Monday, October 10, 2011

an indigenous Australian mission order

As I walked during study leave, one (of the many questions I pondered was this)

What would an indigenous Australian mission order look like?

I’m sure this question has been asked before. So I hope Australian readers can point me to previous thinking on this. It also ushered in a subset of questions

  • What practices would shape it?
  • What Australian saints would inspire it?
  • What Australian metaphors and images would challenge it?
  • How would a “training college” partner with it?
Posted by steve at 05:48 PM

5 Comments

  1. Good questions Steve. I felt like in Upstream we were somewhat of a low level mission order, but I’d like to think about this some more – appreciate the question

    Comment by Hamo — October 11, 2011 @ 12:45 am

  2. Hi mate, check out http://www.unoh.org…one already exists

    Comment by Paul Ede — October 11, 2011 @ 4:27 am

  3. thanks Hamo. Look forward to your reflections. And not just in terms of local community ie Upstream, but how that community would connect across the vastness of Australia in ways that are synergistic.

    and Paul, appreciate the heads up re UNO. They seem focused on one (important) niche, the poor in Asia/Pacific.

    I wonder if Australia (any country) will need a range of mission orders. The catholics do/did. Of course the question is whether this multiplicity arises from the unique charism of the founder’s, the diverse needs of the context, or a sort of “taste” culture in which orders are chosen cos they suit the individual spirituality of the person choosing,

    steve

    Comment by steve — October 11, 2011 @ 10:32 am

  4. Hey Steve,
    Not sure if this is tangential or not BUT some I know would point to the late Athol Gill from Melbourne and ‘House of the Gentle Bunyip’ and some of his writing about ‘radical discipleship’ which was definitely about missional living… I don’t have the book/s….

    Comment by Rob Hanks — October 13, 2011 @ 10:53 pm

  5. Yes, great point Rob. I’ve got his books, and saw some for sale in library yesterday for real cheap and wept. Want me to buy them for you?

    But was it an order/movement?

    steve

    Comment by steve — October 13, 2011 @ 11:06 pm

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