Tinsley Institute - Mission and Evangelism

The Tinsley Institute was established in 1999 as the Centre for Evangelism and Global Mission with thanks to a significant bequest from Mrs Joy Tinsley, who bequeathed the funds to Morling College for the purpose of equipping evangelists and missionaries.

Joy Tinsley’s father was the founder of the very successful Franklins supermarket chain, Frank Lindstrom. A member of the Newcastle Baptist Tabernacle during and after World War II, Lindstrom financially supported many Baptist initiatives, including the overseas students’ scholarship fund of the Baptist Theological College of New South Wales (now Morling College).

In 1945, Joy married Allan Tinsley, the son of well-known Baptist pastor and evangelist, C.J.Tinsley. Joy and Allan entered Baptist ministry, serving together at Campsie Baptist Church (1946-53) and Unley Park Baptist Church, South Australia (1953-69). Later, Allan Tinsley would become the chair of both the SA Baptist Union Overseas Missions Department and the Australian Baptist Missionary Society (now Global Interaction). Joy Tinsley enthusiastically shared her husband’s commitment to evangelism and overseas mission.

Frank Lindstrom died in 1982, leaving his considerable estate to his two daughters. Allan Tinsley passed away in 1988, and by the mid-1990s, Joy Tinsley became the last member of Frank Lindstrom’s direct family. When she passed away in 1999, ten remaining properties of the Lindstrom estate were sold and her will bequeathed a sum of around $3 million to a number of Baptist agencies, including Morling College.

In 2010, the Centre for Evangelism and Global Mission changed its name to honour the memory of Mrs Tinsley, without whom the institute would not exist in its current form.

Since 1999, the Tinsley Institute has had different emphases at different stages of its history, all focused on the fields of evangelism and mission. Over those years, we have utilised the following initiatives:

• The Annual Tinsley Lecture – a public lecture focused on topics related to mission and culture. Presentations are posted on the Tinsley Institute website. Past presenters have included Vinoth Ramachandra, Stuart Murray, Charles Kraft, John Dickson, Alan Hirsch, Dave Benson, Professor Cathy Ross, Ms Brooke Prentis, Dr Meredith Lake, and Steve Chong;
• Annual Partnership Mission – student teams placed in churches around NSW for five days of outreach ministry;
• Internships – Morling students were placed in ministry settings to be coached by practitioners. These included an internship in cross-cultural in partnership with GiA, in aid and development with BWA/Micah, in urban ministry with Hopestreet, in church planting in a variety of church plants, and in evangelistic preaching;
• Masters of Missional Leadership – a two-year postgraduate course for equipping missional leaders.
• SENT – a one-year introductory course for church planters, run in partnership with the Baptist Association.
• Short Term Mission Trips – up to two a year, including central Australia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zambia, and Peru;
• Better Conversations – occasional seminars on contentious issues (Aboriginal reconciliation, climate change, Palestine, etc.);
• Listen & Learn – lunchtime presentations by people with no faith or a faith other than Christianity (Wiccan, Jewish, Muslim, astrology, etc.);
• Evangelism Roundtables – pastors coming together to discuss challenges and strategies for outreach and evangelism;
• Public Seminars – featuring presenters such as Erwin McManus, Alan Roxburgh, Ed Stetzer, Ann Morisy, Brian Walsh, and others; 
• Transform – a weekly mission awareness program for Morling students.

One of the constants throughout the past 22 years of service has been the delivery of all of Morling’s EM units (and some PC units as part of the MML). Currently those units are:

• Principles of Evangelism
• Theology of Mission
• Cross-Cultural Communication
• Missional Hermeneutics
• Cultural Exegesis
• Living Faiths
• History of Christian Mission
• Ministry in Culturally Diverse Contexts
• Missional Spirituality
• Cults and Sects
• Alternative Religious Movements
• Church Planting
• Mission in the Urban Context
• Spiritual Warfare
• Ministry in Culturally Diverse Contexts

See our yearly Unit Offerings guide for which units are on offer each year.