Part of a series ‘Leadership at large’.
Sarah Kuswadi: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what brought you to your current role?
Josh Kuswadi: I’m married to Jo, not Sarah (she’s my sister-in-law), and we have three delightful and thoughtful teenagers. I’ve been the rector of St Peter’s Nightcliff, an evangelical Anglican church in Darwin, for the past ten years.
Jo and I have been passionate about Christian mission throughout our marriage. We lived in Cairo, Egypt for a year as short-term volunteers, helping out in a refugee program. Upon returning to Sydney, we studied at Moore College with a view to going overseas, possibly back to the Middle East. I served on a bunch of CMS committees and was convinced on a ministry weekend away to become an ordination candidate in Sydney. I figured I’d make many mistakes in ministry; I didn’t want to start out blaming them on another culture.
Then one day someone asked me, “Have you ever thought about Darwin?” and my answer was, “No. Okay, now I have. No.” But the following year I was asked again and shortly after a nominator also got in touch. Turns out the church had been asking around for a while, and we were willing and able to come, so we did.
What does leadership look like in your current role?
Lots of things. Opening up God’s word with people, whether in large groups or personal conversations. Shaping and shepherding a new-look staff team. Equipping the saints for works of service. Right now, one responsibility is recruiting for a Children and Families Minister to join the staff team. I’ve been looking for over a year now. I have to remind myself it took almost two years to find our current Assistant Minister.
Can you tell us about a recent change to the way you lead?
I like the feeling of admin tasks completed—who doesn’t? However, I don’t like doing most admin tasks; it increasingly feels like paperwork and compliance for the sake of it. It’s been helpful to reframe my attitude to admin and paperwork in two ways. Firstly, doing admin is a way to love others. While I may not enjoy doing the task, it is a kindness for others.
Secondly, if people are waiting on me for something—a response to an email, a decision about an issue, a completed form, or a reference check—failing to do admin makes me the roadblock to ministry happening. I can be a better leader by getting out of the way.
Leadership isn’t having the power, authority, or position so I don’t have to do the things I don’t like. Instead, it should be the opposite, as Jesus modelled for us: serving others, even by doing admin.
Who are leaders that you find inspiring (besides Jesus) and why?
There are many, and the thing they have in common is their willingness to serve others. Living in Darwin sometimes feels like a long way from anywhere. I have been humbled and encouraged by so many people who pick up the phone when I call them to ask for advice. Others, who have come to Darwin for all kinds of reasons, have stayed with us and shared not only the gospel but their lives as well.
I first came to appreciate this as a uni student, realising that Bay Warburton, my youth group leader, gave up every Friday night of his uni years, during term, to hang out with an unruly, unappreciative, and immature group of teenage boys. Thirty years later, he still cares for me, making time to catch up with me and pray for me.
What has God been teaching you about leadership?
I’m a slow learner. God is still teaching me that he is the sovereign Lord of all, not I. It was my plan to go back to the Middle East, but it was God’s to bring us to Darwin. I have had a timeline for recruiting staff, twice now, but the Lord of the harvest will provide the right worker for his people here. I have my preference of tasks I like to do, but God is teaching me to serve others by caring for them and getting out of their way.
Is there a Bible verse that you often come back to for encouragement?
The start of Psalm 127, verses 1 and 2:
Unless the Lord build the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat –
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
These words stopped me in my tracks several years ago. It was December and I was getting through a read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, diligently ticking off another item on my growing to-do list. It challenged me on how easily I rely on myself and not God, in life, ministry, and leadership. My danger is to veer away from God’s plans and just be busy doing stuff—stuff that not only doesn’t help, but is in vain; stuff that seems so important I get even busier. How much better to sleep and rest in God’s sovereign care! The test for me, I decided at the time, was to not finish that Bible reading plan, despite being so close to the end. To let it go and read something else.
