When you think of the word “successful,”
who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?
The first person who comes to mind is Paul Barnett, who served as the second Master of Robert Menzies College from 1980 to 1990 before becoming the Anglican Bishop of North Sydney. He recently turned ninety, and though his health is variable, he remains a great encourager — always speaking with warmth about the college and its ongoing work.
People still talk about his time as Master as the golden years of the College. Four decades later, former residents still describe the influence he had on their lives, and some make a point of dropping in to see him when they visit Sydney. His leadership clearly left a mark that has lasted well beyond his tenure.
Barnett’s achievements are many — a PhD on the relationship between the New Testament and Jewish history, parish ministries in Sydney and Adelaide, and national recognition as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019. Yet when people asked him why he left parish ministry, his answer was simple and revealing: he hadn’t left ministry at all. His years at the college were, he said, the most fruitful ministry of his life.
That reframing of success has always stayed with me. He saw his work not as an interruption to “real ministry” but as a vital expression of it — teaching, mentoring, and walking alongside young people as they found their direction in life. His success wasn’t about position or profile; it was about faithfulness and fruitfulness over time.
When asked about the secret to that success, Barnett pointed not to his intellect or discipline, but to his wife. He said that the love they shared was what made everything else possible. Their family remains generous and grounded, establishing a scholarship to help rural students who would otherwise struggle to afford study in Sydney. Their influence has continued through quiet generosity, rather than public acclaim.
I now find myself following in his footsteps as Master of the same college, and there are days I feel like a minnow in comparison. Yet what encourages me most is his ongoing kindness — the way he still speaks positively about the continuing vibrancy of the community he helped to shape.
In a world that often equates success with visibility or speed, Paul Barnett’s life reminds me that real success is faithfulness, love, and legacy that endures. It’s the quiet fruit that grows over time — the kind that keeps nourishing others long after the season of leadership has passed.
The Afterword 
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