Senior Aboriginal Christian Leader calls the Church to prayer in lead up to January 26th
NATIONAL. This January, from 15 - 25 January, Aunty Jean Phillips, a Senior Aboriginal Christian Leader, in partnership with Common Grace, invites Australian Christians to attend #ChangeTheHeart services of acknowledgement, lament and prayer as we approach January 26th – a day of mourning for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
In every Capital City of each State and Territory, and several regional centres, Aboriginal-led prayer services will be held in the two weeks leading up to January 26th. In the last few years these services have gathered thousands of Christians in prayer and solidarity, responding to the invitation of Aunty Jean Phillips, with the support of Brooke Prentis and Common Grace to come together in prayer and reflection on the true history of this land.
Aunty Jean Phillips is one of Australia’s most senior Aboriginal Christian Leaders, and has been educating Australian Christians for many decades on the true history of these lands we now call Australia. Aunty Jean says, ”It’s important that we as Christians come together and look at our history, but also to see how we can journey together and bring God’s true healing and reconciliation into this nation.”
These services are being hosted with the support of Brooke Prentis, Aboriginal Christian Leader, and Common Grace (www.commongrace.org.au), a Christian justice movement that walks in solidarity with Aboriginal Christian leaders. These services echo the calls of William Cooper and his establishment of Aboriginal Sunday in the Protestant churches in 1940. Brooke Prentis, the Aboriginal spokesperson for Common Grace (and incoming CEO beginning February 2020), will be travelling the country leading many of these services. Brooke says, “January 26 is a day of conflict where many Aboriginal peoples are mourning, commemorating survival, acknowledging invasion, or just hurting and grieving. Through these services we create the space for community and learning as we pray for love to triumph, as together, Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal peoples, we cling to the Cross and cry out for justice to Jesus the great healer.”
These services are being hosted by Christians from local churches across the country, who are committed to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Contact: Brooke Prentis, [email protected], 0416 197 324.
https://www.commongrace.org.au/jan26_2020
About Common Grace:
Common Grace is an online movement of over 45,000 Christians from churches across Australia, together campaigning for justice issues such as climate change, people seeking asylum, domestic violence and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander justice.
www.commongrace.org.au
Assets and Links:
Details of the individual Prayer Services:
https://www.commongrace.org.au/jan26_2020_prayer_services
Video of Aunty Jean inviting Churches to come together in prayer:
(https://youtu.be/exBry5h3mIY)
More information about William Cooper’s leadership and legacy at:
https://www.commongrace.org.au/william_cooper
