Queen’s Award candidate Bethany sat down with our new State Chaplain Mrs Kuilenburg to find out a bit about who she is and how she came to Girls’ Brigade.
Mrs Lydia Kuilenburg was raised in a Christian family, growing up attending Sunday School. As a child, she found herself struck by the concept of Jesus wanting to be her friend, this specific realisation helped her faith move from head knowledge to heart belief. She continued to grow in her belief in God, finding her faith in him being the way she managed to get out of bed to complete her WACE exams in Year 12 due to illness.
When she was in university, she was asked by a member of her church whether she wanted to join Girls’ Brigade, she decided to wait until after she finished university and so once she had graduated, she joined Bullcreek Girls’ Brigade as a junior leader. Years later, the Canning Vale Girls’ Brigade had just been started and so she moved to help with this company. Eventually, due to a necessity, she became the Captain of Canning Vale Girls’ Brigade and eventually moved to become the State Chaplain in 2024.
As the State Chaplain, her role is to support the state commissioner, to be available for prayer with leaders and girls, to stay in touch with Company Chaplains and to provide devotions at Board Meetings. She plans to help disciple those throughout the Girls’ Brigade and to support the Board to grow Girls’ Brigade for God’s glory.
Bethany wrote this piece as an initiative task for her Queen’s Award. We think she did a fab job! If you are interested in what you need to do to achieve the Queen’s Award, email Mrs Coral Anderson at waqa@girlsbrigade.org.au
