The widely respected indigenous leader Aunty Jean Phillips was awarded a Medal of the Ordaer of Australia (OAM) in the latest King’s birthday honours.
After decades of leadership, Phillips might be most widely known across the continent due to her collaboration with the Common Grace movement. “Every January, Aunty Jean Phillips, invites Australians to pray as we approach January 26 — a day of mourning for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters,” a Common Grace page explains. “Since 2017 these services have been held in every state and territory with the support of Brooke Prentis and the Common Grace movement…”
“Aunty Jean has been educating Australian Christians for decades on the true history of these lands now called Australia. Aunty Jean has said to many Australian Christians, ‘Your history is our history, our history is your history.'”
Here is Aunty Jean’s Common Grace invitation to pray for a change of heart..
Aunty Jean Phillip’s citation for her OAM “For service to Indigenous Christian ministries.” lists decades of caring service.
• Various roles, Indigenous Christian ministries, over 60 years.
• Various roles, Prison Ministry, over 40 years.
• Co-founder, #ChangeTheHeart Services, Common Grace.
• Founder/Vision Leader, The Grasstree Gathering.
• Founder, The Vision Trust.
• Fundraiser, Annual Christmas Cafe, St Andrew’s Anglican Church, South Brisbane.
• Fundraiser, Annual Christian Leadership Dinner, since 1994.
• Fundraiser and Contributor, various children, youth and family camps.
• Foundation Member, Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
• Former Missionary Worker, A.I.M – Aboriginal Inland Mission (now Australian Indigenous Ministries).
• Indigenous Leader, Uniting Church in Australia.
• Indigenous Leader, Methodist Church of Australasia, 1970s.
• Organiser, various church seminars and meetings for Reconciliation awareness and issues impacting
Indigenous, over 20 years.
When Aunty Jean Phillips was. awarded a Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) by the University of Divinity in January 2024, the University paper, VOX, described her more than six decades of ministry. “At [then] 84 years of age, Dr Aunty Jean’s journey began with the Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM), evolving over 65 years where she consistently brought her Christian faith to the forefront of her work, serving and advocating for Indigenous communities. Her fearless stance for justice and reconciliation has addressed crucial issues such as living conditions, housing, employment opportunities, and the ministry to incarcerated Indigenous individuals.”
“A founding member of numerous Aboriginal Christian organisations, including the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship (AEF), the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC), Wontulp Bi Buya College, and Grasstree Gathering, Dr Aunty Jean’s influence extends across various sectors, including health, housing, legal services, and education.”
The University’s Professor Dr Anne Pattel-Gray noted “I have had the pleasure of Dr Aunty Jean Phillips leadership, ministry, and ecumenism for the past forty years. Her leadership has not been recognised by Church leaders and yet her dedication to Australia’s First Nations people, building understanding and reconciliation between black and white Churches has been timeless and significant.”
Stan Grant observed “Professor Stan Grant echoed this sentiment, stating, “Were it not for the example of elders like Aunty Jean Phillips, who taught us how to live a public life of faith to reach out to non-Aboriginal people to renew our nation…then forgiveness, for me, would remain out of reach.”
Introducing an interview with Aunty Jean Phillips, for Naidoc 2018, Brooke Prentis an indigenous collaborator with her especially with Common Grace noted “Aunty Jean Phillips is one of our most senior Aboriginal Christian Leaders of all denominations, a beautiful example of ecumenism. She was born on Cherbourg mission over 80 years ago and is still doing full time ministry. Aunty Jean started out in ministry with the AIM (Aborigines Inland Mission) and for over 60 years Aunty Jean has faithfully followed Jesus, focussing on justice, and serving those living in poverty. She has served many Aboriginal communities, churches of all denominations, raised up the next generations of Aboriginal Christian leaders, and has called non-Aboriginal Christians to come on the journey with us for decades.”
Prentis suggested that ten minutes spent on listening to the interview would help us ” “take on her message as one of the great’s who through her work for Jesus has helped to change our nation.”
Prentis suggested that the interview should be widely shared. This is a great moment to do just that.
In an Eternity story Anne Lim described Aunty Jean Phillips’ message at St Andrews Cathedral Sydney in 2020. “Despite this progress in awareness of the #ChangetheHeart movement, Aunty Jean said that in Brisbane, her hometown, and all around the country, life is not easy for Aboriginal people. They face homelessness, poverty and prison.
“’And we in Christian ministry are caught up with all of those things and it’s not easy,’ she said.
“’Most Aboriginal ministry in this country has never been supported by the church and that’s just so sad. The churches in this country really have inherited so much from what has happened to our people – and we don’t begrudge them for that, but we don’t have those kinds of luxuries. Most Aboriginal ministries have never been supported.’ …
“’We don’t want your churches or your buildings back, but you need to acknowledge it and to help us to face those challenges and those needs that are before us,’ she said.
“Aunty Jean then put out a challenge: ‘I want to ask every church in Australia to adopt someone in Aboriginal ministry for prayer, for friendship and to pay their resources.’”
Main image: Aunty Jean Phillips speaking at the University of Divinity. Image credit: University of Divinity.