From Hiding to Leading: Luke Anderson’s Unveiling of Faith

Luke Anderson grew up in a Christian home, but it wasn’t until he was at university that he felt convicted to give his entire life to Christ.

After becoming involved with gymnastics in late primary school, it didn’t take Luke long to realise that following Jesus meant being mocked and ridiculed.

“At primary school, nobody cared that I was a Christian,” Luke explains. “But then all of a sudden being thrust into a training environment with much older boys, I became the subject of ridicule for my faith.”

As a nine or 10-year-old boy desperate to fit in, Luke started to hide the fact that he was a Christian. This became a pattern that continued right up until he went to university.

“I think it became ingrained in me that telling people I’m a Christian only leads to being mocked for it,” Luke reflects. “So from that point, right through high school, I was leading a double life in some ways.”

Luke kept his church life completely separate from his school and gymnastics life. He intended to continue doing the same when he started studying Physiotherapy at ACU, but God had other plans.

In Luke’s words, God was “prodding” him through that first year of university. Towards the end of that year, Luke and his then-girlfriend (now wife) Holly were invited to attend NTE (National Training Event).

“Holly said yes before I could say no,” Luke laughs, “so she roped us both into it. And it ended up being really good.”

Luke explains that more than the teaching at NTE—which he acknowledges was great—it was the other students who impacted him the most.

“It was talking to all the students about the way that God was working through their lives, and talking to students who had come to faith through on-campus ministries,” Luke says. “Seeing the joy that they had, and the fact that they didn’t care about being publicly open as a Christian—that’s what opened my eyes.”

Luke realised that Jesus is so much bigger than he had been treating Him. He also realised that the good news is so much better than he had thought.

By the time his second year of university rolled around, Luke helped start the very first Christian group at his university campus in North Sydney. From there, it snowballed.

“I started getting more involved at church,” Luke explains, “I started to preach, and some people at church were encouraging me to have a think about going to Bible college.”

Luke did start thinking about it. He also thought about the MTS apprentices who had helped out his Christian group at university, because he had learnt so much from them.

After attending MTS Recruit, Luke was advised to slow down his apprenticeship plans. 

“The mentor I talked to was really helpful because I was newly married at the time, and Holly was dealing with some significant mental health issues,” Luke explains. “So he said, ‘It’s not a no, but it’s definitely a not yet.’”

Luke worked as a physio for six years before starting up conversations with his minister about ministry again.

“I’d sort of written off doing an apprenticeship, thinking I’m too old,” Luke admits. “Most people do it straight out of uni, but you know, six years out—it’s probably better for me to go straight to Bible college.”

But Luke’s minister suggested that an apprenticeship might actually be a good idea, both for Luke and for Holly.

“I had also written off an apprenticeship thinking that there would be no way that our church could possibly raise the support needed to support an apprentice,” Luke says. “But our minister said we shouldn’t make assumptions – we don’t know unless we ask. And so we did, and the response was actually overwhelming.”

That was really encouraging for Luke. While undertaking his METRO apprenticeship with his local church, Luke attended a Christ College Experience day. That helped him with the decision of which Bible College to attend.

Luke is now in his first year of a Masters of Divinity at Christ College, with the intention to become a candidate. 

First term was a huge learning curve. Studying theology is very different from studying physiotherapy, for one. He’s also been figuring out how to juggle his time while studying as a husband and dad of two little ones.

“It was a bit of a whirlwind in adjustment, but it’s been really good,” Luke says. “I think one of the things I’ve really appreciated – and in part, it probably comes down to that the college is relatively small and intimate – is that there’s been heaps of opportunities to chat with faculty. They’re really available.”

Luke has also valued the natural and intentional way the college facilitates close relationships between students. Highlights so far would include the weekend away and his pastoral care group. He’s looking forward to seeing how God will use him in the years to come.