Cunnamulla Comments

In July a team of 18 young ashgrovians set out to Cunnamulla on a mission to show God's love by practically serving the community and to encourage the local Christians. 

The team worked closely with the local council on a number of projects including cleaning up the cemetery, clearing bushland, plus they took time out to visit the Old Folks home and play sport with the local kids. Not only did they succeed in impacting the community, but the team itself was impacted. Some have been baptised, some challenged, all inspired.

Here is what they had to say about the mission...

• "Faith, acceptance, love, renewal and unity are words that come to mind when reflecting the Cunnamulla trip. It was a week of change, not just within the community but internal change. A fire was lit in my heart and it just keeps on burning bigger and brighter."  - Jess Kuhl

• "Passionate youth & young adults + the gospel of God's redemptive love + broken people + beautiful town + opportunity for service = 1 influenced community, 2 encouraged missionaries, and 1 phenomenal week of seeing how Jesus can use ordinary people in ordinary ways to have an extraordinary impact."  - Dan Paterson    

• "Wonderful to see how God worked through everyone, and everyone was so willing to do everything that was asked of them, and they did it to serve God."   -Tara Florence

• "Seven days filled with not just fellowship and good times, but seven days overflowing with God's work in our lives and the lives of the community of Cunnamulla." - Sam Ryan

• "...The Cunnamulla mission gave us an opportunity to show the local community we care for them and in some way, show the love our Saviour has for them.  I am always encouraged to see our young people stepping out, trusting and serving God in ways they might not normally and growing in their faith. The highlights for me were the Baptisms in the Warrego River, the team time bible studies, meeting Paul & Nicky, and seeing the smiles, gratitude and disbelief on the faces the local council workers and managers at what the team had achieved."   - Paul Ridings 

• "An amazing week of fellowship with friends,  both from Ashgrove & Cunnamulla, whilst being challenged and growing spiritually." - Lucy Heywood

• "If one is willing to open their life and commit their time and energy to God's will, what ensues is an incredible mixture of laughter, spiritual growth, surprises, excitement, difficulties and a whole lot of experiencing the warmth of God's love. Cunnamulla was definitely all these and more." - Rachel Pfeffer

• "A group of people who throughout the week became knitted together into one big cardigan for Jesus." - Bee Packer

• "Cunnamulla was a time to get away from my selfish, self-centred life and serve God and others."  - Lachie Turner

• "Great time growing relationships with the people of the community and creating strong bands with those in the team, all whilst wearing free steel-cap boots!" - Miriam Pfeffer

•  "Cunnamulla was an awesome week of laughs and a reminder of how important it is to always rely on God. It was absolutely life-changing!" - Courtney Beveridge

• "A week to learn a lot about ourselves and grow dramatically in our relationship with God while seeing His will done." - Bronte Fisher 

• "The biggest thing I have taken away from my Cunnamulla experience is that life is too short not to love and to not live for God and others. I guess I have just have had such a growing passion for serving the people of that town, but also people in my own life at home. I want to serve.  Want to live and to show others the amazing grace of God." - Rachel Turner 

• "The Cunnamulla mission trip was spiritually empowering and amazing to serve God and see my prayers answered!" - Jessica O'Neill

• "The week for me was really good just because it wasn't about working on relationships with the locals of Cunnamulla, but also on building strong relationships within a team of great Christians from Ashgrove." - Tim Cotton

• "Cunnamulla 2010 was an opportunity to put faith into action, in a viable and visible example of Christ's love for the townspeople.  " - Ben Fox

• "Cunnamulla was a personal growing experience, working on forgiveness and working through the feelings of being worthy of God's love. I was challenged hugely to carry what I learned back into the rest of my life." - Phoebe Lindburg

For the last few years the Cunnamulla mission has been partnering with a missionary couple from the UK who feel called to share the Gospel in Cunnamulla. This couple and their four boys are in the process of building a massive eclectic cafe with the vision of bringing families in off the streets to build a healthy community. This vision is fuelled by the desire to communicate the love of Christ and let His kingdom values build a foundational model for Cunnamulla's family world. The ashgrove team had raised approximately $3000 before they set off to Cunnamulla, and this money was used to cover the costs of the team, with the remainder going towards the necessary building materials to help make this cafe a reality.