Everald shares insights from his faith
The NSA founder’s new book suggests we adopt a role model for everyday living.
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Everald Compton is well known around Australia, and the world, for his achievements as a fundraiser and advocate of good causes.
The founder of National Seniors Australia is also a popular author who brings his extensive knowledge and boundless curiosity to many different subjects.
His latest of five books, Walking with the Man but not to Church, was launched at a function in Brisbane’s Royal on the Park Hotel on 22 November and is about his faith.
Everald first attended church 93 years ago when his mother Thelma took him with her to the Methodist Church in Linville, 140 kilometres northwest of Brisbane, when he was just three weeks old.
He has been to church services around the world on most Sundays ever since.
Initially a fundamentalist, he says he has progressively moved on to be a traditionalist, modernist, liberal, and reformer.
Everald now describes himself as “a working partner of Jesus the Man”.
His motivation to write the book came from “the decline of churches, plus the fact that fewer than 50% of Australians believe in God, and that the Australian Constitution contains no statement of community values”.
He hopes it will be read by many of the 90% of Australians who do not go to church and hopes to encourage them to adopt Jesus the Man as their role model for life without needing to go anywhere near a church.
The book outlines his journey through life and offers 65 sub-chapters about leaders who have inspired him along the way.
It outlines a challenging pathway to a meaningful life which “millions of responsible citizens can embrace positively”.
Everald is a lifetime elder and lay preacher of the Uniting Church in Australia. He was awarded the Order of Australia twice and is a recipient of the Centenary Medal. He is also a Certified Practising Accountant and a Certified Practising Marketer and has served as an adjunct professor at three universities.
Everald says his faith inspired him to become the founder of National Seniors, the Inland Railway, St Andrews Hospital in Brisbane, and the Compton Gardens retirement village in the Brisbane suburb of Aspley.
He has been married to Helen for 66 years and they have four children, eight grandchildren, and two great grandchildren living in Australia, Britain, and the United States.
