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July 4, 2009 In this issue “Operation Open Heart” visits Fiji ADRA helps NNSW flood victims Why I believe in God The Australian Union Conference has purchased the land that houses Mamarapha College from the Western Australian government. AUC purchases Mamarapha College KARRAGULLEN, WESTErn AUSTraLia he Australian Union Conference town, it is quiet and ideally located. It is (AUC) has purchased the 2.58 hec- also a good size and since it was previously tares of land where Mamarapha used by the government as a school, there College, a tertiary-level training are existing classrooms, administrative of- Tcentre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait fices, a library, recreational facilities and Islanders, is located. a car park.” Mamarapha College has been leasing According to Mr Piez, the AUC decided the former Karragullen school grounds to purchase the property because it recog- ATSIM from the Western Australian Department nises that Mamarapha is “core to the work of Education since 2002. that the Adventist Church does in bringing “We wanted to purchase Karragullen the gospel to Indigenous Australia, meet- enters new because the land suits Mamarapha Col- ing the aims of reconciliation and devel- lege very well,” says Steve Piez, director oping and empowering people to serve of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander within the church and their community.” areas Ministries for the AUC. “Being out of (Continued on page 4) ISSN 0819-5633 editorial We are urged to live and believe with courage and boldness. Courage ne of the Bible’s distinctive voices question the possibility of belief. It of fellow believers. catchcries is “Don’t be afraid.” takes courage to believe differently and Paul regularly urged the early Christians Often it’s the necessary greeting courage to share a message of hope in cir- to encourage—“to inspire with courage”— that begins interactions between cumstances in which it is not easy to do so. one another (see, for example, 2 Corinthi- OGod and humanity, particularly almost It takes courage to trust that we don’t have ans 13:11). He even acknowledges that we every time an angel appears in a Bible to earn credit with God. do not all have equal stocks of courage, story. For example, “Don’t be afraid” is a It takes courage to choose to “do for oth- particularly encouraging those who have recurring motif around the birth of Jesus ers what you would like them to do for you” more to “encourage those who are timid” (see Luke 1:13; 1:30; and 2:10), belying the (Matthew 7:12*) and to seek the “pure and (1 Thessalonians 5:14). innocuous amicability we often try to scat- lasting religion . that we must care for But even this is not based merely on a ter around the “Christmas” story. orphans and widows in their troubles and collective resource of courage. Our true But it is also a message delivered by lead- refuse to let the world corrupt us” (James courage is built on God and His goodness. ers, prophets and apostles to God’s people 1:27). It takes courage to believe it might be In relationship with and knowledge of this throughout biblical history. When facing possible to not “let evil get the best of you, but God, we find courage to live with our fears uncertainty, enemies, sorrows and trag- conquer evil by doing good” (Romans 12:21). and doubts, to confront the wrong around edy, the repeated call is “Don’t be afraid.” Of course, courage without goodness— us, and to live with humility, generosity and Amid the darkness, doubts and difficul- including humility and generosity—is like- goodness, whatever our circumstances may ties, we are urged to live and believe with ly to be misdirected and counterproductive. be. After all, He is the God who is almost courage and boldness in a world too often But conversely, we can’t live truly humble always cued onto the stage of history, our dominated by fear. or generous lives without a measure of lives and our world with a “Don’t be afraid” The call to courage is recognition that courage. The same applies to all other life directed to His people. such courage is necessary for living well. qualities. As C S Lewis pointed out in The Luke’s retelling of the Sermon on the Most of us are aware of things that are Screwtape Letters, “Courage is not simply Mount adds a remarkable “Don’t be afraid” wrong in the world around us. Most of one of the virtues, but the form of every statement to the well-known “Seek first the us are aware of things that are wrong in virtue at the testing point, which means, kingdom of God” that many Christians have our communities. Most of us are aware of at the point of highest reality.” Any real embraced courageously throughout history. things wrong in the church. We might even goodness requires real courage. It is perhaps the biggest of the Bible’s “Don’t complain about them from time to time to But this courage is not something that be afraids”—the largest and most profound our friends and family. comes by locking ourselves away to muster call to courageous living, believing and serv- But it takes courage to stand up and speak moments of courage from our own limited ing: “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it up on these issues. It takes courage to try to emotional and spiritual resources. Rather, gives your Father great happiness to give make a difference. Courage is needed be- one of the key reasons for participating in you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32). cause it is so easy to be wrong, to take evil for a community of faith is to create and share granted, to merely float with the current. Yet a collective courage, acknowledging our *Bible quotations are from the New Living Translation. at times, it also takes courage to keep quiet. many fears and doubts but somehow bor- It takes courage to believe when so many rowing from the faith, hope and wisdom Nathan Brown Official Paper of the South Editor Nathan Brown Mail: Signs Publishing Company Pacific Division Seventh-day Editorial assistant Adele Nash 3485 Warburton Highway Adventist Church Editorial assistant Jarrod Stackelroth Warburton, Vic 3799, Australia ABN 59 093 117 689 Copyeditor Talitha Simmons Phone: (03) 5965 6300 Fax: (03) 5966 9019 www.adventist Editorial secretary Kristel Rae Email Letters: [email protected] connect.org Layout Kym Jackson Email Newsfront: [email protected] Senior consulting editor Barry Oliver Email Noticeboard: [email protected] Vol 114 No 25 Subscriptions: South Pacific Division mailed within Cover: Nathan Brown Australia and to New Zealand, $A43.80 $NZ73.00. www.record.net.au Other prices on application. Printed weekly. 2 July 4, 2009 news ATSIM enters new areas JIGALONG, WESTErn AUSTraLia ing, he was so excited.” There are a small number of boriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adventists already in the com- Ministries (ATSIM) used their first munity and the group spent time visit to communities in the Great making new contacts. They also Sandy Desert to connect with In- conducted two meetings. Pastor Adigenous people, from May 28 to June 8. Fehlberg preached on the life of Pastor Don Fehlberg, associate ATSIM Jesus and His second coming. “I leader for the Australian Union Conference use the life of Jesus when opening Pastors Saia Vea (left, rear) and Lomani Uilou (right) (AUC), joined Pastor Lomani Uilou, who is a program in a new area because with new contacts at Well 33 (Kunawarritji). working from Jigalong to reach out to com- Indigenous people love to hear His story,” community, according to Pastor Fehlberg. munities in the region, and Pastor Saia Vea, Pastor Fehlberg says. The meeting was held in the yard of Bea- who ministers to the Newman church a few The group travelled from Cotton Creek trice Simpson. Another meeting was held hundred kilometres from Jigalong, for the to Punmu before visiting Well 33 on the on Saturday night, which was attended by visit to the communities of Punmu, Cotton Canning Stock Route. “In Well 33, we have 27 people. Creek (Parnngurr) and Well 33 (Kunawar- an Adventist nurse—Jamie Goldsmith—at Pastor Uilou has plans to continue visit- ritji). Matthew Long, Dianne Brand and the clinic. He’d been praying that we’d come ing these communities and hold meetings. Eileen Fehlberg also joined the group. out to visit. Community folk often get him Pastor Fehlberg says, “The exciting thing Karalundi Aboriginal Education Com- to pray for people—it’s good when a man at is that we’ve really opened up three more munity, the Western Australian Conference the clinic can understand their needs. Jamie’s communities where people are wanting us and AUC have partnered to provide a pas- really supportive, which is good.” to come and share. If we don’t go, others tor for Jigalong, with the aim of reaching Again, the group visited members of the will. The door is open for us at this time.” out to communities ATSIM and Adventists community and ran meetings. “We had a Plans are also currently underway for a haven’t visited before. significant number of the community come major ATSIM outreach trip through the The group met in Newman before travel- to our meetings,” says Pastor Fehlberg. desert communities in Western Australia ling to Jigalong, where they spent the Sab- “They just love to hear these things about and South Australia. Meetings will be bath running meetings. Jesus and at the end of the meetings, one of held in a number of communities, and it Pastor Fehlberg says, “From there, we the chairpersons of the community asked us is planned that Bibles in English and local went to Cotton Creek, where there’s a man to have special prayer with him.” dialects will be handed out.