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“Upon Past Ebenezers We Built Our Jehovah‐Jireh”: The Vision of the Australian Aborigines’ Mission and Its Heritage in the China Inland Mission 1
Author(s) -
LONGWORTH ALISON
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of religious history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1467-9809
pISSN - 0022-4227
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2007.00552.x
Subject(s) - faith , china , witness , indigenous , gospel , christian ministry , identity (music) , cultural heritage , history , law , environmental ethics , political science , sociology , aesthetics , archaeology , theology , philosophy , ecology , biology
In 1902, the New South Wales Aborigines’ Mission found that financial constraints hindered them from achieving their vision and they adopted the faith mission principles of the China Inland Mission. A period of growth followed. By 1907, the name was changed to the Australian Aborigines’ Mission. The article will investigate the vision of the mission from its foundation within the Christian Endeavour movement and its later heritage within the China Inland Mission. It will demonstrate that when it became a faith mission the defining principle was that of trusting God for physical needs. The article will establish that in the first half of the twentieth century the mission did not address the issue of the interface of gospel and culture. The process of conversion included western influence, but it has not erased cultural identity and the ministry of Indigenous converts is a witness to some fulfilment of the vision.