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Aboriginal communities in Central Australia already know the gospel message. What they need now, Robyn Murray writes, is discipleship, encouragement and Christians willing to pray and participate.

Even intoxicated people in the streets of Alice Springs will say, “Yeah, I know Jesus.” In 2020, my husband, Mark, and I moved to Alice Springs from the Northern Rivers of New South Wales to serve in a church and parachurch ministry, staying for almost three years, and visiting annually since then. There is already a familiarity with the gospel message in the communities we visited, so while continuing evangelism is important, we found a real need for discipleship.

People need encouragement to grow in really knowing Jesus and His power working in their lives. People can have a nominal faith without power (a normal Christian challenge?).

During or at the end of church meetings, there is often a good response of people going forward and receiving prayer — there’s a big need for freedom from addictions such as alcohol, marijuana and gambling. Christ can set us free, and it can be immediate, but to continue to walk in freedom often does need lots of encouragement and a particular type of support and ministry.

My new book, Finding Gold, was a result of quite a few years’ experience, research and thought. It is cautious about Aboriginal spirituality, and true-to-life about the causes and realities of the difficult lives experienced by people in Aboriginal communities.

A World Away from the Cities

It has been argued that Europeans have tainted and affected culture, so it has lost its purity. In our urban areas, traditional culture has been adapted, leaving behind some things to embrace other aspects and benefits of Western culture, especially in the areas of health, education and technology.

I see such a big difference between Aboriginal people living in urban areas and those in remote areas. The Aboriginal families we met and mixed with do not live the same as their brothers and sisters in city areas. They lack many of the basic things that urban dwellers take for granted, such as food security, access to healthy foods, education and personal safety.

Anderson George, a prominent Wuagalak Aboriginal elder and strong Christian leader from the Top End, notes that, from his perspective, much of the political will to “close the gap” in the non-Christian context ends up doing the opposite and does not empower Aboriginal people.

What Stands in the Way

I want to touch briefly on some obstacles to Christian growth, the main one being family pressure. Group identity is everything, and families can apply strong pressure to anyone who wants to live differently as a Christian. It would seem impossible to survive being cut off from family. It is fair to say that there are too few long-term missionaries to support discipleship, which must operate by invitation once there is enough trust through an established relationship.

It can be difficult for people to look after and hold onto Bibles (translated into their own Aboriginal languages) to read and study. They can be shared (as all things are) and passed on, or unable to be stored due to the transient nature of their lives.

There is a lack of biblical knowledge due to the lack of English literacy — or vernacular literacy, even when translations are available — because Aboriginal culture is an oral culture with no tradition of reading. When Aboriginal children learn to read, they tend not to learn to read for comprehension.

You may have heard of two-way (bilingual) education in primary schools in Australia, which is where non-Aboriginal children learn about Aboriginal culture in the curriculum. However, amongst Christian missions, two-way has a different meaning: mixing Christian faith with beliefs in Aboriginal culture.

We saw this at times in Alice Springs; the most common example was people asking for prayer for healing from Jesus, and also going to traditional healers. These traditional healers draw on ancestor spirits (dead spirits), which Scripture tells us not to do.

The strong influence of non-believing family is real — the strength of whole families together following Jesus is really what we can be praying for, and for Aboriginal Christians to lead meetings and gatherings amongst their own. The Holy Spirit will come wherever there is hunger.

But God

This is an excerpt from Finding Gold:

When we have the privilege to meet those Aboriginal Christians in Central Australia who are truly passionate about Jesus, we have observed the following:

• They are highly motivated to share Jesus and spread His good news.
• They stand out in their groups and communities in refusing to become involved in payback [traditional retribution], standing instead for forgiveness and reconciliation.
• They understand that Jesus is coming back soon, so they have an urgency to share and are not overly concerned with earthly things.
• They exhibit great faith for healing, divine intervention and provision.
• They have great love and concern for their families and relatives.
• They are very sensitive to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
• They are so strong in their faith — trusting God for daily physical provision, for healing, and freedom from addictions.

Thank God for Jesus, who is Someone we can be so sure about! We have seen truly hungry and desperate people wanting more of God, wanting their families to know Him, and wanting to spread this good news. Make us more like this, Lord!

Don’t Lose Heart

My purpose in writing Finding Gold is to inform the wider Christian church in Australia, encourage faith, and move us to prayer and participation to see God’s life come to the darkest places in our nation. Remember Kumanjayi Little Baby, the five-year-old girl whose body was found near Alice Springs in April, and pray for an end to tragedies like this. She came from a Christian family.

Let’s make sure we don’t lose our compassion, even as we might be tempted to despair because of the current narratives, or experience overwhelming hopelessness as we haven’t seen change yet. There is always reason for hope with our God, the source of all hope.

There are some strong Aboriginal Christian leaders that we can pray for. God alone can bring true change by transforming lives through the power of the gospel, bringing the good things of the Kingdom directly to the First Peoples of our nation.

Finding Gold: Christian Mission to Australia’s First Peoples: History, Politics, Realities and Real Hope in the Heart of Australia (2026) by Robyn Murray is available in print and ebook from robynmurray.net.