Gippsland bishop John McIntyre has called on Sydney Anglicans to provide a flood of prayer for Victorians who are in shock as the death toll and damage continues to climb.
The Victorian fires are now Australia’s worst natural disaster, with the death toll passing 181. The toll is expected to rise further, and may reach 300. Victorian Premier John Brumby has said that 1 in 5 residents of Marysville may have died in their destroyed village as police continue their investigations of what has been deemed a crime scene.
Faithful Christians perish
Sydneyanglicans.net has received confirmation that Anglican church members perished in the fires.
It has also been confirmed that both Marysville and Kinglake Anglican churches were burnt to the ground on Saturday.
The Hon Peter Costello MP announced in Federal Parliament, that his Christian friend David Stokes died while defending his farm at Upper Plenty.
"I shared many camps with him when working for OAC (Open Air Campaigners) Ministries. I want to say to Jenice and his family that our thoughts and our prayers go to you. He was a loving father, a faithful husband, a committed Christian and a hardworking farmer. We do not know why he was taken but our hope and our consolation is in our faith and his faith. These are questions that we will never be able to answer."
WEC International has announced that one of its team from the Betel Australia ministry in Marysville is missing presumed dead.
The six Marysville WEC workers only had time to jump into cars with the clothes on their back, such was the speed of the approaching fire. In the confusion, one female member of the team, Bian Tan (63) was lost.
Bian’s family now realise she will not now be found alive and have issued a public notice announcing her passing.
"We can only try to imagine their grief, pray for them, and as appropriate communicate our care. Her brother Alan has flown from Perth, and brothers Teng Yang and Teng Hong from Malaysia, to join brother Justin, his wife Ina and their family in Melbourne," says the WEC statement.
Former Sydney Anglicans take role in recovery
The body responsible for providing the majority of school chaplains in Victoria has called on all schools to release their chaplains this week to assist with those affected by Victoria's current bushfire crisis.
At least three schools were burnt to the ground: Marysville, Middle Kinglake and Strathewen. Many more schools have been closed due to fire, smoke or contamination.
The Rev Dr Evonne Paddison, former Sydney Anglican and now CEO of ACCESS Ministries, has been with some of her local chaplains in the fire-affected areas.
"No sector of society has been left untouched by this disaster," she says. "Chaplains are helping young people, who are reeling, to cope with the enormity of events. Many have lost family or friends, homes, classmates, schools, as well as a general sense of security. Pastoral care offers no pat answers, just practical support one day at a time."
The parish of Whittlesea, which includes Kinglake, has also been actively involved in disaster relief, with their op shop open and offering assistance.
Former Sydney-based Archdeacon, the Rev Di Nicolios, now vicar of St John’s Diamond Creek which neighbours Whittlesea parish, has been helping out at the parish’s support centre and counselling people in grief.
Healesville/Yarra Glen rector, the Rev Tim Anderson has been able to supply accommodation to parishioners who have lost their homes.
Bishop McIntyre said the recovery of those who have been affected is dominating his prayers for his diocese at the moment.
"I'm praying that people will find a way of coming to grips with what's happened " the shock factor must be incredible, and I think at the moment a lot of people are in quite severe shock," he says.
"Some people have lost family members, other people have lost literally everything they own, they literally had the clothes on their back when they got out, so my prayer is certainly about people coming to grips with what has happened and finding some sort of hope.
"Obviously from a Christian point of view, we have a lot to offer in terms of faith in Jesus Christ, and so my prayers would certainly be that people would find hope in that situation of trauma that they're in."
Australia’s Anglican Primate, Archbishop Philip Aspinall is planning to visit fire-affected areas today with Archbishop Philip Freier of Melbourne, who has said he could hardly believe “the enormity of devastation in Victoria”.
"Today I intend to visit some of the communities affected by the fires," Dr Freier said. "It is still unclear to me what access will be possible and I am very conscious of the continuing firefighting and emergency work that is taking place.”
"We think of those who have lost their lives, those under care in hospitals, of those waiting for news of family and friends, those now homeless and the many still threatened by fire. The loss of property, while secondary, is beyond imagination, with homes, businesses and even whole townships destroyed," he said.
"Our hearts go out to all affected, now and in the coming weeks, and we pray that in the midst of the blackness and grief, God's healing presence will sustain those caught up in the firefighting, the recovery, the identification, all emergency services personnel " from frontline firefighters to the police, paramedics, ambulance and medical staff, volunteers, aid agencies and chaplains - all of whom give so courageously and self-sacrificially."
What Sydney Anglicans can do
Meanwhile as both Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of New South Wales, Dr Peter Jensen has urged Anglicans to offer prayer and practical help for victims of the bushfires, which to date have claimed 181 lives and at least 750 homes.
“The scale of the tragedy is horrifying. When part of our community suffers, all suffer with them. We need to be generous in care, gifts and prayer in order to express our oneness with those in grief,” Dr Jensen said.
Dr Jensen has launched an appeal for Sydney Anglicans to donate through the Archbishop’s appeals unit, for which Archbishop Freier has expressed his thanks.
The appeal will support the ministry that will be needed in the bushfire devastated areas in the months ahead.
Photo: Andrea
