The Melbourne Indigenous Church: A Story of Hope (Anne Green)

With eyes of faith one can see that the Indigenous Community of Melbourne is beginning to emerge out of a time of spiritual barrenness.

A quick glance across the 15,000-strong Indigenous community of Melbourne reveals only 2 small Indigenous fellowships regularly meeting together, although there are several other ministries happening and Indigenous churches in some regional centres outside Melbourne. As in the Non-Indigenous Church, these ministries that do exist, though aware of one another, are mostly like puzzle pieces not yet linked together into the Body of Christ.

However, a deeper look into the Melbourne Indigenous Community, with some understanding of the spiritual history of this region, uncovers a story of hope:

Seeds……
Seeds of the gospel have been faithfully sown across the Indigenous community of Melbourne for generations. Indigenous Australians are reportedly the most evangelised people group on the planet. Many of those seeds, sown initially by missionaries and Indigenous leaders of the past, have sprung up to revival in former generations. Other seeds lie dormant. Where in this barren place are the wells of life-giving water to bring growth to these seeds?

Wells…..
Spirit-filled Indigenous Christian leaders, past and present have left their legacy in the Indigenous community of Melbourne. Deep ancient wells of God’s Spirit remain, waiting to be re-dug.

Prayer…
God has raised up an Indigenous prayer network to support, encourage and link together Melbourne Indigenous ministries. Through the commitment and intercession of a growing group of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Christians across the city, the needs of the Indigenous Church are being heard and prayers answered. Old wells are being re-dug and seeds watered.

Wheat and Tares…
Along with the seeds of ‘wheat’ the evil one has planted seeds of destruction in the Indigenous community of Melbourne. We must never forget that we and our ancestors have been partner to this along with bringing the words of eternal life in Jesus. Indigenous people in this city still today are crushed by the ongoing harvest of evil sown into their lives and the lives of their forebears. It is the role of the people of God in this city to unravel and reveal the sins of the past and plead the forgiveness and blood of Jesus over the destruction done sometimes even in the name of Christ. The destroyer must also be identified and rebuked.

A flourishing Indigenous Church will emerge in this City and healing will begin in the Name of Jesus.

Inviting You To 40 Days United Prayer

Lent has arrived. It's a season that leads to our commemoration of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. Transforming Melbourne organises 40 days of Prayer Calendar every year. We invite you to join us in united prayer from 17th Feb to 28th March.

This year the focus is "Abiding in Jesus for Fruit That Transforms Cities - Fruit of God's Spirit to transform us and through us our cities across Australia."

You can go to the following link and download the 40 days prayer and fasting guide.

http://www.transformingmelbourne.org.au/

Please feel free to share your reflection here.

Transformation, Purpose, Love, Healing, Provision (Kitty Cheng)

On the last day of 2009, I woke at 6am, the house was quiet. I started reflecting on the year past and became restless.

I spent time looking back at photos, journals and blogs from the last year - special moments, times with friends and family from various parts of the world, holidays, happy times, sad times, ministry, connections and interactions etc.

I thought back to the last New Year. Some of the emotions that I had about how the year ahead would pan out, the dreams I have dreamt, the goals I have set. Some of the goals I set were achieved and the dreams I believed in came true. The obstacles I didn't know I would have to face, yet these unexpected challenges were ok somehow. I know WHOSE I am :)

I was thinking about the new year ahead, vision, mission, dreams, goals and hopes. I have many dreams, I have many personal challenges, yet I feel strong and ready for an exciting New Year.

Five words came to mind as I reflected & prayed:

Transformation

Purpose

Love

Healing

Provision

Out of the five words, TRANSFORMATION is one that I have the strongest emotions to. One of my life goals is to experience the ongoing process of transformation, and help others do the same. It's my heart's desire to be an agent of transformation.

I believe "transformation" is something we allow to be done to us, not something we do by our own power. I pray that we can submit to God's power and by His grace, "change into another form" from "caterpillars" to "butterflies", hence becoming a "new creation." (2 Cor 5:17).

What are your words for 2010?

Standing Together In Unity

Transforming Melbourne is a movement with a vision to see the Kingdom of Jesus be established in this city: The Spirit of Jesus transforming Melbourne in this generation! We believe the Spirit of Jesus is calling the Body of Christ in Melbourne to arise!

Many Christian ministries, many individual Christians are encountering challenges including confusion, interpersonal conflict, discouragement and much of this manifested while our city hosted the Parliament of World Religions.

TM apologises that some of our recent communication regarding the recent World Parliament of Religions was ambiguous. Some comments could be read as if we welcomed the hosting of this function by our city and celebrate that Melbourne as a multi-faith community. Clearly we repent that this city has hosted an international event that honoured and worshipped other spirits.

We believe in one God – Father, Son Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit – and in having no other gods.

So we do not support multi faith worship in our nation nor welcome the worship of other gods in our city. In the lead-up to the "Parliament" TM called for united prayer for the living God to be revealed in simple testimony in the natural realm and proclamation in the spiritual realm. We sought Christians to be a positive witness to Jesus Christ in our city and to the fullness of life in this city and nation because of our Christian heritage. We prayed visitors to our city would encounter Christians showing relational grace, hospitality and clear testimony to who Jesus is and that a positive witness to Jesus’ love for all the people will be carried to all the people groups of the world.

The unity of the Body of Christ is a critical weapon of Jesus so we pray that we can stand as one. Division expressed through denominational and theological conflict does not reflect Jesus’ prayer that we be one. We repent of this on behalf of God’s church in our city. We seek that the world might know God’s love for them by the love we have for each other. We seek the authority of Christ alone in our city and nation and acknowledge no other god.

While we stand against the worship of other gods and uphold the sword of Christ in the spiritual realm – we are called to be servants and to love our neighbours. God loves each person and has sent Jesus to save each one and we are called to reflect Jesus’ love for all the people groups of our city, including people of all religions. We need to have relationships and communication with our neighbours and with civic and religious leaders across our city and to work together to confront shared social issues such as street violence, injustice, human trafficking etc.

The richness of the ethnicity of our city is opportunity for mission and we celebrate and join with Ethnos (formerly Melbourne Conferences for Ethnic Evangelism) in praying for and joining in mission to all the people groups of our city. The Church in Melbourne has a rich opportunity through the high instance of international education and migration to spread the gospel to the nation if we are intentional in rising together.

We invite you to stand with us to declare, honour and reaffirm the sovereignty of Jesus Christ as our Saviour, King of Kings, Lord of Lords in Melbourne!

We need to stand together as spiritual watchmen and elders in Melbourne in this very critical spiritual season. Join us from 17^th February for 40 days of Prayer and Fasting for our city. More information on this will be posted in mid January.