These resources have been prepared by Aboriginal Christian Leader Brooke Prentis, with support from the Common Grace team, to help your church meaningfully engage in prayer and solidarity on Aboriginal Sunday this year.
We pray that your church will be challenged and encouraged as they take this next step on the journey of friendship with our Aboriginal Christian Leaders who lead us down the path towards justice and healing in this land we now call Australia.
Service Outline
Recommended Service Order (use provided PowerPoint slides)
- Acknowledgement of Country from your service leader (1:00)
- Introduction to Aboriginal Sunday 2020 from your service leader (1:00)
- Video message from Aunty Jean (1:32)
- Prayer for January 26th by Rev Katherine Rainger (2:00)
- Video message from Brooke Prentis (7:19)
- Responsive Prayer for the Journey of Healing (2:00)
- Advocate by taking a photo of your congregation standing barefoot together (3:00)
- Promote the National Prayer Service in your city (0:30)
- Benediction Aboriginal Blessing by Brooke Prentis (1:30)
Service Resources
We have uploaded all the resources for your service onto a shared Google Drive folder which you can access here. We have also listed each resource out below:
PowerPoint Slides
We have put together some slides to guide you through your service.
Videos
You’ll need to download both videos, rather than stream from our website, so you can test them on your system before the service and make sure both visual and audio are working. Please watch the videos the whole way through, to make sure they don’t drop out unexpectedly.
Prayers & Readings
You’ll need to ask someone from your community to read each prayer and passage. Please ask them to practise their readings beforehand, so they are confident with its message and delivery. Please acknowledge the authors of the prayers and passage before reading publicly.
- Download History of Aboriginal Sunday
- Download Prayer for January 26th (by Rev Katherine Rainger)
- Download Responsive Prayer for the Journey of Healing
- Download Benediction: An Aboriginal Blessing (by Brooke Prentis)
Advocacy
On Jan 26 we’ll be asking Christians and Churches to post barefooted photos of themselves on social media, as an action to acknowledge the traditional custodians who’s land we stand and who we stand with in justice, healing and Reconciliation. We’d love your church to take of their shoes and stand together for a photo that can be shared on your social media on January 26th.
Please email your photos to Common Grace at [email protected]
Promotion
In the weeks leading up to January 26th we are hosting National Prayer Services across the country, largely led by Aboriginal Christian Leaders. It is very important that your Aboriginal Sunday sharing is not done instead of attending these prayer services, so please promote to your church the upcoming National Prayer Service in your city.