Something special happened last year in the Shire of the Yarra Ranges east of Melbourne, in a little town called Belgrave Heights. A movement was born. A group of Indigenous Christians, young and old, from places as remote as Katherine and as urban as Brisbane were discovering they had more in common than they could ever imagine. They called themselves the Grasstree Gathering.

Over five days, people who’d never met Aboriginal Christians outside their ministry connected for the first time. They were able to share their struggles and their joys, as well as the challenge of contextualisation and waking the rest of Australia up to Indigenous issues.

Brooke Prentis

One of those people was Brooke Prentis. Not long before the Gathering she’d left the high-paying, high-flying world of accounting at Ernst & Young because God had said to her, “Brooke, it’s time for you to go and be with your people.” Now she was in charge of the Salvation Army’s Indigenous ministries in South Queensland, and heading up a ministry in Ipswich which functioned as a church and welfare service. Grasstree Gathering was her first time meeting others in Aboriginal ministry outside her local context.

“That experience really changed my life, because having given up so much to work for the Salvation Army… I felt very lonely and isolated. So to go to this conference where I found there are all of these Aboriginal Christian people in many denominations all across Australia, and to know we all face the same struggles, you felt embraced and you could share your stories with people who really understood. So it really changed my life.”

Now a year and a half later, it’s time for the second Grasstree Gathering, and Brooke is in charge of organising it. And she’s hoping to get around 60 along to the gathering, including elders and emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait leaders, who can inspire each other.

“Last year we only heard a little bit from our elders, and we wanted to hear more. So this year, a whole day will be dedicated to Auntie Jean [Phillips], Uncle Ray [Minniecon] and Uncle Graham [Paulson] to talk about their experiences and what’s kept them going for so long and what changes they’ve seen in their lifetime.

“Grasstree is about showing emerging leaders that those who have gone before us put up with far worse conditions than we did, but they’re still in ministry, even when most people would’ve retired by their age. We can find inspiration in that.”

Brooke is working closely with Auntie Jean, an elder based in Queensland to organise the Gathering which will take place from September 30 to October 4 in Brisbane.

She says apart from learning from one another, she wants to take the experiences of those present and use it to foster social change.

“We’re confronted with the same issues in our communities. So I want to ask: what is our Indigenous Christian response to some of those issues?

“And what I’ll be looking at doing is trying to collate some of that information to the heads of churches and to our local members. So to actually try and get some action out of the Gathering.”

As the individuals at Grasstree love and support each other while working together towards the goal of improving the lives of Indigenous Australians, Brooke says she hopes their unity can stand as an example to the rest of Australia’s Christians.

“What God has shown me is that he is bigger than any denomination… I mean really I think Aboriginal people are leading the way in this country about how to work together ecumenically, because first off we respect each other as Aboriginal people, and then we respect each other in the isolation and loneliness of doing the work.”

Fees for Grasstree Gathering attendees come in at around $600, not including airfares. They’re being encouraged to fundraise to pay for their conference tickets. If you’re able to help out, please contact [email protected]