Listen: Common Grace CEO Brooke Prentis talks to Laura Bennett about their national Change the Heart prayer event
By Laura BennettTuesday 25 Jan 2022Hope DriveLifeReading Time: 2 minutes
Australia Day has mixed meaning and impact for many who call our country home. In the beauty of our nation, its landscape and our one-of-a-kind commitment to “mateship”, we also carry a history that had brought hurt and lingering displacement to our First Nations people.
Common Grace, an organisation whose mission is to unify Christians across different cultures and faith traditions, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its #ChangetheHeart event this year.
Calling the nation to prayer ahead of January 26, the event invites Christians to replace the divisive spirit that can accompany Australia Day, with a sense of connection and a willingness to learn about our indigenous heritage.
#ChangetheHeart invites Christians to replace the divisive spirit that can accompany Australia Day, with a sense of connection and a willingness to learn about our indigenous heritage.
Common Grace CEO Brooke Prentis told Hope 103.2 that #ChangetheHeart is “a moment for our nation to come together on the evening before January 26″.
“It’s a specific call to our nation to prayer, led by one of our most senior Aboriginal Christian leaders in all of Australia, Aunty Jean Phillips,” Brooke said.
“To be led by Aboriginal Christian leaders is a really unique opportunity. You’ll see a lot of us reaching out our hand in friendship inviting non-indigenous Australia to listen, to learn and to love.”
Source: Annandale Creative Arts Centre Facebook / Common Grace CEO Brooke Prentis
Brooke believes it’s important to make Aboriginal Christian leaders more visible because “as aboriginal peoples we are the world’s oldest living continuous cultures”.
“That is a beautiful gift to these lands now called Australia, and to the world. The Creator placed us here as the first peoples… we’ve been part of God’s story, and we still are today.
“The Creator placed us here as the first peoples… we’ve been part of God’s story, and we still are today,” – Common Grace CEO Brooke Prentis
“But so many non-indigenous Australians don’t now the incredible Aboriginal Christian leaders of the present, but also of the past.
“[We’ve] been contributing to the fabric of this nation for so many decades.”
#ChangetheHeart will be broadcast live on Hope 103.2 from 7.30pm tonight, January 25. You can also join via the Common Grace website.
Listen to Brooke’s full interview with Laura Bennett in the player above.
Source: Common Grace Facebook