Campaign
This Reconciliation week finds us responding to COVID-19 and the important Reconciliation week theme - In this together.
As we have been isolating, our First Peoples sisters and brothers have also been facing this pandemic. The particular circumstances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders has meant that they have had to take extra precautions at this time. TEAR has had the opportunity to support some of them as they have sought to embody the “In this together” theme with the love of Christ.
Watch this video of TEAR’s CEO Matthew Maury talking to Natasha Michael, Director and Program Manager of Moorditj Keila, one of TEAR’s partners who has been responding to COVID-19. Natasha shares how they have experienced reconciliation as they have supported their community.
TEAR’s First Peoples partner Strong Women Talking (SWT) have put together care packages for the vulnerable women who are part of their program. They have delivered these along with some literature about how to stay healthy and safe at this time. The health packages include hand sanitiser that SWT have packaged up as well as other cleaning and personal hygiene products and a supply of grocery items. SWT have had to cancel face to face gatherings but have increased their online presence and done some one-on-one phone support.
First Peoples partner, Moorditj Keila, have been delivering grocery supplies to families that are self isolating because they have elderly people or people living with a disability in them. They have been cooking up meals and have also sourced kangaroo meat that they have been including in their delivery.
TEAR’s first Aboriginal project sees funding to members of the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Community.
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander projects funded since 1978.
TEAR Australia’s first Reconciliation Action Plan.
Development of new guidelines to support smaller, less experienced Indigenous groups.
Let the deliveries begin, Thank you TEAR Australia for sponsoring us to deliver 20 much needed care packages to women in our community.
As we seek to enact a world where every person has the opportunity to achieve their God-given potential, we recognise that many of Australia’s First Peoples still experience daily injustice and the effects of intergenerational trauma.
In light of the injustices experienced by Australia’s First People, TEAR responds in two ways:
We extend an invitation for all Australian Christians to work with us to overcome injustice. Together, let’s deepen our understanding and prayerfully consider how we can engage in the work of reconciliation and healing that God calls us to.
A seven-part series for Reconciliation Week: “Reflections on Reconciliation”, based on interviews with four Christians from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds
A collection of resources designed to inspire groups and individuals to act in seeking to build connection and relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to walk together in seeking justice.
In this resource, Rev. Neville Naden from the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship and Bush Church Aid compares secular and biblical reconciliation. He concludes that “we are all a part of the family of God when it comes to biblical reconciliation, and once we move into a relationship with God, we become a part of his family.”.
