Unichurch and Trinity

Jeff Hunt is a Trinity Alum and serves on the staff team at St Matt’s church in Shenton Park, and as the minister of St Matt’s Unichurch. We spoke to Jeff about his work, and how he sees Trinity’s place in that.

TN: Tell us a bit about St Matt’s Unichurch.

JH: The student age group is pivotal time of life where people are emerging into adulthood, forming beliefs, and starting to shape their lives. Our work is primarily evangelism to campus students and maturing and discipling young people who are Christians. Unichurch has an opportunity to bring the gospel and help these people spiritually, but also for those who become committed Christians to consider the path of being a ministry worker. We run our own Sunday service, and are integrated with wider church activities, so Kids and Youth ministries are run by Unichurch members. This gives our volunteers opportunities to lead study groups, teach kids, evangelise, etc.

TN: How do you see Unichurch’s role in raising up future ministry workers?

JH: We like to start people off by serving on a Sunday in church. Those that demonstrate faithfulness and godliness – as well as the necessary skills – are asked to join one of our ministry teams which gets them involved in teaching the Bible to others. Where we see that God has given people gifts and capacity to do that ministry well, we’ll have the conversation about more vocational ministry and perhaps encourage them to get involved in Trinity.

TN: Why do you recommend Trinity?

JH: The confidence to recommend Trinity comes from knowing the quality of the teaching staff and seeing that the Unichurch and Trinitytraining and teaching is directed towards actual ministry. This was my experience when I studied with a cohort of students from 2009-2011– it was (and is) a community that is about devotion to Jesus, living for him and serving him, and shaped around preparing people well to engage real people with the gospel. Trinity is training people in the ways that gospel work needs.

TN: How does your work benefit from Trinity’s existence?

JH: There are lots of ways that people from Unichurch and St Matt’s benefit from having Trinity in Perth. Being able to direct people to the Certificate of Christian Studies is a good way to help people along in their maturity and grasp of the Bible, and that then has an immediate impact in the quality of Bible literacy in our church. I personally benefit from being a part of the Alumni community, connected to others in ministry.

There is a hunger in young people to investigate Jesus, so there are real gospel opportunities out there and we need more people to do that work. The growth of the gospel in Perth won’t happen with any one church or organisation, but from all of us in community working together – and Trinity is an important part of that.