Ben van Gelderen

About the author

Ben van Gelderen was born in Sydney and studied law and linguistics. However, he soon realised that teaching and preaching was his true vocation and began working in chaplaincy roles. In 2009, with his young family, he moved to the Northern Territory, Australia to work at Gäwa Christian School in remote, North-East Arnhem Land. He was privileged to be adopted into the Indigenous Yolŋu kinship network whilst living at Gäwa and thus began his journey of living and learning ‘Bothways’.  Later he completed PhD studies with the Gäwa community- focussing on their ‘on country’ and ‘Bothways’ approach around topics such as bilingual education, multi-literacy, homelands and a seasonal-cycle curriculum. In Darwin, Ben worked further in Christian schools with Indigenous boarding students from across the Northern Territoryand at Charles Darwin University he coordinated  the ‘Growing Our Own’ Initial Teacher Education program for remote Indigenous ‘Assistant Teachers’.Lastly, as Principal of Nungalinya College- the ecumenical (Anglican, Catholic, Uniting, as well as Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal) training centre for Indigenous ministrieshe learned alongside hundreds of Indigenous Christian Elders, further expanding his understanding of the ‘Bothways’ approach into the theological realm.