing Jesus more and applying his compassion in church with Kath Thornhill
With a passion for knowing Jesus better, and keen to see the Church improve its accessibility for all of God’s people in all their diversity, Kath Thornhill is currently studying remotely at Mary Andrews College.
Studying remotely in our hybrid classes has turned out to be a great boon for Kath. After partially completing her Diploma with MAC while living in Coonabarabran in Western NSW, Kath and her family will move to Dubbo at the beginning of 2024. MAC’s hybrid learning means that Kath can continue her studies without interruption.
Although she was born into a Christian family, Kath didn’t come to know Jesus personally until she was an adult. As a teenager, she understood the Christian faith to be just rules and regulations. She remembers, “I seemed to spend my whole life trying to do the right thing without much to show for it.”
Seeing her peers living what seemed to be a “carefree, rule-free, consequence-free, fun life”, she sought the pleasure of the world. But just as many others living this life come to understand, Kath realised that what she perceived as a better way to live “wasn’t all it was cracked up to be”
So she returned to church and started to hear God’s word and meet with other Christians. Kath shares, “I understood what Jesus was really about, that the missing piece that I’d been searching for wasn’t the law – it was God’s grace. That I was actually a child of God and I could have a personal relationship with him.”
Diploma student, Kath Thornhill
Once she understood grace, Kath became eager to know God and his word better. This eventually led her to do a certificate of theological study in her home city in Western Australia. Kath loved the experience of studying theology in this way, so was eager to do more.
Soon after this, Kath and her husband moved from Western Australia to New South Wales so he could complete his Master’s Degree at Sydney Missionary and Bible College (SMBC) and commence a career in vocational ministry. After his study was finished, they moved to Coonabarabran in western NSW where her husband began work in a local Anglican church.
Kath was keen to do more theological study, so she began researching what was available. Given her remote location, studying online wasn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’ – it was a ‘must-have’. Although COVID-19 brought many challenges, one positive effect it inadvertently had was the provision of more online options for Kath and others like her living in regional places.
She reflects, “I had a look around to see what was on offer and MAC [Mary Andrews College] came onto the scene. I loved the idea that they had smaller classes and the fact that we’re all women as well. So there are women of all ages. And I love the fact that we are able to bring different experiences into our classes.”
Without the remote learning options of MAC, Kath would never have been able to access the study she is undertaking now.
“Originally I thought learning remotely could be quite lonely, but it actually hasn’t been lonely at all. It’s been fantastic being able to develop friendships online and encourage each other. I actually get a little bit blue after the semester ends because I don’t have that weekly fellowship with students and the staff.”
She says, “Originally I thought learning remotely could be quite lonely, but it actually hasn’t been lonely at all. It’s been fantastic being able to develop friendships online and encourage each other. I actually get a little bit blue after the semester ends because I don’t have that weekly fellowship with students and the staff.”
One of the things Kath values highly about MAC is the practical and applicable assignments, she describes them as creative assessements that she won’t just file away, but can actually share with people.
A particular assignment of this sort was a booklet on ‘Autism and the Church’ that Kath produced. Through her study, Kath says she has become more aware of God’s bigness and her own smallness, and has also noticed, more and more, the brokenness of the world.
Kath says, “The [subject] that has really kind of hit me most has been the one of disability in the Church. It really opened my eyes to the wonder of the body of Christ in all of its glorious diversity and how, as a Church, we don’t do disability really well at all.”
Both of Kath’s children live with a disability, so she found it a blessing to be able to do research on a subject that was close to her heart. Kath shares that her son has autism, and she observes, “There are so many of our young people who live with autism to varying degrees. And I think our churches just have very little knowledge on how not to just include young people, but actually how to welcome them into our gatherings. We are ingrained in doing what we know or doing what we have always done.”
Kath and her family finding rest at the beach
Her project is a great example of the innovative research and resources that Kath and other MAC students like her are producing in the course of their studies. For Kath, the booklet she created is just one resource. There’s still lots of work to be done.
She knows it is hard for churches, but encourages them to be always learning and trying to be mindful. Kath believes that churches are aware of the need to care for those with a disability, but there’s more to think about. “I think the big thing is that it’s not just about ministering to people who live with a disability,” she adds, “but it’s actually letting them, or helping them, minister to us, otherwise we are missing out on so much blessing from a part of the body.”
This story first appeared in the Anglican Deaconess Ministries 2022 Annual Report