Pitt Street Uniting Church will host a series of talks from Aboriginal speakers sharing their lived experiences, research, and integration of Christian theology with indigenous spirituality.
The speakers include Rev. Dr Garry Worete Deverell on 21 April, Dr Anne Pattel-Gray on 11 August, and Nathan Tyson on 8 September.
Rev. Dr Josephine Inkpin is Pitt Street Uniting Church’s Minister. She told Insights the series is part of the church’s commitment to Walking Together.
“For Pitt Street Uniting Church, the Listening to Country series flows out of recognition that our lives and theology in these lands called Australia need renewing from the ground up, in a humbler and more genuine partnership with First Nations peoples, and crucially led by their eloquent emergent voices of deep challenge and transformation,” Rev. Dr Inkpin said.
“We hope that all who share in it will changed by the encounter and inspired to understand the sacred afresh, knowing and living in Christ as Country.”
“This is part of Pitt Street’s commitment to our shared UCA covenantal relationship with First Nations peoples, as one expression of our congregation’s Walking Together initiative, seeking to journey supportively with First Nations peoples on their key issues.”
Rev. Dr Inkpin said the commitment was also expressed in the church budget’s two percent ‘pay the rent’ support for the University of Divinity’s School of Indigenous Studies.
“We are thrilled that the School’s impressive leaders are able to join us in this and pray that it may be one more step towards life-giving truth, treaty, and voice in this land,” she said.
The first installment in Listening to Country takes place at Pitt Street Uniting Church on Sunday, 21 April from 2pm to 4pm. Tickets cost $10 before 18 April and $15 afterwards. The events will also be livestreamed online. For more information, visit the official website here.
