Ministry team
Ministry team
Senior Pastor
Stephen Taylor
Stephen has been heading up the ministry team since 2015. He trained at Moore Theological College before spending 21 years at Tweed Heads Presbyterian Church. Stephen is married to Kaylene and they have three great kids – Sam, Jemma and Josh. Stephen loves preaching from the Bible, caring pastorally for his fellow Christians and running short term mission trips to Vanuatu. In his spare time he loves time spent with his family, playing and watching soccer and travelling to new places.
Associate Minister
Audric Sardjono
Audric is married to Elise, and together they’re outnumbered by their four daughters, who keep life fun and chaotic. After five years as the Children and Families Minister at Chatswood Presbyterian Church, he made the move to Newcastle in 2025 to take on the role here at Charlestown.
Audric loves coming alongside people and learning about their story, and will never say no to a coffee and a yarn. When he’s not hanging out with his family or working, you’ll probably find him exploring local cafés or tinkering with his latest project ie. 3d printing or perfecting an espresso shot.
Young Adults Worker
Luke Wigney
Luke is the young adult/youth worker at Charlestown. Born and raised in Newcastle, Luke has been helping with Impact youth group, Young Adults Bible Fellowhip, and Newcastle Christian Students since 2021. Luke loves working alongside young people and helping them grow in their faith and realising what it looks like to live for God. He loves Jesus, going for long bike rides and reading any good book (in that order).
Administration Worker
Samuel Wilson
Samuel is the church’s administrative worker, taking the responsibilities for the internal and external communication in the church.
Lifelong Novocastrian, Samuel loves a coffee from any good cafe and enjoys a good bushwalk when the sun’s out.
To contact Sam, email welcome@cpres.org.au
Pastoral Care Worker
Joanna Barlow
Jo heads up the pastoral care team and is responsible for music at the church. She is married to Malcolm, with whom she has two adult sons, and works part-time as a psychiatrist. In what remains of her time, Jo enjoys tackling the occasional cryptic crossword, Parkruns and cooking up a storm in her Thermomix.
Eldership
Steve Gillard, Rob Hearn, Ross Logan & David Wigney
The spiritual work of the church is overseen by a Session of 5 elders:
Steve Gillard, Rob Hearn, Ross Logan, Stephen Taylor, and David Wigney.
Committee of Management
Stuart Blanch, Kathy James, Greg Wilkinson, Letitia Wigney & Samuel Wilson.
The day to day administration work of the church is overseen by a group of 5 individuals, and lead by our minister, Stephen
