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Mission Update – Regional Indigenous Ministries

In April, Mission of the Month giving is directed to Regional Indigenous Ministries, based at Campbelltown and Nowra. There are some fine indigenous Christians involved, but entrenched disadvantage means such ministries struggle to be self-sustaining. I believe we owe a special debt of encouragement to those ministering to the first custodians of Australia, given the poor treatment many Aboriginal people received at the hands of later arrivals. Here’s a bit of info about the indigenous ministries in our region.

Macarthur Indigenous Church’s pastor is Michael Duckett. If you are interested in staying in touch with what they do, you could ask to join their Supporters Facebook Group.

Shoalhaven Aboriginal Community Church (ShACC) has links with All Saints, Nowra. A big prayer point here is that Phil Miles is transitioning out of leadership, with the prayer for suitable aboriginal leadership to be raised up or otherwise found.

For those interested in thinking deeply, our diocesan Doctrine Commission last year released a report called “A Theological Framework for Reconciliation with special attention to Indigenous Peoples of Australia.” You can access it by scrolling down here…

If you are interested, David Heins and Philippa Blomfield from here are involved with a small discussion group based in Wollongong in support of indigenous ministries.

Parish Council Update: March

• After Bible reading and prayer, we received Mia David’s final report as Safe Ministry Rep before her retirement. We also resolved to move the following motion at the AGM:

“The members, Parish Council and staff of St Michael’s give thanks to God for the service of Mia David, as the parish’s inaugural Safe Ministry Representative, and for her faithful, diligent, persistent service in the role over a decade in delivering safe ministry training, assisting and auditing Working With Children Check compliance and generally championing the delivery of ministry in safe ways to children and other vulnerable people, modelling the priority of Jesus’s love for ‘little ones’.”

• We agreed to get quotes on items such as painting, flooring, lighting and revised partitioning to improve the downstairs kids ministry space in the hall.
• Cathedral roof replacement project update: a significant delay is due to repeated failure in Church Property Trust staff to act on the request to sign the works contract. This has now been rectified but work is not likely to start until the end of the Easter school holidays.
• We noted that the floor in Cathedral’s northern transept is deteriorating and has caused a minor trip hazard, so we are following up with a carpenter for options.
• We resolved to enter an agreement to rent the Georgina Ave property for up to 9 months, while we determined the next steps in our residential property strategy; this period means it would be available if needed for staff use in 2022.

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