ABM News
ABM Celebrates its Indigenous Projects
The month of July, and NAIDOC week, saw a spotlight placed on ABM programs and communities as events are held around Australia to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
ABM’s priorities in supporting both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglicans are to support the ministry of Indigenous Australians with their own people and communities and to support programs of training and leadership development.
The work of the Revd Gloria Shipp is one example. She co-ordinates a ministry team called ‘Walkabout Ministries’ in the Diocese of Bathurst and runs men’s and women’s camps for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, giving them opportunities to share their life experiences.
Scholarships, funded partly through ABM’s fundraising, support indigenous students at Gawura campus at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney. In the Northern Territory, ABM works with staff at Nungalinya College and also encourages clergy retreats and a new Bishop’s award program.
ABM has recently committed to the implementation of a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). The RAP will guide ABM in the process of furthering our relationships with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters.
ABM hopes this process and the implementation of the RAP will encourage parishes and dioceses across Australia to reflect on their own process of reconciliation and to consider taking the step towards developing a RAP with their local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
More details may be found here.
The Revd Gloria Shipp, ABM Coordinator of Walkabout Ministries. Photos courtesy ABM