without doubt.  although redfern has been a little quiet.  we see each other as brothers and sisters in two senses.  through Christ, and as Aboriginals.  theres a brotherhood.  its great!

we support each other in various ways and try to meet for fellowship, not only with churches within sydney but right through the eastern states, and sometimes those from the western states.

Hi Jonathan

welcome to the Shoalhaven!!  we are praying for you, your family and your ministry, and are looking forward to building relations with you and the community here at Culburra and Orient Point - so that the gospel will have a great impact here

in Christ
Graham Fairbairn
Culburra Beach Anglican Church

thanks graham.

im sure there will be much opportunity to meet and gather out your way. 

the welcome to the area has been very warm and we can praise God for those have been highly interested in the Aboriginal community and their need for Christ.

hope to meet soon

HI Graham,
Thanks for the kind greetings and prayerful enthusiasm in support of Jonathan’s ministry.

Well Jonathan, It’s almost 10am so as our official discussion nears the close I have a two part question:
1. What particular things could we pray for as you go about your ministry?
2. What could we pray for in terms of the broader Indigenous community?

Often the problem lies with perception and expectations from the local church people, some Aboriginal and many not.  i have come across this and find it a battle.  please pray for these people, and melissa and i, as we work together to bring Christ’s message.  often we spend much time in this area.

as a broader community, we need well trained leaders in our churches.  pray that God will opoen the door to further the biblical education of my people.

thanks everyone for the chat.  i will reply or answer questions later this evening and throughout the week if there are any more.

Hi Jonathan,
thanks for your time today. It was very much appreciated and very informative.
Thanks also for your willingness to answer other questions throughout the week as they arise.
We are all praying for your ministry!

Hi Jonathan

I’m about to start our youth group up again in Redfern for the third year running. About half the kids are Koori, and it’s been really exciting sharing the gospel with these kids. However, looking back over the last 2 years we ended up being more like a baby sitting club and spending all our time trying to curb behavioural problems and those who were actually interested in hearing the gospel tended to miss out. We are changing the way we run the group this year, but I was wondering i you had any tips for doing youth ministry with Aboriginal kids? I understand you ran a youth group while you were at college.

ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Geoff

gday geoff,

thanks for taking interest in our young people.  many families will see the work of the church as time away from the kids and send them to functions such as youth group.  melissa (my wife) and i worked in the minto area for 3 years and found the work an awesome challange, but one which we saw the Spirit move in some of the young people.  we too had the problem of those who werent interested in the gospel but there for other reasons which im sure you know about.  we found that those ones who were maturing in the Lord would be regular and others, not so.  we decided, only during the study time (not games, or outings etc) to make a distinction between the two when we would study the word, even if they were the same age, or same year level at school, which was often the case.  some didnt like it, but they got used to it.  we found the ones not highly interested still came but more importantly, the ones who wanted to listen grew in the Lord.  Thats exciting! 

im sure theres much more, but i hope this helps.

Jonathan (if you are still available).

Is it your experience that ministry in rural areas requires separate congregations catering for Indigenous people as distinct from non-Indigenous people?

Sunday morning is a pretty segregated time of the week here in Kalgoorlie, and I remember when Bishop Leftwich visited us once from North Qld, he said it was much the same in his diocese.

Do you know of any ministries that have successfully crossed that cultural divide?

I guess it’s no big deal in Sydney, but a lot of smaller country towns have trouble financially sustaining one church, let alone two.

hey alan,

sorry mate, its been a busy day. 

as you would know, many Aboriginal people dont feel welcome in many white dominant gatherings, whether the pereception from the local congregation is welcoming or not.  there is much to consider when bringing the gospel to a people with much suppression from those who colonised their land and assimilated them into another culture.  its hard to deal with.  getting our people to have ownership is an important step in the bringing of the gospel.  all the indigenous congregations in sydney have a separate gathering place.  the local people feel they can walk into the gathering because its theres.  In nowra, we are trying to do this, but im not sure i like the chances.  as far as i can tell, and its the same everywhere ive been, the local people want their own church, something thats theres.  many of the christians in this area go along to various denominations, but they area saying they would like their own, where they can bring non-christians along. 

im not interested in pushing segregation, but in some circumstances its something which they need.  there is a thought though of establishing an indigenous congregation in the anglican church which has many positives, and a few negatives.  im willing to give a shot and its up to the community to tell me what we focus our efforts on.

ta for the question.  i will be around a fair while on this issue because i think it highly important. take care mate.
jonathan.