Operation Outback Outreach makes impact
in Bourke

In the second week of July, a team of 25 people from Avondale College, Brisbane and the Central Coast travelled to Bourke, a town located in north-western New South Wales, for a mission trip dubbed Operation Outback Outreach (OOO).

OOO is a youth evangelism initiative created by three Avondale College students, who heard about Bourke and its problems. The town has an Adventist church, which has been closed for years, but only one church member.

orld where many Christians don’t have a building to worship in, it’s a shame there are churches in our own backyard that have been closed or have few members because of natural circumstances and distance from economic centres,” says Monique Rogers, who was a member of the OOO team.

rip to Bourke was given the name of DUST (Dreams Unveiled by Stories of Truth), which was represented in the Gospel-based stories told at both KC 4 JC (Kids Club for Jesus Christ) and the “Glass mural” night meetings. The week consisted of a daily threefold program beginning with KC 4 JC, an evangelistically based kids club program with the main focus on showing the children how to have a relationship with Jesus.

One of the central ideas in DUST’s evangelism in Bourke was the connection of the service project to the night meetings in the form of a glass mural depicting a “pilgrim’s progress” journey toward the cross. This program, called “Glass mural,” involved musical items and an interactive drama series depicting a family’s daily struggles with each other and religion.

the afternoons, the DUST team travelled to the other side of town to “Glitter street”—so named because of the broken glass littering it—with the goal of cleaning up the thick layer of glass and rubble that covered the ground. The team also ministered to the neighbourhood and worked to create friendships with the local people.

DUST team member Eric Johnson reflects, “Cleaning up the glass on ‘Glitter street’ was so rewarding! At first the job looked overwhelming, but it got cleaned up really quickly. It was amazing to see kids from our Kids Club come along and help clean up the glass with us.”

Since July, OOO: DUST returned to Bourke for a weekend in September after being invited to the Aboriginal “Yaamma” festival. This particular trip’s focus was to present God’s character and plan for humanity in a secular and spiritualistic environment. While at “Yaamma,” the DUST team ran a short KC4JC program in the morning, then displayed the “pilgrim’s progress” glass mural and sang Christian music for the remainder of the day.

“One particular blessing came at the end of the day when five group members were suddenly given the opportunity to sing on the main stage, giving DUST the opportunity to give the audience DUST team member Melissa Otto’s God-centred music CDs,” says Ms Rogers. “Throughout the weekend God gave many opportunities to the DUST team to talk about God to those at the festival while also opening more doors of trust and communication with the community that surrounds ‘Glitter street.’”

Over the next two years OOO: DUST plans to continue their mission, reviving the Bourke church by using friendship and evangelism-based ministry.—Monique Rogers/RECORD staff