PRAYER SHEETS

The following eight prayer sheets will take you through each of the Millenium Development Goals as they relate to Indigenous poverty. Providing readings and guided reflections these prayer sheets will aid your prayerful reflections on the issues pertaining to Indigenous disadvantage in Australia. 

They are free to download from this website. Hard copies are available at a cost of $10.00 from NATSIEC. Please email Jonathan Inkpin to order jinkpin@ncca.org.au

MDG 1 - prayer sheet one - click here

MDG 2 - prayer sheet two - click here

MDG 3 - prayer sheet three - Currently being updated - come back soon.

MDG 4 - prayer sheet four - click here

MDG 5 - prayer sheet five - click here

MDG 6 - prayer sheet six - currently being updated - come back soon.

MDG 7 - prayer sheet seven - currently being updated - come back soon.

MDG 8 - prayer sheet eight - click here

Nine Days of Prayer - being updated come back soon

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A call to Christians to end Indigenous Poverty

The attached slide presentation focuses on the reflections from the Bible which call us to act for social justice.  Click here to download. (If you would like a powerpoint version of this presentation for use in your own work, please email rmclean@ncca.org.au)

A Make Indigenous Poverty History ceremony outline

The attached slide presentation offers an outline service for use. 
Click here to download.

Overcoming Indigenous Poverty:
A Biblical Reflection on John chapter 11

by Graeme Mundine and Jonathan Inkpin

Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth,
and his face wrapped in a cloth. 
Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 
(Gospel of John ch.11 vv.43-44)

The raising of Lazarus is one of the most important stories in the Christian Faith.  It is the greatest of the ‘signs’ and the turning point of the Gospel of John.  It proclaims the power of God in Jesus Christ as the way to resurrection and life.  Such resurrection and new life is not comfortable however.  It makes demands upon us.  It is to be shared with others…

The following reflection explores this Lazarus demand in the context of the pressing challenge of Indigenous poverty in Australia.  For, understood in Aboriginal terms, the raising of Lazarus is a powerful challenge to all Australians to share fresh possibilities of new life with their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters.  After all, Jesus’ message of liberation is clear in John’s Gospel:  ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’ (John 10:10)  The problem is, as Pastor Ray Minniecon of Crossroads Aboriginal Ministries in Redfern has rightly said, ‘the first part of the verse is where Aboriginal people live.  They haven’t seen much of part two.’   The Lazarus Demand shows us how to put that right.

The Lazarus Demand is thus a call to empowerment and to justice.  It is a challenge to overcome the poverty and violence inflicted upon Indigenous Australians so that the freedom of Christ may be real.  And it is an invitation to be brother and sister to Lazarus as Jesus was.   For there is another story of Jesus and another young man (cf. Luke 18-25) who was trapped in a tomb.  This tomb was made of power and riches, and, sadly, the young man was too proud to come out and he went sorrowful away.  He had not opened his heart to the compassion of Jesus and he remained tied to death.

To heed the Lazarus Demand means to act with compassion, to open our hearts and connect with others.  The Lazarus Demand involves untying the bonds of death and setting our brothers and sisters free, thereby setting all of us free.   The Lazarus Demand is to Make Indigenous Poverty History.

Artwork  Kimberley Clip Art used with permission

To down load The Lazarus Demand click here