Settling them in a new Home

TROWEL & SWORD

Rev. Geoff van Schie

It was at first an impossible task. With little information and no partnership, although we knew thousands of South Africans were migrating to Australia, we never seemed to be able to find them. As they arrived they seemed to melt away into the secular mainstream of Australian society.

So how does a minister of the CRCA seek to welcome and settle into their new home those who are migrating to Australia from South Africa?

My congregation is located directly across the Indian Ocean east of South Africa – Perth. It is a small congregation of about 130 men, women and children. We are located within a kilometre of the centre of the city, right on the south side of the beautiful Swan River.

It was not that long ago we had no South Africans settling among us. The first couple who came to us were not able to stay long as the head office moved them on to Canada. Our congregation has a time of fellowship over refreshments every Sunday after church, so with this time they quickly were introduced to many people and so began new friendships. My own involvement with them began with a pastoral visit to introduce myself and to get to know them better. This was followed by having them over for refreshments in my own home where we also grew a good personal relationship. Even after they left us for a time I continued to receive e-mails from them, finding myself grateful that they had found a new church home in Canada.

About three years ago Kobus and Esmari van Oudtshoorn moved into the same suburb as the Perth church. A young couple with a baby, it was important that we should make them welcome and help them settle into their new surroundings. They had not come to us directly from South Africa since Kobus had worked in other countries before coming to Perth to do a Masters degree. They found the worship services to be just like those back in South Africa. The order of the service and the tone of the service made them feel at home which made it all the easier for them to settle. It was a wonderful celebration in our church when at the end of 2005 Kobus was elected and installed as an elder in the Perth Church. Esmari has also become very active in our church community, being appointed in 2005 as one of three leaders of the Creche ministry.

For a while there was no further contact with South African migrants. However this changed after the Perth Church launched its website. With much work we have reached the situation where our church’s site is among the first ones that comes up when people search on the Internet for a Reformed Church in Perth. The last time I checked it was always the top of the list when the search words were ‘Gereformeerde church’ or ‘Hervormde church’. We now have many people who have come to us for information this way, and at the end of 2005 we grew from one South African family worshipping with us to five with others passing through.

The following e-mail came from a young couple who contacted me some three months before leaving for Australia. After experiencing the shallowness of preaching in the countryside where they live some 180 north east of Perth, they emailed the following request:

“Dear Pastor!
Will you please put the entire worship services on the website? Both morning and afternoon is possible. Audio will be fine as the Internet is too slow for video. When will this be available and where will I find it? Thank you for all the help we appreciate everything.” And again “Dear Pastor! Hope you have returned safely from your trip. In few weeks time we will come to church again and hand in our testimonial (hope it is the right word). In mean time we will listen to church over Internet.” Since this last e-mail this couple have requested a copy of the church’s hymnbook so they can sing along with the audio recording. They have also come in from the country to worship with us a few times and are trying to make this at least a monthly trip.

Sometimes the contact is from concerned family members who provide us with the details to follow up their family members: “My brother’s daughter and her husband have just moved to Perth from Parkes and she asked me to get her some info on where to go to church. Unfortunately I don’t know the suburb of Perth where they live, but she did mention it was close to the airport as her husband works at the airport. Would you be so kind as to send information on where you suggest they join a congregation – or you can send it directly to her.” This young couple have since come to worship with us for a couple of Sundays and have enjoyed a braai at my home. We continue to reach out to them as we seek to help them settle in Perth.

Pastorally it is important to quickly establish a personal friendship with new arrivals. I am quick to introduce myself over coffee after the worship services and arrange a first pastoral visit. My wife and I follow this up by inviting our new friends to a braai at our home for lunch between the worship services. One of the nicest occasions we experienced was when we had three South African couples visiting with us over such a meal. Also invited to such social occasions are members of the church who we think would get along well with the newcomers. This has worked well and some very close and good friendships have developed. On a number of occasions parents of South African migrants have also joined with us on social occasions such as this, and through the parents now we have got to know these migrants better.

Another way we seek to pastorally reach out and care for our new arrivals from South Africa is to quickly get them busy in the work we do for Christ in our church. Karen van der Walt, with two children, has a husband who works on an island north of Darwin (a world away – about 3,500Km!). He is away three weeks at a time and comes home for one week before returning. On a pastoral visit to this couple I discovered that Karen was bored and would be happy to help with the work of the church. She has since been of great assistance in doing some data entry for me for a synodical report and has since been recruited to our denominational magazine’s editorial team to assist with a children’s activity page.

At the end of 2005 the Perth Church’s leadership had a lot of discussion concerning the subject of small groups for the purpose of studying the Bible as well as fostering close bonds of fellowship by which the members of each group care for each other. Its is the church’s aim to especially use these to help new visitors quickly belong to a small group where they can build strong Christian friendships, being enfolded into the lives of our members. This means they become so close in friendship they are invited to parties, weddings and anniversaries as well as the usual social engagements that happen on a more regular basis. We pray the Lord will use this endeavour to further settle these folk whom we have come to love.

It is important that we work closely with the churches in South Africa to do this outreach and follow up work. In Perth we can do so much when we are aware of new arrivals. We are committed to look after the sons and daughters of the South African Reformed Churches who migrate to Australia. Our prayer is the Lord will help us all work together for the spiritual welfare of those who migrate to Australia and seek to walk with the Lord in a new country – a country that also in Christ, belongs to God.

As I conclude this article I encourage the readers to keep the following details close by and use them to contact us when you know of someone going to Australia. As the CRCA liaison person for the relationship with the South African Reformed Churches, I am in a position to help match the migrants to the closest Christian Reformed Church.

CRCA denominational website: crca.org.au
Perth Church Website: crcperth.org.au
My email address: gvschie@ozemail.com.au
CRCA denominational magazine: trowelandsword.org.au

All reports of problems and comments concerning this site: webmaster@trowelandsword.org.au

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