2024 Eva Burrows Leadership Scholarship Recipient
We are very pleased to announce that Karyn Woodford, Church Life Coordinator at The Salvation Army North Brisbane Church is the recipient of the 2024 Eva Burrows Australian Leadership Scholarship for Women. Please read on to get to know a little bit about Karyn and her scholarship plans.
Tell us about yourself and what is your current role?
I’m a little bit of a nerd. I love sudokus, cryptic crosswords and trivia and I’m a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy. My current role is as the Church Life Coordinator at North Brisbane Salvation Army. This role is quite varied – I help put together our Sunday services and do a lot of planning as well as looking after some of our teams. I’m involved in events and basically anything to do with the life of the church. I also look after our church management system – I previously worked in IT (as a system test analyst) so this keeps my hand in the IT world a bit.
I grew up in the Salvation Army at Albion (now Stafford) Corps, and I came back to God and the Salvos at North Brisbane Corps (NBC) in 2002. I love preaching and teaching and a good theological conversation.
My walk with Jesus wasn't smooth for a while there due to my stubborn determination to do things my own way! However, God is gracious and merciful and has helped me through some very difficult circumstances in my life. I can honestly say that Christ is my sufficiency. He is all I need. My favourite bible verse is Proverbs 3:5-6 and one day I will learn that lesson!
I also have a cat named Glitch.
What inspired you to apply for the Eva Burrows Leadership Scholarship?
I have previously studied at Eva Burrows College and graduated in 2021 with a Master of Divinity. This was very much an academic pursuit for me and I focussed on biblical studies. When I started studying in 2016 I was still working in IT, and hadn’t even thought about a change in careers. My MDiv was about gaining knowledge to help in my preaching and teaching, and it was a wonderful experience.
I started working for NBC (North Brisbane Corps) at the end of 2020 after leaving my IT job the previous year to study full time. Working for the church opened up a whole new world to me in terms of both my ministry and my leadership. I’d have to honestly say before that I focussed more on information, processes, strategies etc. I wanted to preach as well as I could so people could learn and grow, and I mentored people to help them reach goals. Yes, there was spirituality involved, but always with a side-dish of practicality. However, working for NBC changed my focus to people. While studying my MDiv I had not just focussed on biblical studies but had actively avoided subjects around pastoral care and mission – the “people” subjects, because “that wasn’t for me”.
I realised this needed to change. I want to develop my leadership to be more balanced between head knowledge and heart understanding and caring. I want to learn all I can about social justice and mission, so I can lead in a way that inspires other people to care about these things too.
What course will you be doing and why?
I will be undertaking a Master of Theology, which is only 10 subjects, but I intend to cram as much as I can into those subjects. I will be doing a spiritual formation subject early on because I feel it is important in my move from “head” to “heart”. I will also do mission, pastoral care and social justice subjects to gain a breadth of knowledge. I’m unsure yet whether I will do a capstone project or another minor thesis to finish this course off – I will wait to see where God leads me!
What are you hoping to see as a result of this training?
I want to see changes both in myself and in those I am fortunate enough to have influence over. I want to see my head knowledge put into practical applications that will assist not just those around me but my local community. There is a lot of need both practically and spiritually in our area, and I see a need for a combination of practical help with programs and structure, together with a heart that cares for people. As these changes happen in me, I want to inspire those around me, those I lead, to take on the challenge Jesus presents to us in Matthew 28:16-20 – that as we go about our community, that we share the love of Jesus and make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples. I want to learn to balance the practical and spiritual through a deeper understanding of the word, and to share this with those I lead.
In short, I want to see the community of North Brisbane transformed by the love of Jesus.