Inside:
Sacred songs workshop
Australia’s apology
Mt Magnet
Tweed Valley DTS
Khesed Annual Reports
National Act of Recognition
WCGIP report
General News & Events
Redeeming Old Covenant Law and
Traditional Culture
We
have often talked about redeeming culture and indigenous expressions of
worship. Sometimes there have been Aboriginal Christians with body
paint dancing to the Lord in church. There have been didgeridoos and
traditional styles of music used to worship God. There have been
traditional styles of painting telling Bible stories and truths. Some
have used dreaming stories and traditional ceremonies to show how God
has revealed Himself long before the Gospel was brought to this land
and people by British Christians.
But
some Christians feel uneasy about much of this, and are concerned that
there are demonic powers involved in traditional law, ceremonies and
cultural expressions. They have good reasons to feel concerned, because
Satan has tried to corrupt and destroy every form of worship to God in
every culture.
It
is always a difficult decision to see if these things need to be
destroyed, or whether they can be cleansed and purified from the evil
within them to find pure worship to the One True God in Heaven.
A
few weeks ago, a Christian anthropologist friend spoke with me about
some of these issues. He has deep intimate knowledge of Aboriginal
culture and law, and claimed that it is all evil. God doesn’t want that
stuff! He wants a new expression of worship from every culture.
As
I pondered this, the Lord showed me clearly that no Christian should
live under Old Covenant Law and practices. Jesus Christ didn’t come to
destroy the law – Jewish law or the law of any other group of people.
Jesus came to bring all people into a New Covenant relationship with
God Almighty .Jesus came to fulfil the real law that has been hidden by
rules and practices for generations - through a new covenant, sealed
with His own blood.
I’m
still asking the Lord what that really means in practical details. I
still believe that there is not just one Christian culture, but there
are many different cultural expressions of God’s character in His
people.
In
February a small group of us met in Rooty Hill at YWAM’s Island Breeze
base to talk and pray about expressions of worship from the land
through indigenous people. I was again asked what that looks like. Last
year, I replied that I didn’t know, but believed I would recognize it
when I saw and heard it. I think we started to see and hear a little of
it during those few days. It is an ongoing process of discovering that
worship to God. We commissioned Island Breeze and Kyle Slabb from
northern NSW to seek the Lord more for its release.We hope to meet
again soon as we continue the search.
We all need to seek God’s New Covenant expressions of worship in every culture – using the instruments and styles He has given to each cultural group. He isn’t limited to 18th century hymns or to Hillsong styles of worship. God has many instruments and voices and languages and styles of art and music in His gallery, His orchestra and His choir!
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MUSIC OF A MOVEMENT
- from Richard Twiss, Wiconi International
A
little over ten years ago there was virtually no Native-style music
honoring Jesus that incorporated traditional drumming, chanting and
other tribal styles and sounds. Today there are many dozens of such
recordings.
This
reality is a refection of the spirit of Jesus at work in the lives of
men and women who have been inspired to write new songs of prayer,
celebration and honor to Jesus, born out of their identity as Native
people.
Accompanying
every move of the spirit in a generation or people has been a “new
sound” of celebration, or indigenous hymnody; from John Wesley, William
Booth, The Jesus People Movement, to this current global Indigenous
Jesus Movement. These new songs are helping bear the message of freedom
in Jesus that you can be fully Native and fully embraced by God in your
cultural world to people everywhere.
I
want to recommend three new CD releases. They are Jonathan Maracle and
Broken Walls “The Father’s Dance,” Michael Jacobs’, “Mystery,” and
Cheryl Bear’s “The Good Road.” Jonathan is Mohawk, Michael is Cherokee
and Cheryl is Nadleh Whut’en and while their music is different in
style and sound, each share a message of freedom and hope in Jesus as
native worshippers of Creator.
You
can listen to sound-bytes of many of their songs on our website along
with a few dozen more CD’s of powwow drumming music, flute music,
praise music, instrumental stuff,etc., and then purchase them from our
shopping cart feature - www.wiconi.com
Workshop on Sacred Songs & Dance at Elcho Island
Justina
Truscott [nee Smith] led a workshop at the Alice Springs National
Christian Dance Fellowship conference late last year. Justina married
Ps Keith Truscott’s son in January this year.
Church leaders at Elcho Island have now invited her to lead a workshop there from 9-14 April.
God
has prepared and anointed her with His Spirit for thisministry and she
is excited at this opportunity. She would like to take another
Christian dancer with her.
Please
pray for wisdom and protection for her and all involved, as well as an
urgent release of finance for the trip. Her phone number is 0431 415318.
World Christian Gathering 0n Indigenous People
Jerusalem, Israel
9-18 September 2008
URGENT REGISTRATION REQUIRED
DUE TO TOURIST PRESSURES IN ISRAEL, WCGIP REGISTRATION SHOULD BE MADE BY 20TH APRIL IF AT ALL POSSIBLE
TO SECURE A PLACE
A DEPOSIT OF ONLY $300 IS NEEDED AT THIS TIME [not refundable].
URGENT - Please
register and pay with Inner Faith Travel www.ift.net.au as quickly
as possible..... Check out the website for any other
details....www.wcgip.org
Use
the enclosed registration form. If you are not able to go, please pass
the form on to others and pray for God’s chosen people to hear about
the gathering, register and for all the necessary details of finance,
work and family issues to be resolved.
WCGIP Bookings -from Gavriel Geven & Richard Twiss
Although
we are still five months away from the Gathering, we are getting
pressure from both the airlines and the hotels to pay deposits on the
blocks of seats and rooms they are holding for us. The number of people
trying to visit Israel is at an all-time high, and there is heavy
competition.
In
the coming weeks, we will begin losing some of those seats and rooms.
If possible please encourage people to pre-register and pay their
deposits quickly. It appears we will eventually reach a point of having
to turn people away who did not sign-up early enough. We have verbal
commitments for groups totaling more than 2,000 international
delegates, but expect that to drop drastically when it comes to actual
registrants. Surprisingly, most registrations thus far are from tribes
that have never before been represented at a World Gathering. We are
still holding on to 1,000 reserved beds, but will soon begin losing
some of them. Having to turn people away would/will be a painful thing
for us.
The
new rule is that the airline will only guarantee prices (base price)
for 3-7 days and the fuel taxes are IN ADDITION to the base price which
is linked to the price of a barrel of oil for that day. Tickets have
gone up $500.00 in some cases. Please ask your intercessors to PRAY as that is what we all need the most.
National Act of Recognition
The foundation of British arrival
in Botany Bay
Lindsay
McDowell wrote in November: “older men are often invisible. Why? After
decades of effort they have given up, quietly fading back into the
shadows, disempowered. Our current ministry is very much focused on
drawing near to these men to restore New Life.”
A
few weeks ago the Recognition Management Team met with Elders (the men)
at Botany Bay, with some of the young people also present. At one point
the comment was made that the Recognition Vision is dealing with the
roots of the tree, rather than just the fruit. The men really see this
and are greatly encouraged.
‘We
are seeing faces lifting with joy. Hope and love is being birthed.There
are signs some “fire in the belly” is returning. One person in the
community last week said to Brendan, “You people are doing a great job
in our community. The way in which you are working with the old
men...that has never happened before.” ‘
Even ‘non-religious’ people are realizing that this vision has a spiritual basis and power. The dream
of unity that has seemed totally impossible is close to fulfillment.
However, Satan is not happy and a few people seem to oppose everymove
towards unity and growth. In 1 Samuel 15:23, God declares rebellion and
stubbornness to be ‘witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry.’
Meetings
are planned with the Botany Bay women on 14-15 April to talk together
about the vision. There will also be meetings with elders in Dubbo as
part of the aim to bring Aboriginal elders from around the nation to
offer their support to the local Botany Bay people.
Continue
to pray for wisdom and protection for all the elders and community, as
well as the Recognition Management Team: Bret Ridley (Canberra),
Brendan Johnston (Sydney), Lindsay McDowell (Canberra).
Australia’s Apology & Christ’s Broken Walls
Notes
from a Bible study/prayer meeting at Eagle Rock Community Church,
Tuesday night 12/2/08 – the night before the Government’s apology to
the ‘Stolen Generation’.
Ps Tim Edwards has often spoken over the years about Ephesians 2 verse 14.
14
For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by
making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that
used to separate us.15 By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish
law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between
Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two
groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God
by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to
death.
17
He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far
away from him, and to us Jews who were near.18 Now all of us, both Jews
and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit
because of what Christ has done for us.
19
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are
citizens along with all of God’s holy people.You are members of God’s
family. 20 We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles
and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.
21
We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple
for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as
part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Many
cry out to God for Him to break down the walls between us –parents
& children, bosses & workers, Muslims & Christians, black
& white……. But God says: ‘Ihave already broken down the walls. Who built them up again?’
At
the time of the Wik land issue and the Ten Point Plan, a Liberal MP
invited Ps Tim along to a Liberal Party meeting in the Cairns
Convention Centre. He walked in alone at a tea break and suddenly
everyone went quiet and you could hear the cups rattling at the fear
that this wild looking Aboriginal man had hundreds of other Aborigines
outside the door. But there were none.
As
he got talking with them, they expressed the concern of pastoralists
that Aboriginal land rights would mean Aborigines would come onto their
cattle stations and shoot their cattle.
Tim
replied: ‘You know, we all have our favourite picnic spots that our
families have visited many times over the years, and we like to go and
have a picnic there still – Aborigines, as well as whitefellas. But you
know what our people are frightened of? – that we will get shot!’
The
story was told of a man who died recently in north Queensland. When he
was a small child, his mother was carrying him when a pastoralist shot
her on ‘his’ land. The bullet passed through her into her son. They
both survived, but he had that bullet in his body until he died as an
old man.
Tim
talked of a couple who came home with a car load of groceries. The
husband carried some inside, then sat down to watch the football. Later
he went out to bring in the remainder from the car, but found his wife
had done it. He had to get his own dinner that night, and there was a
cold wall between them in bed that night. When he eventually asked what
was up, the cold reply was: ‘You know!’
When
we build up the walls between us, we need to be bold enough to say
sorry, apologise and forgive each other, to prevent rebuilding the
walls.
Today
in Australia is like when Nelson Mandela walked out of the prison in
South Africa; like when the Berlin Wall suddenly came down.
It’s
not just an apology to one group of people, it’s a new era when all the
walls built up in this nation can be destroyed and we become one. It’s
a beginning that we need to work from, but it needs work that brings
results or it will just be empty politicians’ words. But it is a change
in the heavenlies over our nation.
Easter Convention at Mt Magnet
Ps
Yowandi Clancy asked Ps Tim Edwards to bring a team from Eagle Rock
Community Church to Mt Magnet to help run a convention over Easter. A
busload of musicians and church families travelled the 600kms from
Perth with a trailer load of instruments and PA gear for meetings on
the oval at night and community hall in the mornings. Ps Carl Musch
from Indigenous Ministry Links Australia came over from Mareeba to
assist Yowandi in organising the event. Visitors came from Pt Hedland,
Tom Price, Kalgoorlie and other parts of the Pilbara and eve nBussleton
in the south-west.
It
was a great time of worship, fellowship and ministry for all, including
the Eagle Rock team. The Christian life can be very lonely and dry in
remote towns and community.
Discipleship Training in Tweed Heads
Ps
Willie Dumas and Tweed Valley Christian Fellowship started their
college in July 2007, with three students in their first school. They
graduated in February and are really moving on with the Lord. Their new
school started later that month with eight students aged 17 to 27, all
eager to grow in the Lord and learn how to serve Him better.
They are again praying for additional finance, particularly as some of their equipment badly needs upgrading.
Ps
Tim Edwards is teaching on ‘The Fear of the Lord’ from 31 March to 4
April, and John & June Blacket will be teaching on Spiritual
Warfare the following week.
[We
will be at Mulli Mulli on Sunday 13th, followed by family time in
Newcastle, then spending the weekend with Willie & Carleen Pickett
in Geelong before returning home on 22nd April].
DrJulie Waddy, OAM
Congratulationsto Julie on her award earlier this year of the Order of Australia Medal for services to indigenous people!
Aboriginal Bible Releases
Ngaanyatjarra: 11May at Warburton Ranges Contact Dorothy & Amee for details on 08 8952 3194
Djambarrpuyngu: 8 June at Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island
Simply The Story
- a powerful wa yto share Bible stories with non-literate people.
John
& June have attended workshops on this approach, and are seeking
the Lord over how itis to be released into the Aboriginal church in
Australia.
Aborigines
are natural story-tellers, but are not using this gifting effectively
in the church. Rather they are basically following western missionary
literate style sof sharing the Gospel.
Khesed Annual Director’s Report
-John Blacket
Earlier
this year we felt it was time to review what we are doing andmake some
changes. We asked the Lord what should be the central focus of ourwork,
and felt His reply was: Mentor and Resource Australian indigenous Christian leaders.
I reflect on what we have been doing:
Supporting
and shaping directions for organizations and the nation through various
committees, seminars, and other meetings; teaching through God’s Dirt,
God’s Feet, and a spiritual warfare course; encouraging indigenous
worship from the land; mentoring indigenous leadership of the nation;
prayer groups and networks; newsletters and prayerletters; developing
and distributing books,CDs, DVDs; acting as a channel for finance to
support indigenous Christianministry… I could go on and find other things.
During
2007 June and I transferred our church membership from Southside
Vineyard, which we helped plant almost 10 years ago, to Eagle Rock
Community Church, led by Ps Tim & Di Edwards, and have been fully
involved there, especially in the worship team [John] and children’s
church [June]. This has beena very rich experience where we are
encouraging and mentoring indigenous Christians. It has helped us to
realise the truth of what God’s focus is for us, and also to start to
see some of the areas we need to reduce, like administration – somehow!
Our task is now to bring about these changes.
A
lot of effort has gone into developing resources in the last year: DVDs
of God’s Dirt and God’s Feet, which are now available in a pack with
the booklets. We were able to get 500 copies of each reproduced at a
reasonable price using a process that is much better than burning them
on our own computer, eliminating all the problems of DVD player
compatibility that have plagued us recently.
We
also did a lot of work on a simple English version of God’s Story DVD.
Further work is require this year before this is available, but we now
have copies of the original version with Discussion Guide – RRP $20,
but see our order form. This is a significant 80 minute DVD giving an
overview of the whole Bible, which we have found few Christians
understand and can lead up to conversion and revival among many people
groups, including Muslims and Hindus.
Once
again we praise God for all He is doing in this nation and for the
privilege of being involved with Him. Thank you all for your part in it
all!
Khesed Ministries Inc. Audited Financial Report
from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007
Cash Balances: 30 June 2007 1 July 2006
Trust account $ 45 $ 2,792
Cash accounts $ (567) $ 576
Total Cash Balances: $ (522) $3,368
2006-7 2005-6
Total Income: $ 90,567 $ 104,796
Total Outgoings: $ 94,436 $ 98,074
Surplus (Deficit): $(3,869) $6,722
KHESED MINISTRIES
Income 2007 2006
Donations & Fees $ 19,860 $34,103
Travel & Vehicle recoups $ 1,600 $5,139
Admin Recoups & interest $ 919 $ 95
Staff Support & recoups $ 5,610 $9,435
Promotion Income $ 15 $ 815
Ministry Events $ 1,270 $ 13,311
Capital Fund donations $ 1,346 $5,745
Vehicle Loan $ 10,000
Total Income: $ 30,621 $ 78,643
Expenses
Tithe $1,589 $ 4,503
Travel Expenses $ 6,685 $ 8,078
Vehicle Expenses $ 2,947 $ 3,072
Phone, Internet & Postage $ 2,869 $2,513
Printing $ 2,054
Office Equipment $ 1,314
Other Admin Expenses $ 369 $4,927
Staff Expenses $ 4,533 $ 7,307
Promotion $ 1,213 $ 533
Newsletter Printing & Postage $ 3,289 $3,232
Resources - Books, Tapes + $ 934 $652
Ministry Events $ 4,321 $ 12,631
Miscellaneous Expenses $ 85 $5,402
Capital [computer & laserprinter/copier/vehicle]
Payments $ 2,687 $19,189
Loans Repaid [vehicle] $ 3,150 $6,100
Total Expenses $ 37,084 $ 73,379
Surplus (Deficit) $ (6,463) $5,264
Khesed TRUST FUND
Income
Income in Trust for others $ 50,000 $13,060
Indigenous Support $ 6,683 $6,473
Total Income $ 56,683 $ 19,533
Payments
Payments from Trust to others $ 50,000 $13,060
Indigenous Support $ 5,309 $9,339
Total Payments $ 55,309 $ 22,399
Surplus (Deficit) $ 1,374 $(2,866)
Khesed PUBLISHING
Income
Freight & Misc. Income $ 607 $496
Khesed Print Products $ 2,029 $3,268
Khesed A/V Products $ 161
Other Publishers A/V Products $ 466
Other Income $ 2,855
Total Income $ 3,263 $ 6,619
Expenses
Freight & Miscellaneous $ 366 $149
Khesed Print Products $ 1,352 $20
Khesed A/V Products $ 256
Other Publishers A/V Products $ 69
Other Expenses $ 2,138
Total Expenses $ 2,043 $ 2,307
Surplus (Deficit) $ 1,220 $4,312
Notes:
1. Khesed
fully paid out the vehicle loan in September 2007 and has no debts
apart from monthly credit card payments and some small payments due to
suppliers of CDs and DVDs.