Ministry Spotlight: Baptcare

An interview with Jeff Davey

What is Baptcare? Who is it for and what does it do?

Baptcare is technically the ‘welfare agency of the BUV’; we exist to serve the Victorian and Tasmanian communities on behalf of the Baptist Union. What this really means is we work with Victorian and Tasmanian people who are suffering or are disadvantaged, to help them improve their lives and live to their full potential. We mainly do this as an agency of the BUV – by that I mean we do it on behalf of Baptist churches, but we also do some work as partners with Baptist churches. We started in residential aged care in the 1940s and we now have seven aged care centres across Victoria and Tasmania. Over the last fifteen years or so, we have also developed a very significant work with older people who need care services delivered into their own homes. We also have a growing suite of services involving work with disadvantaged families and young people helping them build family resilience and overcome parenting, mental health, early development or other difficulties. We have other ministries, too, in areas such as the provision of social and low cost housing, including the asylum seekers who are at risk of homelessness.

What is your role there and what does the job entail?

My job is to act as a sort of ‘bridge’ between our internal activities and the key contexts they operate in. These include the external environment (government, suppliers, the general public, other providers, etc), the Baptcare Board and the BUV. My job is really to make sure that, as an organisation, we understand the environment we work in, we’re pointing in the right direction given how that environment is changing, we’re properly set up to move ahead, and that while that happens, our work is done effectively and efficiently.

What’s coming up on the Baptcare calendar that we should look out for?

We’re about to start some new work with people with disabilities in Tasmania. This means we will have to employ more staff and set up new relationships and new systems. This always stretches us, but it is also very rewarding. We also need to do some more building work at our first site, Strathalan, in McLeod. For those who find themselves in that locale, that sort of work is hard to miss! We’ve put in some proposals to the government to expand our work in residential and community aged care. We’ll get the results of those applications in October.

What’s the most enjoyable part of your role with Baptcare?

Watching the organisation develop. A key area is developing our staff so they grow their individual capacities. Our ability to serve our clients improves and that enhances our reputation and ultimately grows the work we do. We want to grow because that forms a sort of ‘virtuous circle’; it gives us more resources to put back into our staff and other parts of our infrastructure, which then gives us greater capacity to serve those in need and make a greater difference. I also take great satisfaction in knowing that what we do is highly regarded in the general community and that this brings reputational benefits to the ‘Baptist’ name in society, and is a Christian witness in itself.

I guess one of the constant tensions with my role is that I work quite a distance from the ‘coalface’, and this distance increases as the organisation grows. It is a struggle to find the time to get out and talk to front-line staff in their workplaces. Our staff have an enormous commitment to the clients they work with; their capacity for compassion and to go the extra mile for those in need is truly inspirational!

How can people get involved with Baptcare? Who do they contact?

The first involvement we seek from interested Baptists is greater familiarity with the work we do on their behalf. I think it’s really encouraging that Baptists are becoming more interested in justice and welfare rights issues along with the traditional emphasis on overseas mission, and we’d like to explore ways of improving our ‘voice’ – both as an agency and as a denomination - on such things. Getting people engaged with the type of work we do and the issues involved is where we have to start. Of course, many of our programs also use volunteers in a variety of ways that involves work with clients in practical settings. We have a volunteer coordinator who’d love to chat to anyone who contacts us! People can check out our website or just ring our central office at Camberwell! Other than that, we’d love to have a heap more Baptist adherents on our mailing list or on our social networking sites. Give us a ring or just send an email!

What’s your dream for Baptcare going forward?

There’s a heap of them. I’d really like to see Baptcare involved right at the heart of the work of the BUV. I’d like to have Baptcare seen as a vital part of the mission of our churches, and that role as one understood and celebrated by more Baptists than is the case now. At that point, we’d be looked to for leadership on things like research and advocacy and perhaps to have an active involvement in the theological discourse and training of ministers and of lay leaders. I’d like to see Pastoral Care as something that makes us very different from other aged, disability and family services providers; it would be great to have people in our churches working with us in reaching out to isolated and less well off in their communities. I’d like to see us involved in some more of the really ‘pointy end’ issues in our society. Our work with Asylum Seekers has been a great start in that respect; I think it’s asked some difficult questions of us as a denomination and that can only be helpful! Perhaps things like greater work with the criminal justice system and those suffering the effects of gambling, domestic violence, substance abuse, etc, would have similar effects!