From Perth to Macedonia

Halfway around the world in Macedonia, Aidan sits across from Roma translators, carefully checking their work as they render Scripture into their heart language. It’s meticulous work—jumping between linguistics and theology, ensuring accuracy without imposing outside traditions. For this Trinity graduate, it’s the culmination of a journey that began in a Perth youth group and was profoundly shaped by his time at theological college.

“I was really more or less a pagan in my outlook,” Aidan reflects on his pre-Christian years, despite his Catholic education. That changed the summer after high school in 2002, when a youth group search for friendship led to a genuine encounter with Christ. By his mid-20s, he found himself drawn to deeper biblical study, eventually making the leap to full-time theological education.

Unlike many other Trinity students, Aidan’s route was rather unconventional. After completing TAFE and working as a telemarketer, he felt driven to pursue something more substantial. 

“I started doing New Testament Greek at Trinity while I was doing an education degree at Edith Cowan,” he recalls. But it was the encouragement of a church friend that nudged Aidan towards full-time theology study.

What began as part-time Greek studies became a full Bachelor’s degree commitment, which he completed in 2009. The decision wasn’t easy—Aidan juggled five units in one semester while working night shifts at Coles to support himself. But Trinity offered more than academic rigour.

“The camaraderie,” Aidan emphasises when asked about his fondest memories. “The banter, the fellowship, the table tennis, the coffee, the conversations. Those are fond memories.” 

The classroom experience also proved transformative in ways that continue to shape his current ministry. 

“Getting proper training in hermeneutics and exegesis sort of put me on a good path,” Aidan explains. 

Trinity’s emphasis on textual accuracy—”what does the text say rather than what you want it to say”—became foundational to his work as a translation advisor. 

Today, as an ‘exegete’—translation advisor and facilitator—Aidan checks the work of Roma translators, reading “their language without a back translation.” His role demands exactly what Trinity instilled: careful attention to linguistic detail combined with theological accuracy. 

“I’m sort of jumping between two ships of being sort of a more general linguist and more on the theologian type,” he explains.

The path from Perth to Macedonia wasn’t direct. After graduation, Aidan worked in rehabilitation centers and eventually connected with Wycliffe Bible Translators through a former Trinity lecturer. Two years of intensive training in Melbourne prepared him and his wife for cross-cultural ministry. The pandemic delayed their original departure date, but by June 2021, they were finally on the field. 

Now, more than four years into their Macedonia ministry, Aidan works on two translation projects: one New Testament, one Old Testament. The Greek and Hebrew he studied at Trinity remain essential tools. 

“I need to work on my Hebrew, to be honest,” he chuckles, “but it certainly helped; at least to know what to look for in terms of checking.”

For Aidan, Trinity’s greatest gift wasn’t only the academic preparation—it was the community. Those relationships continue to bear fruit: his preaching ministry in Mundaring post-graduation emerged through friendships formed at Trinity, demonstrating how the college’s community extends far beyond graduation.

As Aidan continues his vital work of ensuring God’s Word reaches the Roma people in their heart language, Trinity’s influence remains evident—in his exegetical precision, his commitment to letting Scripture speak for itself, and his understanding that meaningful ministry emerges from authentic community.