by Jeremy Halcrow , 29 January 2007
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PROBLEM NUMBER FIVE:
Blokes like to get their hands dirty
THE story of the Backyard Angels ministry and their impact on Beaconsfield, Tasmania, is a dramatic example of how God uses the skills of ordinary working men and women for his purposes.
Andrew Cameron believes that if churches pursued a range of mission activities that gave men – especially working-class blokes – something to do, ‘we might not have to change Sunday meetings much’.
Solution: Get dirty like ‘Backyard angels’
The miraculous rescue of Brant Webb and Todd Russell from the Beaconsfield mine will be one of the enduring images of 2006.
But behind the headlines, God was working in the backyards of ‘Beaky’. Hard yakka by a team of faithful servants had a direct
impact on the mine miracle. And now the work is bearing fruit.
Since a new contemporary service was launched in late November, the local Anglican Church has seen half a dozen new people coming every week.
“They are not the people you would usually see in church,” says local minister, the Rev Chris Thiele, pointing to the colourful backgrounds and tattooed bodies of some of the new congregants.
Turn back the clock just nine months and things may have seemed bleak for this battling parish.
Then there was the accident. Chris went to the mine, and met mine management and union officials.
“People started asking me profound spiritual questions of faith. I had people crying on my shoulder that surprised me: tough
miners, union officials, police officers.”
Chris Thiele admits he was a ‘doubting Thomas’, certain the pair were dead. After all, he had been given an insight into the
geologist’s report, which clearly stated that no one could have survived a rock-fall of that magnitude.
“In the midst of this knowledge, I, like many others, thought that all three were dead. Yet when I prayed with one of the
families I suddenly felt compelled to pray for a miracle for the two that had not yet been found. I even felt guilty praying
because I was offering false hope. Yet the Spirit of God compelled me to pray that way.”
So early Sunday evening, the first person the family rang to tell news of the miners’ survival was Chris Thiele.
“They screamed and screamed, ‘It’s a miracle! It’s a miracle!’,” he says.
What is also extraordinary about Chris’s role in the unfolding events is that he had only commenced ministry in the West Tamar region four months before. How could Chris respond to the accident when he knew so few people?
“When the mine [accident recovery] was going on, people would say to me, ‘Yeah, I know Steve East and Backyard Angels.’ The Anglican Church and my message had more credibility because of Steve’s work.”
Steve East, a self-described ‘rough truckie who got converted’, launched Backyard Angels a couple of years ago after spending twice that time building equipment and wading through the required red tape.
But Steve says it was all worth it. He explains that by ‘getting their hands dirty’, the Anglican Church in Beaconsfield is no longer seen as something ‘for the cafe latte set’.
“This community is made up of forestry workers, truckies and miners. The men are men’s men. We don’t take fools lightly. You have to get in and get the job done.
“People here want you to walk the talk,” says Steve. “The usual church activities float around the edge of people’s lives. They never get their hands dirty by going into people’s lives and helping them.”
Last year, Backyard Angels fixed up over 350 backyards. Potential clients are assessed by Steve and Chris Thiele with the team mostly taking on jobs for the aged, or those people who have a disability.
It’s not a gardening service,” explains Steve. “We go in and do one big backyard blitz,” he says.
“One of our toughest jobs was for a couple in their 90s. All their children are on the mainland and no work had been done on the property for two years. It had been completely let go and was overgrown with blackberries. It took us three weekends to complete that job.”
Right from the beginning the aim of Backyard Angels was to reach out to the ‘unchurched’, says Steve.
A typical work day will start with a prayer and devotion from Steve.
“Everyone welcomes that,” he says. “They know it’s a Christian ministry. We find that by having a casual prayer together over lunch the clients will bring up God. We don’t even have to say anything – the comments about God just come. It’s a great opening for the Kingdom.”
Steve, who has just been accepted to train as a Church Army evangelist, agrees it is important to provide ministry opportunities for working-class men.
“Today’s society wants us to be a bunch of snags. Sometimes I am even confused about what I should be. This kind of ministry provides an opportunity to be yourself and be a man.”
The Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower, has asked Steve to design a prospectus so Backyard Angels teams can form in Hobart, Launceston, Burnie and Devenport. Wait a few years and we may see Backyard Angels on the mainland.