In West Tamworth, there is palpable excitement in Glen Street on Wednesdays. Children finish school and go straight to Aunty Lucy Gibbs’ place where they wait for Frontyard Church to begin, filling in the time by running around or jumping on the trampoline.
In the late afternoon, about a dozen people arrive from St Peter’s, South Tamworth, spending the next half hour in the vacant block next door unpacking a shipping container full of chairs, tables and lights, plus a sound system and the all-important barbecues. It’s still cold in the evening, so they bring out three metal drums for fire pits, plus bags of lap blankets and beanies.
While this is happening, a couple of others go around West Tamworth – known to most locals as Coledale – to invite people to come to Frontyard Church. The ministry is aimed at primary school children, with 60 to 120 joining each week for church, followed by a simple dinner of home-cooked hamburgers.
The work is led by the Rev Jum Naden, an Indigenous assistant minister St Peter’s, who says, “This ministry is highly relational and we try to keep things fairly simple”. Simple does not mean unsubstantial: Rev Jum took the children through a doctrine series based on J.I. Packer’s Knowing God in Term 1, followed by studies in Judges and prayer.
Each week Frontyard Church follows the same format. It begins with five or six songs – usually by Colin Buchanan – with guitar accompaniment. Then there is prayer, Bible reading and a short talk. Over time the meetings have looked at “important words” from the Bible such as sin, salvation, illumination and sanctification, as well as completing Emu Kids’ The King, the Snake and the Promise series.
“We are one humanity in God’s image”
The Coledale ministry began in 2011, after the current Bishop of Armidale, Rod Chiswell, became vicar of South Tamworth. Over time, the work has grown to include a parish- and Anglicare-funded community chaplain, fortnightly mobile pantry and Bible study, and a breakfast club and weekly Scripture Union SupaClub at the local public school.
Rev Jum is appreciative of this support for the Coledale community.
“It’s really encouraging to see more and more people come and be part of the church service and to see more people join the team of volunteers who make things happen,” he says. “And that applies to the Anglicare pantry van and Bible circle on Thursdays as well.”
Bishop Chiswell says that, in the towns and communities of the Armidale diocese, the proportion of Indigenous people ranges from 11 per cent to 60 per cent, adding: “If we’re not reaching out with the good news of Jesus, who is doing it? We are one humanity in God’s image, with one problem: all are under sin, and one solution – the Lord Jesus Christ.”
His passion for Indigenous ministry was fired by time as vicar of Mungindi, in the north of the diocese, where within weeks of his arrival a couple of Indigenous Christian women asked if he would read the Bible with them.
“We had a group of two initially, which grew to three and five and so on, all in the front yard,” he says. “We’d sit around in chairs and chat. Sometimes we’d have a fire and cook doughboys with honey. I loved it and how relational it was.”
When he became rector of South Tamworth, “I had Coledale with 3000 residents in my parish, one third of whom are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. We were growing as a church at St Peter’s and looking to potentially plant another congregation, and I had a vision to begin a work in Coledale, mainly to reach the Aboriginal people.
“We started as a small Bible study group [in someone’s home]... then we would go outside and sit around a fire and offer hot chocolate to those who wandered by and read Bible stories to kids if they wanted us to.”
Some of the women at Frontyard Church recall those humble beginnings. “We would walk past... and [they] would sing out to us every time, ‘Come on, come in’,” says one. “We’d say, ‘No, we’re right’, and keep going. But we started to go in.”
Says Bishop Chiswell: “[Eventually, we] started doorknocking and inviting people with flyers each Wednesday afternoon, then we would have a Frontyard Church gathering at Aunty Lucy’s around 5pm, in a similar format to now but much smaller: first eight people, then 10, then 12, then 15, then 20 and so on over the years.”
For Aunty Lucy, it’s always been about the children. “I’ll do anything for any kids. If they come and ask Aunty Lucy, I’ll make sure I get what they need. I’ve lived my life, but theirs is just beginning and that’s where I’ve got to step in. I’m trying to guide them.”
Adds Aunty Maria Johnstone: “Since Frontyard Church has been going, Coledale has changed. People come down here because they know where their kids are. They know that we pray for them, and they see those prayers answered. We’ve got people who really care. They’ve brought respect back into the kids, and the adults too”.
The future at Coledale
When the children reach high school, they tend to stop coming to Frontyard Church because they think they’ve outgrown it. Everyone wants to see teenagers stay involved and, with a ministry centre now being constructed on the block, the women hope to offer supports like an after-school homework group for older kids.
In July, with about 20 per cent of the $330,000 cost still to be raised, a concrete slab was poured and construction on the building finally began.
People and organisations have been supporting the ministry and building project for years – including Sydney’s Work Outside the Diocese Committee. Frontyard Church’s ministry leader, the Rev Jum Naden, is also grateful for the support of Anglicare, particularly over the past two years.
“The church has never really had a permanent place to secure the long-term ministry going forward, so [the ministry centre] will make such big difference,” he says. “To be able to meet regardless of what the weather’s like would be such as joy for us as a church, but also for the whole community.”
Rev Jum is tremendously excited. “This has been a long-term dream for the Coledale ministry – it’s exciting because the attendance has grown so much it would never fit in Lucy’s front yard anymore!”
Senior minister at St Peter’s, the Rev Xavier Lukins, says a key aspect of Frontyard Church’s success is Rev Jum’s leadership and a core team of resilient, enthusiastic and committed people.
“We’re praying that it will be a training platform for others interested in Indigenous ministry or ministry in marginalised areas,” he says. “We’ve now got a block of land, we’ve got a committed team, we’ve got a staff member and [soon we will] have a building. It’s a really good platform to work from.
“Pray for wisdom that we culturally hit the right notes so that the building will be full in the years to come with people praising the Lord Jesus, and for much fruit from those seeds sown into the children.”
As the conversation around the fire draws to a close, the women are asked what this building will mean to the community. Aunty Maria, who attends both St Peter’s and Frontyard Church, says, “The main message the building will bring is that it’s something being given to Coledale. They know now that there are people trying to help the community, that they love Coledale for what it is and are not putting it down.
“You get a lot of people who used to come in and do something which didn’t work, so they moved out again. There was no trust. Knowing that you’re bringing the building people say, ‘Oh, wow, they’re gonna stay here. You’re gonna stay’.”
PRAY
- that teenagers and adults in the area will come under God’s word regularly
- for God to fulfill the dream of planting a Sunday congregation at Coledale, and the wisdom to lead it well
- for staffing of Frontyard Church, now and into the future
This is an edited version of a story that first appeared in Armidale’s diocesan magazine The Link.
