Maree Vines
5 March 2024
Former CMS missionary Wendy O’Brian was delighted to meet a former student recently, the Reverend Edwin Rami, whom she taught at the Northern Territory’s Numbulwar Primary School. Mrs O’Brian saw Mr Rami during CMS Victoria’s annual conference, during a recent visit to Melbourne.
Mr Rami, ordained in 2023, is now the minister at the Church of the Holy Spirit at Numbulwar. He was in Melbourne as part of his ongoing professional development. At Numbulwar, Mr Rami works alongside St Alfred’s link missionaries Josh and Steph Mackenzie.
During his stay Mr Rami attended all St Alfred’s Sunday services, and on the second week read one of the lessons in Wuboy, the original language spoken at Numbulwar. He shared his desire to reach out to the young people and to teach them how to read the Bible. He was particularly interested in the all-age liturgy for communion at St Alfred’s for this reason. With the Reverend Ben Clements who celebrated that day, Mr Rami spoke about the value of using words that everyday people understand to explain Christian ideas and practices. It highlighted the importance of Bible translation into Indigenous languages and the challenge of ministering in a multilingual community.
Another priority Mr Rami shared was the need to train up leaders for ministry in the church. In particular, he is working to empower people to contribute to the Sunday service with public speaking roles.
Mr Rami was also able to share both his vision and the challenges of ministry in a remote community with the St Alfred’s Cross Cultural Prayer Group and the Reconciliation Group.
It was positive to see how St Alfred’s support of Josh and Steph Mackenzie is contributing to Mr Rami’s mission, and the building up of the church at Numbulwar. We now have a much more informed idea of how to pray for this work. We hope a group of people from St Alfred’s may be able to make a return visit to Numbulwar. Mr Rami’s visit was the start of building relationships between our two churches and becoming partners in the gospel.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, Philippians 1:3-5 NIV
The Reverend Maree Vines is a former CMS missionary and congregation member at St Alfred’s Blackburn North.
For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.
