On the 28th December 2021, Deaconess Dorothy Black went to be with the Lord Jesus, to whom she so faithfully devoted her life and ministry. A desire to learn, to know God and be known by God and bring others under the sound of the gospel of grace motivated Deaconess Dorothy Black through her nearly 71 years of service as our longest ordained deaconess.
Deaconess Dorothy Black (nee Lennox) recalled collecting memory verse cards as a child at the local Anglican Church in Lithgow. The Sunday School stories she heard sparked her interest and years later, after she became a Christian, she simply wanted to learn more.
Determined to learn not just the tools for ministry, but of God and His purposes, she moved to Newtown to join Deaconess House, now known as Mary Andrews College, as a student.
Deaconess House enabled women to be formed theologically and prepared for ministry and mission. The Deaconess Institution Ministry had been set up by Reverend Mervyn Archdale and his wife Martha in 1891 to help Christian women respond to the crucial needs around them with the good news of the Gospel, to offer hope and a hand to those in need.
Deaconess Mary Andrews, who served as Principal of Deaconess House from 1952 to 1975, supported Dorothy and other women who were keen to serve their Saviour, the Lord Jesus.
At the time, deaconesses worked in parishes, visited people in their homes, nursed the sick, taught Scripture at schools and at Sunday School as well as ran evangelistic meetings.
Having worked as a missionary in China, Mary urged her students to take two years of rigorous theological education, paired with practical experience with real people in the rough and tumble of the real world. “The measure of what you can do for the world will simply be what you allow God to do with yourself,” students recalled Mary telling them.
Dorothy (left) pictured with Jean Standfield in March 1951.
Dorothy was comforted by the Lord’s faithfulness through her ministry
So began Dorothy’s parish experiences with little of the security or pay rates ministry workers receive today. She worked first in Parish ministry in Alexandria (a branch of Waterloo) with the rector Reverend John Dahl from 1949.
Dorothy and Jean Standfield were ‘set apart’ as deaconesses for Christian Service on 11 March, 1951 at St Andrews Cathedral Sydney by the then Archbishop Howard Mowll. Now, this is referred to as ‘ordination’, yet in that time there was real sense of being ‘set apart’, to wholly commit to live and work, serving the Lord Jesus, through the Anglican church.
There were few securities except God’s faithfulness to be with His precious people, as promised in the Bible. That was a true comfort, when difficulties arose, particularly as Dorothy moved from parish to parish.
Dorothy worked across nine different parishes from 1949 to 1987 – Alexandria; Ashfield; Katoomba; Newtown; Manly; Greenwich; Darlinghurst; Yagoona and Blacktown. She was the warden for two girls’ homes – Pallister House in Greenwich and But-Ha-Gra in Croydon.
She loved teaching scripture in public schools, but also ran women’s meetings, including Mothers Union, Youth fellowship groups and home Bible study groups. When the need arose, like other deaconesses, she conducted church services and baptised infants. Dorothy regarded this a particular privilege and took it seriously and prayerfully.
As a CMS missionary, Dorothy worked on Groote Eylandt, the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria from 1974 for 11 years and briefly in PNG with Asia Pacific Christian Mission.
Dorothy wanted to bring others to the gospel of grace she had known
Dorothy’s work often meant sacrifice, taking initiative and self-discipline. Some of it was tough, but she kept on, confident in God’s protective care and provision.
This impressive list of duties was not done to bring congratulation or praise to her. Rather Dorothy wanted to bring others under the sound of the gospel of grace, which she experienced at a deep level.
She knew she wasn’t perfect, and she knew she needed the forgiveness won by the Lord Jesus. Dorothy is no plaster saint, but a real woman gifted by God to bring honour to the Son – and so she committed her life to serving him.
To her great delight and surprise, Dorothy married Brian Black in 1997. She had met Brian 34 years earlier, when working as the deaconess in the parish of Yagoona. He was the rector and his first wife Joy, who later died, had been a dear friend of Dorothy’s.
Dorothy’s testimony is that she wanted to learn more about God. She did that and grew in maturity and experience, no longer a young naive girl, but a woman who learned to know God and be known by Him. Truly an honourable witness, and a life devoted in service to Christ.
By Rev. Jan Donohoo, ADM Chaplain