I don’t know how qualified I am for speaking about ministry happening in Australia. I travel back once a year, receive updates from certain people, and try and keep relevant. Though Australia does not have a very large population there are many great things happening, and I am quite sure God is doing much more than I have heard of.
In spite of all this for most of you reading I am your token Australian friend, or for those in Oz, I may offer a different perspective, so I shall write some periodic updates about what I am hearing and seeing, who may be doing things, and so forth. Besides, my lack of knowledge on a topic has never stopped me speaking on it before, so why begin now?
Most of my involvement in Oz is around Young Life, especially in Armidale where I used to live. In the U.S. I am not a huge fan of Young Life, though I have some great friends serving tirelessly. It just has issues that make it a difficult way to serve in the city. In Australia, Young Life is not large and is one of a very small group doing ministry amongst marginalized youth. It is incarnational and relevant to the culture.
Within and around Young Life are some very special people. Mary Lou and Keith Doe who now serve the Anglican Church in Emmaville were mostly responsible for me coming to America, and have been strong models in our lives. Glyn Henman, the President of Young Life Australia who has taught me many things, who continues to cast a vision in a barren land and who walks alongside young leaders that others would, and have abandoned. Sly, Ben and Brett, staff who tough it out on a daily basis.
Then there is Bronnie (Browyn Logan) and Samuel. Two young leaders running a ministry drop in centre in Armidale. Bronnie spent some time with us this summer, and she is a lady of passion and persistence. Samuel is a man wise far beyond his years. They have been tasked with helping Aboriginal youth on their journey to know the Lord.
There are not many people serving in Aboriginal communities in Australia. Fewer still serving the semi-rural communities often located on the edge of towns. These communities are known as “missions” (more on that term in the future) and although there are often small church congregations in the community, there is very little in the way of direct service ministry, incarnational ministry nor ministries of justice and mercy.
Bronnie and Samuel have accepted God’s call into this field and are excelling. There is no models close by for them to view, not a lot of support or a great eagerness for others to join them. Yet onward they push. The youth culture resembles a poor inner city culture, with a mix of strong cultural religion and spiritualism (the dreamtime), tribal value systems and deep pain. There is over 200 years of persecution of the Aboriginal culture along with ineffective policies to change the situations. Systematic injustices, deep rooted racism, ignorance and abuse. There are strong parallels to the Native Americans, another people group that has been pushed aside by the majority.
How do you point out the work of the Holy Spirit in such a community? How do you advocate justice whilst educating and loving? How do you enter a place called “the mission”, an aberration of the very nature of our calling? I don’t know, but I am eager to watch and see what God will do with his willing people. I am blessed to have met these two people and to have been invited to take some part in their journey, mostly as someone asking them questions, helping them process, and most of all, praying with them (all over SKYPE, a wonderful communications tool). They have a difficult task, one that will require great perseverance in the face of apparent failure and despair. Yet we bear witness to a God capable of overcoming any destruction man has wrought. I ask that you join us in this journey. Please be praying for them as they take a small group of youth to camp in January and especially for the youth to not only see Jesus on the mountain top, but Jesus on their own street, in their homes, in “the mission”.
Thursday 3 January 2008
Wednesday 1 August 2007
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