Un-F/fathered: the national shame of Indigenous deprivation
“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:26-28)
Background
Some decades ago, the Lord spoke to me about our family adopting an Indigenous baby, shortly after, Donna’s youngest sister asked us to adopt her new baby, whose dad was a full-blood Aboriginal. (In due course we became Bethany’s legal guardians, and she lived with us for several years until her mum asked for her return.) Then a few days ago (8-9/4/24), a series of sovereignly arranged events led to today’s article. Monday, I was chairing a national meeting online with senior Christian First Nations people, Auntie Jean Philipps, and Brooke Prentis. In the background were the recent chaos in Alice Springs, record rates of incarceration, juvenile detention and youth suicide, and “the gap” between majority Australian and Aboriginal health (https://www.kirby.unsw.edu.au/news/sexually-transmissible-infections-are-rise-australia-syphilis-rates-tripling-over-decade). Our Caucasian participants were basically left embarrassed and speechless by the reports of our black sisters. Then, Donna came home from the local supermarket (our suburb has a sizeable Indigenous population), reporting in detail an incident involving Aboriginal youth that was fear-inducing and loathsome. Ignorant of all this, at an early prayer meeting on Tuesday, an intercessor was moved by the Spirit to pray at length about the catastrophic state of Indigenous peoples. Without delving into the rising reality of racism, I’ve been inside the Indigenous focussed “Animal Bar” in Alice and talked about Jesus freely with some of its drinkers, few could deny that the situation with Indigenous Aussies cannot be solved by any natural means. Today’s teaching attempts to summarise what the Spirit is presently saying to the Australian Church concerning our national dilemma (Rev 2:7. 11. 17. 29; 3:6; 13. 22).
History Points to Jesus
By divine providence the God long ago brought Aboriginal folk to this continent. As Paul teaches, God’s purpose in this was that “they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him”. In due course, Evangelical missionaries came. Though often opposed by British colonising powers (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Gribble), hordes of native peoples came to Jesus and they have experienced many powerful revivals (e.g. Fire in the Outback: The Untold Story of the Aboriginal Revival Movement that Began on Elcho Island in 1979). Digging deeper, the apostle exposes the core failure of our pioneers. In their cultural elitism, few immigrants, then and now, have embraced in their heart (cf. Jer 9:23-24) the revealed truth that by creation and providence God is our common Father (Acts 17:28). Exceptional early holy missionaries loved the Indigenous peoples, not least due to the witness of this text,“(God) hath made of one blood all nations of men” (Acts 17:26 KJV). They took this to refer to our common inheritance from Adam; it can be read of the objective universal reconciliation through the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28; Col 1:20; 2 Cor 5:19). Biblical grounds for reconciliation have nothing in common with contemporary trends but are rooted in the eternal death of Christ (Rev 13:8).
Healing Through Yarning
Aboriginal culture does not operate like Western society. As Auntie Jean and Brooke put it, the primary purpose of our gathering was to renew relationships between the Grass Tree Gathering (https://www.facebook.com/grasstreegathering/) and the Evangelical Alliance Foundation (https://www.ea.org.au/). For this reason, the issue of financial support, though mentioned, was treated as secondary. These relational foci are hard for us to inwardly digest, but they are eminently biblical in orientation (https://www.gafcon.org/prayer/collect-for-the-second-sunday-in-advent). Aboriginal English speakers might tell us, “Yarning heals all wounds because it has no time limits”. To be spiritually powerful, such “yarning” must share in the indefinite extension of time Jesus endured in his moment of dereliction on the cross to heal our woundedness; “at the ninth hour Jesus cried…“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34). Such spiritual healing through conversation, by, “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15), requires supernatural patience, a gift the Spirit gives to the Church (Gal 5:22). What then is holding back Christ’s Body in her call to walk with the least, last and lost amongst Indigenous peoples?
Make Some Friends
“Friendship through reconciliation” is the email footer for Brooke Prentis. There is an impressive theological foundation for this (cf. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/ray-ortlund/job-broken-friendships-and-reconciliation/) which is objective and independent of our best intentions. We need to repent of placing Indigenous peoples in a welfare category rather than a hospitality mindset (Richard Oliver). Like it or not, every Aboriginal person who knows Jesus is your brother/sister forever (Rom8:30)!! More than this, Christ told us, “You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.” (John 15:14). (Importantly, “friends in the plural in the New Testament is always positive.) Taking this just as seriously as the Great Commission imperative, “teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19), will herald a new season of mature discipleship and the promised presence of Jesus (Matt 28:20) in the Australian Church. All you need to do is to reach out to embrace some black brothers and sisters in your city.
Forget the System Join the Family
The “systems” of government, business, politics, finance, and institutional religion are necessarily failing, for First Nations peoples retain a relational-spiritual sensitivity lost through the industrialisation of Western culture. More foundationally, a Church missing spiritual fathers/mothers (1 Cor 4:15) lacks the authority and integrity to image and accept the adoption (Rom 8:14-16) and reconciliation already achieved in Christ for those who know God (John 17:3), of whatever race. We need those who will enact relational friendship and reconciliation in Jesus. Across Australia people are praying for revival, but it will never be sent whilst judgement abides on “the household of God” (1 Pet 4:17). Forget about prioritising money, what Indigenous people need is friends and fathers/mothers in God. By his death and resurrection, Jesus has already realised what natural people find impossible. Through his discipled Body our common land (cf. Phil 3:20-21) can witness Christ’s relational power. Live it out in your neighbourhood and revival will surely come (cf. Isa 58). Since souls are colourless, you can adopt/father/mother anyone through the Spirit of Jesus (Rom 8:14-16)!