A ministry partnership is birthed

On the last weekend of July, we witnessed something special in the South Australian country town Freeling as the Light Parish hosted some new friends from Shepparton. The weekend will be long remembered by all who were there and was filled with colour and singing.

The Shepparton folk have been blessed in recent years with vital ministry connections with arrivals from Central Africa and poured their time and finances into these relationships. As is often the case, the labourers are few, but the opportunities are great, so a call was circulated earlier this year for ministry partners, and several congregations have decided to help.

In country South Australia, 794 kilometres away, Pastor Geoff Kuchel and some enterprising local farmers have risen to the challenge. A decision was made to set aside a small plot of land for the Lord’s work, which resulted in a bumper crop and the offer of three years’ funding to help support the role of Kathleen Mills.

As often happens, ‘free will’ giving releases joy, and there was plenty in evidence during the Sunday worship at St Marks that day. African mothers and daughters from Shepparton sang powerfully in Kiswahili, and the locals got caught in the uplift. Many eyes that had been dry for a while started to leak as the Lord moved.