Rev’d Mike and Chloe Pailthorpe from Bungendore Anglican Church share with us their passion for ministry and Phil’s Emporium Op Shop which serves the local community in many ways and operates in partnership with Anglicare.
When did you know you were called to ministry?
Mike: I became a Christian in late high-school and almost immediately felt a sense of calling to serve in ministry and leadership. I began to explore this call through my local church, which then lead to formal training and later ordination. Coming to Bungendore, almost 7 years ago, has been amazing for us as a family and in ministry. Bishop Stuart Robinson asked the family and I to consider full time ministry at Bungendore Parish and we accepted. We didn’t know much about Bungendore at the time and so when we googled one of the first articles we found was about how it was the snake capital of NSW due to the amount of browns and tigers. Thankfully, we live in the village where the snakes are less densely populated.
Chloe: My calling to ministry was just out of high school. I had become a Christian during my high school years and had gotten involved with the local Salvation Army. It was the first time I had experienced a real practical side of ‘church’ and I loved how worship and service could work together. God put a call on my heart to enter into service for Him and at that time I followed His call into ministry and attended Bible College with The Salvation Army. I was ordained at the age of 22! Whilst we are now serving God in the Anglican Church and still very much balancing worship and service, the past 20 years has been a journey of growing in Christ, discerning the pathway through ministry and life and keeping a good sense of humour through it all.
Why do you have a heart for Bungendore and the people who live there?
Mike: We love living in Bungendore and being part of the community in the village and beyond to Hoskinstown, Primrose Valley, and Captains Flat. We have settled in well to the sense of community that exists and we see that doing life with folk as important to Jesus’ ministry. As Kingdom folk, we see that being part of community means not simply enjoying what community does for us and what we receive but what we bring and contribute to community. This shapes our heart for Bungendore.
Chloe: We had never heard of Bungendore before moving here, but it seems everyone else had and told us how much they loved it! We now love it too and after nearly 7 years here it’s become a part of us as we raise our family (Meg, Jack and Will). We find ourselves entwined in the lives of those in our community and love being in a place longer than 3 years! Bungendore has a transient community, mostly due to the large Defence base close by so we often only have a season with people as they come and go. So many of the folk who live in Bungendore live a life of service and want to contribute to the life of the village and we love this attitude. It’s a very tolerant community and an amazing place to live. We even love the cold winters (and live in hope that it will one day snow in the village!). It is a real privilege to be part of the life cycle of our village and we are enjoying seeing children start school who Mike has baptised when we first arrived here.
How did Phil’s Emporium start? How is it connected with your church and with Anglicare?
Mike: This one is more for Chloe as she really was the visionary. I just lug things around for her. Essentially, it developed after the Carwoola bush fires from collecting goods and donations to raise money for victims. Locals wanted to continue to donate goods and it grew from there. It has been such a blessing for the parish as it has strengthened our outreach and serving of community needs and has created so many opportunities we didn’t have before. We sought a relationship with Anglicare so that we could receive the expertise and support that Anglicare offers.
Chloe: We’ve always loved op shops and others in our community had been talking about them for a while and how great it would be to start one up. The Carwoola bushfires came and devastated the community and the locals turned to the church offering donations for those affected. We turned a little shed we had on our church property into a mini op shop to house the donations and to be offered free to the families who lost everything. This grew into helping the wider community and also became a great way to recycle in the community and use the money that was made to bless others. When we started it we approached Anglicare right away with the hope to form a Partnership as we had seen the success in Parish-Partnered op shops and could see a real benefit in having the support that Anglicare offered. When we started we had a couple of volunteers who formed a committee and most of them had been church connected. Over the past 4 years our small team has grown into 50 volunteers from a wide range of people in our community – both men and women covering all ages. Our volunteers are also involved with Disaster Recovery and Emergency Relief (operating our Food Hub in conjunction with Phil’s Emporium). After a year in the little shed we took over the church hall and haven’t looked back!
Over 18 months ago we established Captain’s Treasure Op Shop at Captains Flat as we had bountiful donations coming in and we wanted to outreach to the community there. Again we approached Anglicare to help us get this going and we have had a wonderful response to this.
Our relationship with our volunteers has deepened and the see our church as foundation of blessing and hope. It has changed a lot of opinions on what church is and how we can be a positive presence in our community. Our volunteers love being a part of our ‘Phil’s Community’ and we love them, they have become family.
What are some of the positive outcomes you’ve seen at Phil’s Emporium?
Mike & Chloe: It has shaped us as a parish to be more generous and has enabled us to serve the community better. We have relationships, ministry and mission opportunities, funds, and a daily impact in the community that we simply did not have before. From Phil’s Emporium there has developed a Food Hub and a second opshop at Captains Flat – Captains Treasure.
Do you have a highlight or favourite memory of your time in Bungendore?
Mike: There are so many but recently Chloe received the Bungendore Citizen of the Year Award on Australia Day and was nominated by a member of the wider community. We’re very proud.
Chloe: One of my highlights was in 2019 when I travelled to the Northern Territory with a group of volunteers from Phil’s Emporium to deliver clothes, baby gear and other bits and pieces that we were collecting for Indigenous communities in Hermansburg, Santa Teresa and Alice Springs. We had been assisting a local couple in Bungendore with supplies from the op shop for their trips up there and thought it would be wonderful to see first hand where our stuff was going and how we could better support them and we were able to make it happen. It wasn’t long after the trip when our heart for Captain’s Treasure was born and how we could revitalise an old unused church building in Captains Flat and bring a bit of hope to the old mining village. Our trip to the NT taught us many things that we took into the opening of Captain’s Treasure.
What is your vision and hope for the future?
Mike & Chloe: As a parish, our focus has been to flourish a healthy balance between love of God, love of each other, and love of the wider community. I think we have strong expressions of each as a parish. My heart and vision would be to see followers of Jesus integrate a balance of these three great loves in the families, friendships, communities, that they are already apart of. Where worship, community, and mission, are essential to what is meant by “church”.
What is a fun fact about you that people might not know?
Mike: Since coming to Bungendore, I’ve picked new life skills such as a black belt in karate, beekeeping, barista, and coffee roaster.
Chloe: I love the Queen and have spent many hours writing letters to her in the Rectory at Bungendore and sending them to Buckingham Palace. Since our time in Bungendore (and back at our Parishes in Grenfell and Bathurst) I’ve been encouraging parishioners, op shop volunteers, my kids and friends to do the same!
