Student minister Armen Thommison and his wife Melonie get their first look at a wombat at Camp Polda, a Free Presbyterian youth camp in the Australian Outback. Rev. Thommison and his wife Meloney labour among three works on the Eyre Penninsula in South Australia.
Student Minister Shocked by Australia's Need
SYDNEY--Armen Thommison, a student minister with the Free Presbyterian Church Mission Board in Northern Ireland, was surprised by the vastness of the work after labouring in the Australian outback for only a few weeks.
Thommison and his wife Melonie, who have been laboring in Australia since February of 2007, travel over 600 miles per week to maintain three churches spread apart by nearly 100 miles each.
None of the three works has a minister at the moment, and some require prerecordered sermons because the distances are too far for one man to cover. "I can't help wondering if everyone who attends the prayer meetings at home would attend if they had to listen to a recorded sermon," Thommison said. "Some hardly make it as soon as the pastor is away somewhere."
The Free Presbyterian work in Australia was started in 1989 and has five works spread throughout the country. Rev. Mark Peden labors in Kingston, Tasmania, an Australian island state 125 miles south east of the continent. Rev. Michael Patrick labours in Perth on the western end of the continent 2000 miles from Tasmania. Armen Thommison and his wife Melonie care for the three remaining works in the state of South Australia-- Port Lincoln, Lock, and Elliston.
Port Lincoln sits at the bottom of the Eyre Penninsula with Lock and Elliston about 100 miles north, separated by 50 miles between the two. The Thommisons alternate Sundays between Elliston and Lock, labouring weekly in Port Lincoln.
"I hardly have time to clear my thoughts to get focused on the meeting before having to step in to the pulpit," Thommison says. "But we are not complaining. We dearly love to meet with the people. We have enjoyed special seasons of Bible Study and prayer, with much heart searching and brokenness being experienced by the few of us that have been gathered there," Thommison said.
Armen Thommison and his wife Melonie plan to be in Australia labouring for the better part of two years, unless the Lord sees fit to bring them home early or extend their stay.
Email the Thommisons
