The following is a prayer penned by Pastor Ray Minniecon after the ground-breaking gathering that took place at Surrender 09 with church leaders and indigenous leaders.
I add my own voice to thIs growing prayer.
National Church Prayer
Pastor Ray Minniecon
February 2010.
God and Creator of our all Aboriginal nations in Australia. You have lived among us since time immemorial. We have always known You. You gave this land to our ancestors and to all Aboriginal nations. You have not dispossessed us nor destroyed us. You are the only true God of Justice.
People from other lands, who do not understand our unique culture, our unique lifestyle and our unique heritage have come and destroyed much of our way of life. Many of these people from other lands now want to understand and reconcile with us.
But for many of us Aboriginal people, we find this reconciliation business a little difficult because;
Too many of our children are still in jails. Many have died in custody without justice.
Too many of our children are still living in sub-standard housing.
Too many of our mothers are living on the streets or in refuges.
Too many of our children are still uneducated.
Too many of our children have no land and no community to go back to.
Too many of our children have not got opportunities for good employment.
Too many of our children are living in extremely unhealthy environments.
Too many of our children are living among violence and abuse.
Too many of our children are dying to drugs and other soul-destroying substances.
God our Dreaming and Creator of our people, we feel overwhelmed by these things. Many of us feel like we are refugees in our own land.
Today we are coming together again to cry out to You for mercy and justice for our children, for our families and for our land.
We pray that more resources will be given to our local community Churches to help us grow healthy and strong.
We pray that the leaders of our national churches will be given a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone so that they can hear our cry, understand us and support us properly.
We pray that your Spirit will help and encourage us to grow good strong Aboriginal leaders.
Our heavenly Father we want to grow strong and healthy again in our own land. We want to take our rightful place in our land and make our contribution to the re-building of our families, our communities our nation and Your kingdom.
Firstly let me apologise. It has been several weeks since I posted anything. So much has happened in the past three to four months, some of which I have twittered or mentioned on Facebook, but neglected to Post here.
So, in an effort to bring you all up to speed…
When I met with TC Knaggs (Territorial Commissioner) late last year about enrolling theSalvation Army into working with Holy Fools to form a mission centre/drop in centre, he invited me to consider joining them in planting a Corps (Church). After a month of prayer, and careful discernment, I said yes and completed a form. After sometime, this became a reality and we moved a suburb over to Lilydale to plant a church.
There is more to it, much more — than I have written here, however, time, yours and mine, leads me to brevity.
That being said, we are happy in a new home, the plant is now in it’s third month. The kids are still in the same school and both Jen and I are enjoying the challenge and blessing of bringing the Gospel and The Salvation Army to Lilydale. That’s not too say the Salvos aren’t here! There is a Salvation Army Employment Plus and Salvo Op Shop and apparently they did have a Corps here that disbanded in 1906!
So, that being said, part of what we are doing is opening a mission centre that will form the nucleus of the church plant and be a centre of our community within the greater community of Lilydale. Linked is a copy of the proposed centre.
We are now seeking for the mission centre;
3 x 3 Seater Leather Couches
3 x PC’s (or Mac’s with Windows & Office, Network & Internet Capable
2 x 4 Seater Cafe Tables
1 x Coffee Machine (to make Cappuccino’s etc)
1 x wooden coffee table
1 x Fridge
Also seeking some paint (not sure of colours at this stage nor how much) and heavy wearing carpet and some quality lino.
If you can help with any of this please email me or use the contact page.
I will be posting more about the progress of the plant and mission centre here as the year progresses. That's also in addition to whatever I feel I need to share with you all! So, please, keep reading!
I have received so many comments from those who heard you. They have all said what an inspirational message it was. Some also shared that it really helped them, and others that it challenged them. Everyone had only positive things to say, and they are still talking about it. For me, you hit the nail on the head with so much positive encouragement for our struggling efforts. It was great to hear in more detail what is happening in your ministry. You obviously have a wonderful ministry among “these little ones” and your impact is spreading far and wide. Personally I also really enjoyed having you and your family with us.
Thanks so mush and god Bless
If you would like me to come speak about homelessness, poverty and the disadvantaged and the mission of the Church, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to come share with you!
Bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.
Currently planting a church — more on this soon — but rest assured, this is not what we are planning! “Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo. dtsv.dtse_post_1578_permalink = ‘http://www.handtotheplough.com.au/2010/05/19/sundays-coming-look-familiar/’; dtsv.dtse_post_1578_title = ‘Sunday’s Coming — Look Familiar?’;
In a previous post I mentioned that our car, a Commodore VX II Acclaim Wagon, was badly damaged by the hail storm while in the car park of Belgrave Heights Leisure Centre for the Surrender Conference. So, this is an update to share where we are at with the car. Well, today I dropped the car […]
If you have been following my series of posts about our housing crisis, it has been over two weeks since I last posted. The previous posts can be found here; Day 15, Day 12, Day 6, Day 1 This is a fairly long post, so please be patient and read to the end. Today was […]
It has been a week since Surrender, and while so much has happened since then, I have wanted to really sit and process some of what I listened to over the weekend. If anything, there are two main things that I have come away with. The first is the Church and indigenous Australians. This would […]
with Windows & Office, Network & Internet Capable
