At the time of writing Ray Ewart is in his late seventies, is retired and is living in a quiet Melbourne suburb with his wife, Joan. Later this year Joan and Ray will have been married for 54 years.
He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1936 and emigrated to Australia in 1972 with Joan and their three children. A fourth member of the family was born in Australia.
Two significant things happened in Ray's life in 1954 and they happened in quick succession. On Sunday evening the 3rd of October he had the life-changing experience of conversion. He came to know Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord. The next day he started work as a trainee Quantity Surveyor, a profession he remained in for all of his working life.
In his secular profession, through studies at The Belfast College of Technology and, by correspondence with The College of Estate Management, he qualified as an Associate of The Institute of Quantity Surveyors and an Associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He was later elected as a Fellow of the Royal Institution. Whilst residing in Northern Ireland he passed through the ranks as a Quantity Surveyor, serving as an Associate for one of the larger practices for 7 years before becoming General Manager of a medium sized construction company. In Australia he worked for construction companies for several years before joining the Public Service of Victoria where he spent the last 17 years of his working life in various roles (starting as a Quantity Surveyor then an Operations Manager and finally a Project Manager for Special Projects - mainly hospitals).
Whilst working in full time secular employment in Northern Ireland Ray became a lay-preacher. At first it was for Young People's meetings but it progressed to Bible Studies in houses, meetings in churches (of any Protestant denomination or Movement that would open their pulpit to him), to gospel missions and to assisting in pastoral duties where the opportunity arose. When he moved to Australia this ministry continued and led to periods of part-time and interim pastoring, involvement in Christian Camps and preaching in a wide variety of churches.
As regards church affiliation Ray and Joan have moved in Baptist and Open Brethren circles for almost equal time but they are currently attending a Melbourne suburban Baptist church.
Ray has written several books on practical, doctrinal and prophetical issues and these are available for download on this website.
In 2012, in response to an invitation to preach in several churches in the Philippines, Ray went on a brief preaching tour of the Bicol Region and during that trip became aware of the needs of smaller Protestant churches and pioneer works in that Region. Ray made many friends there and when he was invited to return the next year he was also invited to speak in churches in the Province of Bulacan. This visit, in 2013, when Ray was accompanied by his brother Trevor, (pastor, at that time, of a Presbyterian church in New South Wales) opened the doors to several other small churches. So strong was the bond between Ray and his fellow-believers in the Philippines that he was invited to return again in 2014. This time the number of invitations had again increased. They had increased beyond Ray's ability to respond to each and every request but the preaching tour was expanded to include Mindanao and people came from surrounding islands to attend the meetings.
Ray felt it would be helpful, in raising interest in support for missionary organisations working in third world countries, and in encouraging Christians in developed countries like Australia, to support small struggling, Bible-based churches in countries like the Philippines, to launch this web page.
