Sharing the love of Jesus at Yabun
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Sharing the love of Jesus at Yabun
30 January 2022
At the Yabun Festival, (from left) Jessica Lee and Wendy Carroll (Foster House), Elise Cook and Ana Peralva (Streetlevel) and Tony Devlin (Moneycare).
On 26 January, members of different Salvation Army mission expressions from inner-city Sydney came together to connect with the community and show the loving presence of Jesus at the Yabun Festival – a major celebration of First Nations people.
Rather than waiting for community members to come to us, our people left their buildings and went to the people.
Sue Hodges and Rod Yule at the Yabun Festival.
It was an inspiring example of missional collaboration as The Salvation Army stood with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community on this significant day.
“It was a great day for building positive relationships between our services and community members. Of the nearly 100 stalls, we were the only faith-based organisation with a presence,” said Tony Devlin, Moneycare National Manager and one of the driving forces behind the day.
Members of Streetlevel, Moneycare, Doorways, Salvos Housing, our Homelessness service Foster House, Addiction and Other Drugs service (William Booth House), Board member and William Booth House manager Claire Clifton, and Sue Hodges from The Salvation Army Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander team maintained a presence at the stall and engaged in warm and friendly conversations with community members all day.
“Our presence communicated that the Salvos could celebrate with our First Nations people and that we want to be there with them to show the love of Jesus and work for justice,” Sue said.
“It was a very real expression of our commitment to reconciliation. Visiting Yabun resulted in so much networking and collaborating for future opportunities. We thank God for paving the way for us to make this happen.”
She said NAIDOC Week, in July, with the theme ‘Get up, Stand up, Show up’ is yet another great opportunity for The Salvation Army to come together like this across Australia – and work together to show the love of Jesus.
“I hope this is a great example of meaningful collaboration and be on the agenda for lots of our Area Leadership Teams,” Sue said.
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