I’d like to introduce you to Aunty Jenny. Aunty Jenny is an artist. She’s currently working on a series of paintings about her experience as part of the stolen generation. This is her story…
Jenny was four years old when she was taken. Her mum wasn’t home at the time. When she came back, her children were gone.
Jenny was raised in a mission home, where indigenous children were taught to be ‘Australian’. She hated that she was Aboriginal. But God was at work in her life, even then. She was sent to Sunday School and loved it – but when she was taken out of school and sent to work at the age of 15, she soon left that behind. Life was about to get even messier.
Years later, during a particularly dark period in Jenny’s life, God spoke to her – through her reflection in the mirror. “Jenny, you are going to die.”
“No Lord, I can’t die, I haven’t told anyone about you yet!” Instilled with the fear of death, she went straight to the local minister’s house and told him the whole story. Jenny realised she needed to turn her life around. She came to church the next day. And the next. It was clear that God had answered her plea for mercy –and that he wanted to use her.
As Jenny discovered more about the Jesus, she realised the need for someone to reach out to the indigenous population, and began to learn more about her culture. After a long journey of pain and reconciliation, Jenny has learned to forgive those who wronged her and her people, just as Jesus has done for us.
Since then, Aunty Jenny has become a significant figure in the Aboriginal Christian community. She shared the gospel with her family and anyone else who would listen, and pulled together a family of indigenous brothers and sisters in Christ. After being moved from one building to another, Macarthur Indigenous Church struck up a beautiful partnership with St Peter’s Anglican in Campbelltown.
The women from our team had the privilege of meeting with Aunty Jenny this morning. As we sat in the coffee shop where she meets to read the Bible and pray with women each week, we were deeply moved by her story, and greatly encouraged by her pure delight in God and her devotion to our Lord Jesus.
Let’s pray that God would raise up more faithful Christian women like Aunty Jenny in the indigenous community!
