He says he and his family didn’t so much decide to move to Strathfieldsaye (pronounced Strathfield-say), as were led there, when during his ordination process three people independently suggested he should consider working in the Bendigo Diocese.

A small town in the Victorian countryside, Strathfieldsaye is home to just under 5,000 people.

Not one to ignore the counsel of three friends, it didn’t take long before he found himself in the Bishop’s office being offered a job as the minister of a yet-to-be-combined Anglican and Uniting Church in Strathfieldsaye.

It was a big gig for a newly ordained minister who’d cut his teeth working with youth in a “cushy suburban church” in Melbourne’s east. But he decided to take on the challenge.

At first glance, the posting seemed like something of a poisoned chalice. Strathfieldsaye was home to two dying churches: an Anglican church which was averaging 15 to 20 people on a good week, and a Uniting church which was going to close due to only 4 or 5 people attending each Sunday.

The Bishop’s plan was to draft up a memorandum of understanding between the churches and establish a combined service in partnership with Bush Church Aid, in the hope it would ensure the survival of the church in the area. There were also rumblings of starting another congregation to reach the growing number of young families moving into the town.

“So there I was, a newly ordained minister, just out of Bible college, running a combined Anglican-Uniting operation, expected to plant a whole new church operating over two sites, as well as being an assistant minister in the biggest Anglican parish outside of Melbourne, and working as a field staffer with Bush Church Aid,” Steve reflects.

Thankfully, country life wasn’t entirely foreign to the Weickhardts. Prior to ordination, Steve had worked as a youth officer in Bacchus Marsh, a country town 45 minutes west of Melbourne. Despite being so close to a big city, moving from a fast-paced “gospel-centred, strategic city church” to a country parish came with some culture shock and sacrifice. “People were even reluctant to drive across the West Gate Bridge to visit us,” Steve says.

Despite the difficulties, Steve felt they were meant to be there. “I just knew I was called out to the west,” says Steve. “The families I was meeting, and the gifts and skills that I could offer, it all just worked. It was good and right to be there and I know I would’ve been disobeying God if I hadn’t.”

But compared to Bacchus Marsh, Strathfieldsaye was completely different. For starters, Steve was no longer the youth pastor; he was the pastor. But with the support of Bush Church Aid and a love of the country lifestyle, Steve says they’ve settled in well.

“I look back to life and ministry in Melbourne and I think, ‘I never realised how easy I had it.’ But on the other hand, the country life just matches my wife Vanessa and me. We are loving it. I love space, the clean air and the ease of lifestyle.

“I can go out to a farm and just walk in through the front door and sit down and be offered a cuppa and a scone, and have a chat and a pray. You walk away and you go, ‘you know what Lord? You love that person so dearly. Thank you that I’m allowed to minister to them in this way.’ It’s pretty special.”

There are also the benefits of ministering in a tight-knit community, like running into kids from the local school at the supermarket who’ve been taught Christian religion class by Steve. “A lot of my informal ministry happens at the supermarket or the local cafe. People know when I’m going to be there,” he says.

Of course it’s not all scones and cups of tea. Country folk still get sick, driving long distances has its challenges, and there’s the added difficulty of ministering to men with depression who have access to guns. “There’s still rubbish and brokenness like that.”

For Steve, he’s had to adjust to ministering alongside people who sit at very different ends of a theological spectrum. “The good thing is, the Bendigo Diocese has deep divisions, but a huge amount of love,” he says.

So what does the church in Strathfieldsaye look like now, nearly four years on from his arrival? With a town full of young families, the combined Anglican-Uniting church started a Saturday night family service which began running monthly, then fortnightly, and now weekly this year. Every four weeks they have a social night.

“We had a bonfire last Saturday. Thirty people stayed for around three hours and it was a great time of relationship building,” says Steve.

There are a number of “seekers” coming along to the service, as well as some families who are rediscovering their faith. Then there’s the 9am Sunday crowd. “Against the trend, the congregation is actually growing. It was expected to die off, but it’s actually growing, which is really encouraging.”

In a world where inner-city churches get all the attention, and young pastors with designer haircuts are the heroes, what keeps Steve in Strathfieldsaye?

“The deep sense of peace I having being up here,” he answers without hesitation.

“In the midst of all the pressures of ministry and everything else, I’ve had people ask me if I’m going to move somewhere else, but I’ve said I have no desire to. I’ve been asked to consider other places, but I have no desire to even consider it.

“There are times of discouragement…tough pastoral situations and conflict and so on and so forth, but every time I drive into Strathfieldsaye I get a contented feeling that I’m home and I’m here to do the work that’s set before me. I’m able to go to bed and know that I don’t want to be anywhere else, that this is where I want to be, where I’m supposed to be.”