Off to a good start in gympie

Carly Morrissey | 16th December 2008

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Craig Warhurst

GYMPIE Anglican Parish's new rector, Canon Allen Neil and his wife, the Reverend Lynette Neil, have just arrived in Gympie and are amazed by how friendly everyone is.

Their new parishioners, who welcomed Allen and Lynette with open arms, have surprised the couple with their hospitality.

Allen fills a three-year gap left when the previous rector, Father Richard Martin, left and will now preach in its seven Anglican churches throughout Gympie parish.

He was invited to Gympie and was immediately interested in the community he had heard was a friendly place.

When he finally visited he “couldn't believe how friendly everyone was”.

Hard working members of the Gympie parish, who put a lot of pride into maintaining their place of worship, spoke to the ex-Air Force chaplain who says he was inspired by the parish foster care program that has now been taken over by Spiritus.

“Developing an interface between the church and community appeals to me,” he said.

“I am really enjoying it already. This is going to be fun.”

Allen, who moved to Gympie with his ordained wife Lynette last Friday, said his plans were to get to know everyone and see what he could do “to help them grow in a spiritual way”.

Ordained as a priest more than 34 years ago in Christchurch, he has served in the New Zealand and later the Australian Defence Forces and seen war-torn parts of the world from Somalia to Iraq.

He has racked up more than 40 years of military experience and thought coming to Gympie would be a good opportunity to get back into parish ministry.

“I used to be the vicar of the poorest parish in New Zealand and very much involved in the community and assisting people, whatever their social background. Although it was the poorest parish in the country it had the highest level of giving and great wonderful people,” he said.

It's this sort of community-based work that appeals to Allen and why he was called to Gympie, and although he said it would be different from any parish he has ever worked in, it was also the friendliest.

Serving as Principal Chaplain for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and as Principal Defence Chaplain for New Zealand - positions which took him all over the world including England as chaplain to the Queen - means Allen has a diverse range of experiences to draw from.

The couple both originally come from New Zealand and met there 38 years ago at a combined University and Teacher's College prayer meeting.

They have three children and five grandchildren who still live in Christchurch.

Lynette will now be ministering in two communities - Buderim, where she is a chaplain at Matthew Flinders Anglican College, and Gympie.

“I was called to that (Buderim) community and to be here with Allen,” she said.

“We've always enjoyed semi rural communities.”

Lynette started her career as a primary school teacher and then specialised in pastoral care and literacy development in secondary schools. She was ordained six years ago.

She said the big thing at St Peter's, where she was looking forward to meeting everyone, was celebration.

“I am looking forward to living among you in Gympie and getting to know you as we travel together the journey of faith,” she said.

Allen's first sermon this weekend at St Peter's will be titled the “Happiest People on Earth” and will discuss why he felt called to Gympie.