Faith equipped: Hayley’s passion to teach kids the gospel

Hayley Pearce is thankful for the many ways that God has blessed her life circumstances, equipping her for a lifetime of effective Christian ministry. Trinity has played a significant role in this as Hayley has learnt more about the Bible and had the opportunity to solidify many of her convictions through her studies. 

“I am just so blessed by how God has brought me through my life so far, and the opportunities he’s brought me. I feel really strongly that God has put all things in place and has equipped me with everything that I need to be in this position today.”

Hayley remembers giving her life to Christ, and becoming a Christian at a young age in her home country, South Africa. Growing up, she had a very strong understanding of who God is, what he has done, and that she belongs to him. 

“God was gracious enough to always put people around me of strong faith who kept me going.”

Hayley and her husband Duane moved to Australia a few years into their marriage. They soon settled into church and community at North Beach Baptist Church. For approximately six years, Hayley dedicated herself to her career in primary education, playing a foundational role in the establishment of Atlantis Beach Baptist College which while challenging, she also found “… extremely rewarding”.

“Kids were coming from really difficult, broken backgrounds and we just really had the opportunity to speak into these families’ lives”, Hayley shares. She noted that the consistent presence of Christian guidance in the lives of these children, paired with daily exposure to biblical teachings, led to many positive changes among the kids. 

Hayley’s love and passion for children was so evident that the Senior Pastor at North Beach, Grant, asked her to consider a career change. 

Having also been on the kids ministry team there, it was clear that Hayley had the energy and enthusiasm required to work in kids ministry. 

After six months of deliberating back and forth on the pros and cons of this shift in career, Hayley decided that if she was going to take the job then she needed to undertake theological studies as well to ensure she was fully equipped for the role. “I always knew if I ever went into this full-time, I would need to do theological training”, she says.

Grant had the same idea and suggested that Trinity would be the best place for Hayley. “I said ‘I trust you. I will go there’. Quite a lot of our ministry apprentices and younger pastors have gone through Trinity, and all have vouched for the faithful teaching”, she shares.

Trinity made it easy for Hayley to study and complete her Graduate Diploma of Divinity. “I did only one unit per semester, which was more than enough with full-time work.”

“I loved interacting with the part-time crew at Trinity. It’s always wonderful to get to know new people, to network with them and to do that over God’s Word. I loved the discussions. I loved that our classes were informal enough that everyone felt like they were able to ask the questions they wanted to.”

“Everyone was just lovely and we formed really special friendships during those times. I enjoyed the differences in our lecturers, everyone’s a little bit different and has their own style.”

Hayley noted that initially she had some difficulty adjusting to the part-time study and full-time workload, but that the lecturers were really supportive and knew that everyone was at a different level, with differing abilities and capabilities. “They were always happy to go through exams, go through assignments, and suggest where we could improve”, she says. 

Reflecting on what she had learnt in her time studying at Trinity, Hayley says without a doubt that studying increased her knowledge and understanding of God which in turn, “… increased my awe and amazement in how God has designed his salvation plan and has brought it all together, I have so much more understanding that I can now pass onto others”. 

Hayley says her time at Trinity equipped her really well for her ministry with the kids at North Beach Baptist, particularly allowing her to look deeper in Bible passages when preparing for lessons. It has also allowed her to train other teachers and ensure they’re pointing to Christ in each lesson.

“I feel I am in a really awesome place to mentor other kids’ church teachers to come in and be as prepared and as confident as possible to present God’s Word in a faithful way and be prepared for tricky questions when they arise. I feel that the Lord has been preparing me for this role. This is where I have felt the most fulfilled and content in my work,” she shares.

For others who are interested in theological study, Hayley highly recommends Trinity. 

“Definitely study at Trinity. If you want to do anything in ministry, you need to have a solid theological base and there are so many options at Trinity to get the study done in whatever place you are at in your life, whatever phase you’re going through, there are options for you.”