CMS missionaries Tavis and Kate Beer serve in the Northern Territory, supporting Aboriginal church leaders and developing ministry resources. Here they share stories of some of the ways God is at work in the NT. 

It is an enormous privilege to sit with Christian leaders, pastors and emerging church leaders and hear how God has been at work in and through their lives.  

We heard the story of how one believer came to know Jesus.  

Following God’s call 

One night, amidst relentless gang fighting and an absence of police in the community, a church minister had felt the call to pick up his Bible and drive out into the bush.  

He came across a man and his mob of grandkids who had run out of petrol, both physically and metaphorically. He helped them with their more straightforward problem, and then offered to read them a story from the gospel. The grandfather enjoyed the story and asked him to read another Bible story the next day.  

The man who was telling us this story had a big grin. He was that grandfather. His life had been turned around that day. 

our mighty God is at work building his church, undaunted by earthly troubles – and he can be trusted

Radical change 

Another man told us how, from his youth he had known about God, but had hit hard times as a young adult and gone drinking. A Christian prayed for him and told him he needed to go back to his community and follow God.  

The next day, this young man felt so convicted that he threw out his stash of grog as a step of commitment. He is now prayerfully considering a call to step up even further into church leadership. 

Sometimes, the church looks so fragile; just a few elderly people praying and meeting. But testimonies like these remind us that our mighty God is at work building his church, undaunted by earthly troubles – and he can be trusted. 

PRAY 

Give thanks for the ways God is building his church in the Northern Territory. Pray for God to raise up more indigenous Christians to lead and minister.