Leaders Dedicate First Nations Building to Be a Healing Place

Shelley Poole, Adventist Record, and Adventist World

During Reconciliation Week in late May, officers of the Australian Union Conference (AUC) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries (ATSIM) representatives, and the honorable mayor of Armadale in Australia met to celebrate the opening of a new building and extension to Mamarapha College.

The Adventist educational institution is located on Whadjuk Noongar land (also known as Karragullen) in Western Australia.

A Higher Experience

Coming in under budget, at just under Australian $2 million (about US$1.34 million), the pristine new classrooms, student common area, computer lab, administrative offices, and Faith FM recording studio will support growth in First Nations ministry and health education at Mamarapha College.

“I expected to learn about the Bible at Mamarapha, but I never expected the experience to be life-changing!” Teeharnee Robinson, a current ministry student, said. “I never expected to be speaking in front of a mic in front of you today, and I never expected to have opportunities to travel like I have.”

More than a Bible college, this landmark Registered Training Organisation offers accredited courses to support real work opportunities and human flourishing for its Aboriginal students. “I would love to be a chaplain and work with kids someday,” Robinson said.

Connie Toga, ministry course coordinator at Mamarapha, agreed. “The new spaces have already given a great boost to student morale, as they have been designed with our students in mind—right down to the carpet color,” she said. “The buildings have also led to greater recognition that there are church leaders and members lending support to students who want to be equipped to minister to their own people.”

AUC ATSIM director Darren Garlett said that “the Mamarapha experience has been raised even higher. The new buildings represent how much we value the work of Mamarapha College, its students, and, more broadly, First Nations ministry.”

JESUS’ MODEL OF RECONCILIATION

In his dedication speech AUC president Terry Johnson discussed the importance of Christians leading the way in repairing relationships with First Nations people. “Central to the Christian message is Jesus’ work of reconciliation, which began here on earth. While our church has formally apologized to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations after the Bringing Them Home investigation, and while we are seeing great things at Mamarapha here today, the work of reconciliation has just begun,” Johnson said.

In Australia, Mamarapha College seeks to impact indigenous peoples.

“Our hope for continued reconciliation with First Nations people is in the hands of our membership,” Garlett added. “It’s up to local churches to lead in practical ways, such as improving understanding and connecting with their local indigenous communities. It’s important that our leadership lead, not only in word, but in actions that affirm our commitment to reconciliation.”

The Best Is Yet To Come

According to AUC secretary Michael Worker, there are plans to add new courses to broaden the impact and influence of the college throughout First Nations communities, including vocational trade qualifications.

Mamarapha College principal David Garrard said he is excited for the new ministry opportunities within the space. “The new Faith FM studio will allow us to provide spiritual content in both English and Aboriginal languages,” he shared. “We are currently working in partnership to deliver a Certificate II in Community Services. We aim to add this vocational course in 2024, then progress to the Certificate III,” he said.

A Table of All Nations

God calls us to be people of reconciliation.

In Genesis 10 there’s a strange list of names. Following the Flood, Noah’s sons take seriously the command to “be fruitful and multiply”

(see Gen. 9:7). Shem, Ham, and Japheth have children. Then their children have children, and over a series of generations, couples become families, then tribes, then nations.

Among this “Table of Nations” are such colorful characters as Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Canaan. If you’ve read your Bible, you’ll recognize these names—they’re the villains of the story. These are the pagan-worshipping, tribalistic aggressors that bring conflict to God’s people. However, a closer reading reveals a shocking truth: that our heroes are related by blood to these people.

Throughout history we’ve seen an effective tactic used by warmongers and empire builders—dehumanizing the enemy. During World war I the Allies called the Germans “The Hun” as a pejorative. Several decades later the propaganda campaign was in full use against both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Fueled by real fear, these campaigns often capitalized on the worst stereotypes.

To see an enemy as “other,” “not like us,” or, at worst, “barely human” is pragmatic—it helps mobilize entire nations in times of war. But the effects of these propaganda campaigns are often felt long after the war is over. My grandfather, who fought in Papua New Guinea during World War II, had an uneasy attitude toward Japanese people even decades after the war was over, as did many of his generation.

When we see the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Canaanites, and others in the biblical text, it’s easy to view them as my grandfather viewed the Japanese. The nations mentioned in Genesis 10 reveals that those “monsters” descended from the same line. They were all brothers, sisters, and cousins.

This realization reframed the story for me. Instead of seeing it as a black-and-white tale of heroes and villains, I began to see the biblical conflict for what it really is: a tragic family drama. Later the failure of Abraham’s family is compounded when we consider their purpose: to be a nation through whom all nations would be blessed. Of course, Jesus comes along many years later to fulfill that messianic promise, but one must wonder about the geopolitical opportunities missed along the way.

Reconciliation can be messy. Some sociologists estimate that about 930 current ethnic groups exist today. In such diversity it’s easy to see those who don’t look like you, speak like you, or share your worldview as “other” or “alien.” However, if we believe that we are all descendants of Noah, then we must also believe that each person, regardless of race or culture, is a long-lost brother or sister. Thus, anything we can do to bring more dignity, autonomy, or justice to disenfranchised people groups is not an act of me versus you; it is, in fact, an act of family reconciliation.

I’m encouraged that at the end of time, our differences are not erased, but celebrated. Of the New Jerusalem, John the revelator says, “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it” (Rev. 21:24, NIV). He then later brings to our attention the tree of life, whose leaves are “for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). How beautiful to consider that the ugliness of human civilization will find its redemption in the new earth. Until that day, let’s be people of reconciliation.