A Fair Dinkum Aussie!
Rev. Graeme Johnson has served the Unity movement in Australia and New Zealand for nearly 50 years. He was ordained a minister in 1977 and at different points served Unity Australia in Melbourne and in New Zealand as Director. He "retired" in 2000, began a small study group in Frankston and spoke periodically at Melbourne.
Just before the coronavirus pandemic, Graeme and Marita, his wife, launched an Internet based metaphysical Bible study that offers book by book metaphysical interpretations and provides certificates for completed study. The following for this study has grown to 13,000 in the past three years.
What I have to offer today is video of my recent interview with Graeme. You may want to watch it for several reasons.
To begin, the interview shows what can happen when a Unity minister offers an online service that resonates with an unserved flock. Graeme speaks with great excitement about the numbers and the variety of people who follow his offerings and write to ask him questions. Online ministry is no guarantee of success. But Graeme and Marita’s story shows is that there is an immense unserved flock online and if the need is great so will be the response.
Second, Graeme is 81 years old and intending to retire this year. He and Marita are looking for someone with interest in taking on the Internet ministry right away, adding live video classes to the offering this year and who are open to eventually moving to Australia and launching a “face to face” ministry. What he and Marita offer are connections, advice, an established nonprofit entity with a small amount of operating funds that will allow entry into Australia and to permit operating a ministry.
But perhaps the best reason to watch this video is to catch some of Graeme’s indefatigable spirit. He is, in Australian slang, a fair dinkum aussie; that is genuine and authentic, the real deal. When you hear about him showing up in Bill Fischer’s office in 1975, dressed in australian shorts, demanding an interview after having been rejected for the ministry program,
and how he was brought in by Gwen Normant, who ran the licensed teaching training and who compared him to a lost puppy, then you’ll know not only something about Graeme Johnson’s indefatigable spirit but something about the crazy world of ministry were are in.
Graeme can be contacted at unitybayside@bigpond.com
Sunday, January 29, 2023
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