Community Focused
Worldview began in 1956 as Tasmania's first residential Bible training college to prepare women and men for mission. To this day it continues as one of the last remaining residential programs in Australia, maintaining a missionary training heartbeat through the discipline of academic study integrated with community living.
Worldview's campus sits on 40 acres of farmland on the outskirts of Launceston. Over the years the original homestead made way for purpose-built buildings, including a dining hall, staff housing, family accommodation block, and two unit blocks.
What does community living look like?
Living on campus means more than simply having a convenient place to sleep and eat. A residential community is about intentionally spending time with others in a timetabled context where many of the practical aspects of the college are done together.
A discipleship community is a place where you come to terms with your own expectations and what it means to live with others who see the world differently than you do.
We recognise that as individuals we are comfortable in our own space and the way we do things, but community living provides the kind of personal growth you can't obtain by any other means, especially when dealing with people from other cultures.
In practical terms living at Worldview not only involves time for you to engage in classes and study, but also contributing to the running of the training centre. This is about doing duties every day and doing practical work around the property every Wednesday afternoon.
Duties mostly involve working in the kitchen mornings and evenings, cleaning various public spaces regularly or working on the farm. Duties take about 90 minutes each day and are done in small teams.
A place for learning
Our campus offers you the opportunity to learn in a quiet location with a great education facility, home to our classroom spaces, library, and auditorium.
As a trainee you'll experience a learning timetable where the day begins with short community worship, lectures in the morning and time to study in the afternoons and evenings.
Every Wednesday we gather for chapel and discipleship small groups we call huddles. In the afternoon it's time for practical work around the property.
Students in the past will remember a time when learning took place either in makeshift classrooms in the original homestead building or in the dining hall, where it would be transformed to accommodate for larger events like Singspiration every month, or for Commencement and Graduations services.
Today staff and trainees make good use of our education block where the main library lives, alongside three classrooms. Adjacent to the hallway is the auditorium, a generous space that's used every day for worship and prayer.
Specialising in theology, mission, and cultural studies, Worldview's library has grown over 65 years, holding a wide range of printed resources for trainees and keen readers alike.
Library membership is available to the public. Get in touch with us if you'd like to know more information.
Eating together
As a learning community we choose to eat together five days a week, from Monday to Friday. This takes place in our Dining Hall, a large room where trainees, staff, volunteers, and families sit together and enjoy a great meal freshly prepared in our commercial kitchen.
You'll also enjoy morning tea in this space, a 30-minute break each weekday to relax, sit by the fire, catch up with others or play table tennis.
Previously the location of the property's stables, these old structures would make way for a dining hall that could accommodate the growing number of students in the 1960s.
Affectionally called the "dining room", this communal space has been the college hub where relationships have deepened, God's will been sought and great food experiences been appreciated by some or endured by others.
We often get asked, why eat together? It would be simpler and move convenient for all staff, students, and volunteers to prepare their own meals at whatever time suited them. However, our value for community and discipleship is such that we choose to sit around tables daily, because we appreciate the deep qualities of sharing a meal with others who are different to us.
Residential living
Staff, trainees, and volunteers live on campus in a range of different houses and units.
Trainees with young children make use of units in our family accommodation block, while couples and singles enjoy two-bedroom units in our accommodation blocks on the top side of our property.
Units are simple but comfortable, with a small kitchen (including a fridge, microwave and stove), two bedrooms, single toilet and shower.
Washing machines can be accessed in communal laundries, one for each accommodation block.
Want to experience Worldview for a week?
Family friendly
Our Play Centre has been an integral part of our community for decades, facilitating families and their lives at Worldview as mums and dads engage in full-time study.
The centre seeks to cater for children from 9 months through to 5-years-old in a safe space thanks to a committed team, ensuring fun, laughter and exploration.
Its timetable seeks to align with trainees' schedule, ensuring families can nurture their rhythms of sleep, eating and play time.
Our farm
About 20 acres is used for farming, supplementing our kitchen needs and providing quality meat, veggies and fruit all year round.
As a trainee you'll have a chance to do some work on the farm as part of our scheduled duties. You'll rub shoulders with our farm manager as you take care of cattle, pull out weeds in the veggie plots, harvest produce and bail hay.
You can easily access the property for walks morning or evening, even go for swims in the river in the warmer months.