Ministry

What are you great at? 

What hidden or unusual talent do you have? 

This is the question we asked at our opening staff service for the year (and we’ll likely ask the same question to the students next week!).

While every person has their own set of gifts and abilities that we get to see regularly, we also have gifts that may be more hidden, or unseen, or considered by some to not be as useful as others. 

Yet we do have these gifts, we do have these talents, and we have the joy of being able to use them – whether it be in lawn care, painting, carpentry, creating great food, or anything else. 

School students have a range of gifts and abilities that they get to use and grow here at Endeavour. Many of them are seen, are obvious, and are comparatively easy to publicly celebrate – including academics, sport and drama. Others can be a little unseen. This can include amazing listening skills that help others be seen and heard, being a great team member in class or sport, without being the star or helping others when no one has asked. 

Yet every day at Endeavour we also seek to recognise these gifts and abilities as best we can. 

In 2025 we have chosen to embrace the theme Pursuing Excellence with God. As we explore this, we want to embrace two realities that should always go together: To be good at what we do, and be great at who we are. While we of course want all of our students to do their best – whatever that might look like for them – we also want them to be the best version of themselves – who they are on the inside. 

The path to being our best, in the end, comes through love. Loving ourselves – valuing ourselves enough to take care of ourselves. Loving others – valuing others highly, and working for their best. And loving God – in gratitude for the gifts he has given us and in choosing what is right as he helps us. 

The Apostle Paul, when introducing the famous chapter on love that we know as 1 Corinthians 13, started by saying this: “And now I will show you the most excellent way.” 

As he describes love, something amazing strikes me: That excellent love is something that we can all receive, and that we can all give. 

Excellence is within reach of all of us.  

What I mean is this: 

While we are all different, and so excellence within our gifts looks different, there is an excellence that is the same, that we can all grasp: The excellence of love.  

As we embark on 2025, our world needs people who pursue excellence. And the excellence that will make the biggest difference to ourselves and others is being excellent at showing love to others. 

God bless you today. 

Chris Mann

College Pastor

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

2 Corinthians 13:4-7