Two dangerous questions that transformed Goulburn Corps
- deansimpson7
- Jul 17
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 18
BY LAUREN MARTIN
Ten years ago, Majors Philip and Tuesday McCall were appointed to Goulburn Corps, a farming township situated halfway between Sydney and Canberra. Soon after their arrival, they began asking their congregation dangerous questions ...
Their first two questions were: “What does God want for this church?” and “Are we brave enough to go there?”
“We put up signs with these questions all over the place,” said Tuesday. “We had prayer sessions and walked around praying … we scaled back the ministries that had their season and were just floating along, and our focus became ‘prayer’.”
In their second year at the corps, Philip and Tuesday invited a friend, an artist, to attend the corps’ Easter services. This woman had no connection with Goulburn Salvation Army and didn’t live locally. She spent time during the Good Friday service painting a prophetic image.
“When we finished worship, there was this beautiful painting, but it was storms and roughness, and there was Jesus as well,” remembered Tuesday. “My friend walked over to me and said, ‘I need to get this paint off my hands, it’s burning, I need to get it off.’ She said that when painting, she felt like there was a lot of darkness, that a lot of stuff had happened in the past, but Jesus has still been there, through it all.”
That painting tapped into some of The Salvation Army’s history in the township of Goulburn.
The Salvation Army has been active in Goulburn since 1883. In 1926, Joseph Gill, a significant sheep farm owner and businessman, bequeathed the bulk of his estate to The Salvation Army upon his death. The bequest was to be divided between The Salvation Army in Sydney, Melbourne and Goulburn.
Money from that bequest was used to establish a boys’ home in Goulburn. Many years later, in 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handed down a report highlighting failures in The Salvation Army’s management of children’s homes across the country, including Goulburn.
“[I believe] the first painting spoke of a time the corps had been going through, a time of roughness and darkness,” said Tuesday. “Yet in amongst the pain, Jesus was there and still with them.”
Three days later, on that Easter Sunday, God spoke through a different painting.
“On Sunday, she painted a hill, with this lighthouse sort of church on a hill,” said Tuesday.
This correlated with a word Tuesday believed God had given her and Phil at the start of their appointment about being brave, and a Scripture about the church being a ‘light on the hill’ (Matthew 5:14-16). It was at that point, when the vision God had given Phil and Tuesday, and the vision God was giving the corps, aligned, that momentum really kicked in.
Meeting needs with the love of Jesus
The corps conducted a survey of locals and asked about their biggest needs and concerns. “It came back that food was the biggest need, so we started with that,” Tuesday said.
Their building had a back hall that was only used for morning tea after church on Sundays. So, they installed shelving and created a community supermarket. Soon afterwards, following a suggestion from their volunteer team, they created a welcome area with tables and chairs in the front of the church hall, where people could relax and connect.
“We have made sure the whole time that we weren’t just ‘doing’,” Tuesday said. “Anyone can build a supermarket and have an area to come. But we are ‘church’ first and foremost. Everything we do, we want to make sure it is led by the spirit, and also there needed to be a flow-on effect.
“Since we have started, we have had about a dozen community members connected with the supermarket ministry that now come to church, and we have enrolled two soldiers, an adherent, all from that ministry.”
One of those soldiers is Kieran, whose wife started volunteering with the Goulburn Corps’ market while studying a Diploma of Counselling.
“Since I was driving her up there, I ended up volunteering myself,” he says. Having served in the Australian Defence Forces, Kieran said he had a lot of respect for The Salvation Army – “The Sallyman was always out with us” – so he gained a lot of satisfaction from giving back.
Volunteering for Goulburn Salvos’ market also reignited Kieran’s faith. He had grown up and “lost his way”, but after moving back to Goulburn after his time in the military, he began attending church again. Finding a church home at the Salvos has changed the course of his life. Now, he and his wife are both studying a Certificate III in Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy and head up Goulburn Corps’ newest ministry at a local boarding house that is managed by Salvos Housing.
“Our relationship with God has blossomed,” he said.
The Goulburn Salvos Market has also had a transformational effect on Sue, who began attending for food relief when she was unemployed. She began volunteering and experienced a deep sense of belonging and significance. “I just loved how people didn’t judge you. You became part of the team and part of the family,” she said.
Now, Sue works 10 hours per week coordinating the market. “I’ve gone from being someone who couldn’t find work anywhere and struggled financially, having to come to the market to get by, and now I’m able to share with people my gift of caring.
“I now attend the church here. I also coordinate the kids’ craft time during the service.”
Reaching out and growing in
This year marks the 11th anniversary of Philip and Tuesday McCall’s service as officers at Goulburn Corps. Their dangerous questions and the brave faith of their congregation have enabled the corps to reach out into the community and also grow deep roots of discipleship within.
The town now has numerous units, houses and the boarding house run by Salvos Housing to assist locals experiencing homelessness. They work closely with a Salvation Army homelessness support worker, a Doorways caseworker and a Salvation Army Moneycare Financial Counsellor.
READ MORE: Dinner on the hill at Goulburn
Businesses are coming on board to partner and support the vision and mission. Opportunities have opened up for ministry – the corps was invited to provide weekly court support at the local courthouse. Even street collecting is more about Jesus than about finances.
A Bible study held after the regular Market Day is growing in popularity. More and more people are finding help – and hope – at Goulburn Corps, through the love of Jesus.
Tuesday has this message for others within The Salvation Army: “Be brave to be led wherever the Spirit leads in your community and be that light on the hill. Don’t be hidden.”
To view a Salvos Studios video of Goulburn Corps from 2022 showing its various ministries, click here
ttps://youtu.be/5tDDu7nSjgU
