Book review: Hope for God’s Creation

2000 – 2024 College Service. From Library Technician to Senior Librarian – Monographs.

Annabel Bristow, after 24 years of service in the Donald Robinson Library of Moore College, is retiring this month. Annabel has been a faithful servant to generations of students, Faculty and Staff and during this time she has been a blessing to the library team and the wider College community.

Annabel can you take us back to when you first started work at Moore College in 2000?

I started as a Library Technician, working mainly at the Service Desk. I had a qualification of Bachelor of Arts in Library Studies and one of my first jobs was transferring journal-holding records from cards onto the new Library Management Software. Back then the Library was open four nights a week until 9:00pm and sometimes after finishing late I would be back at the desk at 8:00am the next morning!
I have seen several of the now Faculty starting out as students and it has been a privilege to see them, and their families, all grow.

What do you love best about working in the College Library?

There is a big service aspect to working in a Library, I have the opportunity to help people find the information they need. I get to connect with people, listen to them and even pray for them.
The relationship between everyone working at the College has been really special and God has assembled an amazing team in the College Library. This is the best team I have worked with, they are all skilled and efficient and work together really well.

What about the environment?

The Library, when I first arrived at Moore College, was not purpose-built, it was a rabbit warren with stacks in the upper T. C. Hammond Room and later offsite at Sydenham and 93 King Street. There were more books than we could house. I have memories of books being piled on the floor in the aisles. The aisles themselves were very narrow and the bookshelves were high. There was the odd occasion when a book would topple off the top shelf and crown a passerby!
So, the new Library space is lovely. The shelves themselves have a lower profile and are very stable! We are always receiving positive feedback about the environment. It is light-filled and a very pleasant place to work.

It is a privilege to work in the leading theological library in the Southern Hemisphere. We have the most amazing resources which have been collected since 1856. The Library has books that no one else has. When I started work here the Faculty used to do their study leave overseas and then come back and say “The books I wanted were here all the time”! Today many of the Faculty complete most of their study leave here and Rod helps them find the information they need.

What will you miss most?

No hesitation, I will miss the people. But I do love cataloguing. Sometimes there is something obscure that needs to be catalogued – there are challenges every day. I just loved my job.

It has been a real privilege to work here. There have been many opportunities to grow and it has been amazing to work with some of the best Library, Faculty and College Staff that you could hope for.

Annabel leaves us feeling loved and cared for but she also leaves with a reminder which seems appropriate considering her expertise: Progress is good but history is important.

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It is with full hearts that we share Moore College Faculty member and Director of the Priscilla and Aquila Centre, Jane Tooher, will be leaving the College at the end of this year.

Jane, who is much loved, has been on College Faculty since August 2009 and she will be dearly missed by everyone at the College.  Jane is the founding Director of the Priscilla and Aquila Centre, the key architect and lecturer in the women’s ministry stream of the Advanced Diploma and a thought leader both within the College and further afield in the area of complementarian models of Christian ministry.  

Jane says,

It has been a great joy, privilege, and blessing to be involved in the work of the Lord at Moore College since August 2009 with students, staff, and Faculty.

I have also deeply appreciated the partnership of other brothers and sisters in the broader Christian community. Especially those who have prayed for me, and who have shared timely words of wisdom and also of encouragement. Also, those in the Diocese and beyond who have prayed for the College and have financially supported the ministry at Moore. 

After much prayer and conversation with wise friends, I have decided to finish serving on the Faculty in December 2024. I am open to considering different ministry opportunities for 2025 and beyond. I don’t know what my future holds, but I know our great and good God has me in his hands (Proverbs 16:9).

Jane is faithfully choosing to obey a missional instinct to go and to be useful in whatever field the Lord leads her to.  This very instinct to go and serve has been such an important part of Jane’s contribution to the College and one of the many reasons why we will miss her so profoundly.

Mark Thompson, Principal of the College, currently on study leave, adds his voice to the chorus of support Jane has at Moore:

Jane Tooher has been an astonishingly kind gift of God to us at Moore College. She combines the gifts of a teacher and a pastor in a truly remarkable way. She is faithful, thoughtful, insightful, generous and kind. I value Jane’s contribution very highly and have learned a great deal from her. This next move is not at all unexpected. Her heart has always been in parish ministry, which is part of what has made her such an invaluable member of the College Faculty. None of us want to see her go, but we commit to supporting her in all the Lord gives her to do. I am deeply grateful for all Jane has done, but just as much for her fellowship and friendship over many years. 

Please join us at the College in praying that the Lord would guide and strengthen Jane in this season.  That he might open doors and prepare just the right ministry opportunities and partners for her to move on to.  Pray for us too, that the Lord would lead us to be excited with Jane about what he will do through her next, even as we grieve losing her daily fellowship at the College.

Rev. Dr Simon Gillham

Acting Principal

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We thank God for the Governing Board’s approval of the Acting Principal’s nomination of the Rev. Charles Cleworth as a part-time member of the Moore College Faculty. Charles is married to Ash and they have three children, Poppy, Neve and Judah. Charles will continue to serve in ministry at Grace City Church as he takes up this new role at College.

Acting Principal, Simon Gillham, welcomed this appointment saying, “We are delighted to have Charles join the faculty and to welcome the whole family back into the community at Moore. Charles’ desire to see others grow in maturity of faith in the Lord Jesus and the intellectual rigour that he brings to that great enterprise make him well suited for the role.”

Charles will be part of the Theology, Philosophy and Ethics Department. His initial appointment is for two years, and after this time it is anticipated that he will complete PhD studies overseas. Charles remarked, “I’m really looking forward to investing in the lives of the students and digging up the richest treasures of God’s word with them. As a family, we’re excited to immerse ourselves in the community life of the College.”

Please thank God with us for the provision of Charles and pray for his transition into this new role.

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