Have caravan, will preach, a life of mobile mission to small country churches 

After an action-packed time as a lay minister in the Uniting Church, Grahame and Fran Abrahams did not want to stop ministering. They didn’t, (although they had to change churches). Graham told his story to The Other Cheek.

Being lay ministers had been an exciting time for Grahame and Fran. It had taken them to Nimbin to work with alternative lifestyles and then to Jindabyne where Grahame had two months to get to know the Catholic and Anglican ministers before the Thredbo disaster which formed them into a team working together for the next five years. “At that time, I was also a part of the SES which meant I was on the first rescue truck into Thredbo and because of my previous experience I establish this first forward command for the SES and the next morning moved into a chaplaincy role.  For the next 9 days and nights we worked almost day and night providing comfort and support to both the rescuers, residents and staff at Thredbo. “

Grahame had been in the right place. Later, that right place was Shellharbour Uniting Church in 2005, after a season of burnout.  “For me, this was a lifesaver as they were an evangelically minded congregation and the position was 80 per cent. So it was a healing time for me. If it wasn’t for these wonderful people I think my ministry days would have ended. The congregation had been through a major split over Resolution 84 [a resolution at the Uniting Church Assembly that adopted a ‘two integrities’ approach to same-gender relationships] the younger people had left but the older members felt they had to stay as they were a part of the Reforming Alliance [later merged  into the Assembly of Confessing Congregations (ACC).]” 

At 67, Grahame despite knowing he was no longer strong enough for full-time ministry, did not want to retire. “It was then God gave us the vision of a mobile ministry to support small country congregations who no longer had the means to support a minister in placement.”

“Back in the mid-1990s my wife and I had purchased a block of land (12 acres) at Dalgety – a small town on the Snowy river. We had been trying to sell this land for 8 years and couldn’t get any interest, and when the UCA wouldn’t embrace the mission we prayed to God that if the land at Dalgety sold we would invest the money in the mission. Three months later we had sold the land and purchased a 10 metre 5^th Wheeler caravan.  We were then stumped, for without the support of the church how would we get this ministry happening?”

Peter Bentley – who then headed the ACC – come through, providing contacts in country churches.

“Our original vision was churches in western NSW working with a circuit of 6 to 8 churches, but the first contact we had went like this,
 

Caller “Heard you’re available for a bit of ministry.” “Yes” I replied 

Caller “Thought about coming out west at all.” We lived on the coast at the time.

“Our ministry was set up to support churches in western NSW, so yes.”

Caller, “No mate, I meant the real West, Western Australia.”

“As I picked myself up of the floor I realised God had a much bigger vision than we had, so we packed the van and off over the Nullarbor we went. We had five months working with churches based at Wagin in the wheat belt of Western Australia. We have very fond memories of those wonderful people in the west.”

“The next year we prayed again, and thanks to Peter Bentley we had a phone call from the church in Ulverstone in Tasmania. We agreed to go down there for 5 months to work with Ulverstone/Sprent. We were also to spend some time at St Helens in the northeast of Tasmania. Instead of five months were spent nine and also spent a month working on the far south coast at Woodbridge.

“After returning from there we made contact with Jindabyne who no longer had a minister and needed some help, so we have been going back each year and spending two months in the lead-up to Easter and conducting the Easter services (except during COVID). Then through an article Peter Bentley had written in the ACCatalyst magazine we were contacted by Coonabarabran.

“We have been back a second year to Tasmania again. We agreed to go for three months and ended up staying for five.  Then returned to Jindabyne and Coonabarabran.”

But their status as an independent ministry meant some UCA churches were reluctant to use them. But the Presbyterian church was happy to appoint Abrahams as a home missionary, enabling him to work in their churches.

“In 2018 we sold up down the coast and purchased a smaller house in Wagga Wagga. This gave us funds to keep our ministry alive for a few more years. Just before COVID struck they were desperate for a chaplain in the Youth detention Centre in Wagga, I agreed to put our ministry on hold for six months and take on the work as a chaplain with the Presbyterian Church. With COVID and the difficulty finding a chaplain I ended up in youth detention for 14 months, which I would have to say was very rewarding, on Sundays were getting 50-75% of the church service.

Within the Presbyterian Church, we have done two stints at Finley, and a couple of weeks at Young and West Wyalong. Plus returning to Jindabyne, Plus a month with an independent church at Sussex Islet.

“COVID has slowed our ministry somewhat but we are looking at reviving our mobile ministry again, we only work part time as we get older, but the Lord still has work for us to do.”

Like other grey nomads, the Abrahams will work for free. “We never charge for our services, although some churches have been able to afford to pay supply ministry others have contributed according to their means toward our expenses. Others haven’t had the money to pay anything. 

“God has always supplied our needs. One instance of that was when we needed new tyres and batteries (not cheap for our vehicle) and we didn’t have the $2,000 needed to get back on the road. We had an email from a lady we hadn’t seen or heard from for well over 15 years. The email said we have heard of the ministry you are doing and we would like to make a donation, send your bank details. Guess what? $2,000 to get us back on the road.

“We are always prepared to serve with any church of any denomination where every we are invited and where ever God calls us.”

Grahame Abrahams’ email is [email protected]