Yarning the Bible in the bush

There was no sandstone, either of cathedral or parish church, but ghost gums and a rainbow overlooking the twilight ordination service for the Rev Michael Duckett.

The unique service took place at the Indigenous ministry centre at Wedderburn in southwestern Sydney, home of the Macarthur Indigenous Church.

The bushland setting, where church members often gather outside around a campfire, is a new approach for Indigenous ministry that is set to be replicated on the South Coast. A generous donation from the parish of Church Hill will fund the second site.

Church Hill, the oldest parish in the Sydney Diocese, has already donated $1.5 million to the greenfields project at Marsden Park and will make another grant of $2 million for Indigenous ministry.

Mr Duckett, who leads the Macarthur church as well as chairing the Sydney Anglican Indigenous Peoples Ministry Committee, was ordained deacon in February and ordained presbyter on December 2 in front of family, church members and guests.

“Presbyter means old fella,” Archbishop Kanishka Raffel said to laughter from the audience, giving a rough translation of the Greek word ‘elder’. “Today we ordain Michael to a life compelled by Christ’s love, to live for Christ. We do it because we see that this is the life he lives already.”

The Archbishop spoke of the ministry being carried out at the Wedderburn property and Mr Duckett’s preaching and “yarning the Bible”.

“Many of us have heard Michael say God reconciled us at the cross. This year at our Synod Michael said to us all, the cross has done the work: now we have to put it into practice.”

The Archbishop’s address was accompanied by the sounds of kookaburras from the gumtrees that surround the property – a first for ordination services, which are normally held inside. A rainbow appeared through the clouds as the service ended.

After a laying on of hands from clergy and bishops present, Mr Duckett and his family led in singing “Jesus is Lord” in the Dunghutti language.

Another December event was the commissioning of Brendon Garlett as pastor of the Shoalhaven Aboriginal Community Church (ShACC).

Mr Garlett and his wife Amy were surrounded by members of ShACC and representatives of Mt Druitt and Campbelltown Aboriginal churches, including Mr Duckett – who presented him with two specially carved boomerangs.

Says Mr Garlett: “We had lunch with the Mt Druitt and Campbelltown church people where we meet every Sunday in [Nowra parish’s] Hope Centre, and then at 3 o’clock we all went over to the big church, to All Saints’, for the official welcome [and commissioning].

“All our supporters who were there, they’ve all been praying for someone to come, so to finally have that welcoming of a new pastor was good.”

A Nyoongar man from Western Australia, Mr Garlett

Presbyters ordained on January 19 at St Andrew’s Cathedral: from left:

The Rev Tim Escott – Darling Point

The Rev Malcolm Gill – St Andrew’s Cathedral/Rooty Hill

The Rev Daniel Walmsley – Life Anglican, Riverstone

The Rev Roger Hokin – Dural

The Rev Alan Lam – Hurstville came to the church to do MTS a decade ago and eventually moved back to WA.

When he heard that ShACC was looking for a pastor, he and his wife had been preparing for another ministry but