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I am excited to invite you to become a Mission Partner with Emmanuel Community, a vibrant and impactful Catholic lay mission community in Australia.
 
Since 1975, Emmanuel has demonstrated a proven track record in the areas of service to young people and their leaders and in using music to impact young people both inside and outside of church settings. I am particularly excited to invite you to consider supporting our new areas of mission – Blind Eye Ministries and Impact – which are serving those suffering social or economic disadvantage both in Australia and in Africa. Both of these mission endeavours have already had significant impact and have exciting plans for serving and empowering those in need.
 
Emmanuel is facing an increasing demand for our services throughout Australia. With this demand comes the challenge to expand our paid and volunteer staff to meet the increasing requests we receive to:
 
  • host events and run programs in different parts of the country
  • conduct leadership and specific mission/ministry training programs
  • provide a broader range of local resources.

The areas below provide a snap shot of what has already been achieved in some of our key areas of mission, and we invite you to share the excitement of our plans for the future. 
 
Read below for an outline of the current ministry and challenges in each of these areas. For more information, download a copy of our Mission Partner brochure or booklet, or please contact us at admin@emmanuelcommunity.com.au.
 
Shayne Bennett
Moderator, Emmanuel Community
 

Forming Young People and their Leaders

Emmanuel has had an active focus on mission to young people since it was first formed in 1975. For over 30 years, it has run effective and vibrant teenage and young adults groups. It has been from this successful base that Emmanuel has built its outreach events and programs.
 
Our current youth mission model is called Emmanuel Youth Outreach (EYO), covering a range of major events and ongoing outreaches. Our youth mission initiatives are predominantly staffed by volunteers each year.
 
The Ignite Conference was launched in 2001 as a contemporary and dynamic conference for young people. It is the largest and most successful Catholic youth conference in Australia.
 
EYO ran its first Zero Gravity outreach focussed teenage summer camp in 2007. This annual event now sells out every year with over 200 teenagers and their leaders attending. It provides a significant stimulus to the programs of many youth groups, whilst providing emerging youth leaders with hands on youth camp experience.
 
Other regular events reach over 250 young people and leaders every month. They continue to strengthen and nourish individual young people and contribute to the sustainability of youth groups.
 
EYO regularly receives invitations to provide training for emerging leaders, develop local youth ministry teams and run programs and retreats in schools and parishes.
 
Our Challenges for the Future:
 
  • Expand the capacity of our major events to meet demand, and cover the cost of the key volunteer leaders involved in our major mission events.
  • Expand our capacity to meet the demand for more teams to work in schools and parishes throughout Australia.
 

Using Music to Capture the Next Generation

Emmanuel has built a proud reputation over the last 10 years in producing what is arguably Australia's leading contemporary Catholic worship band, emmanuelworship. The band uses the power of music to positively influence young people and their leaders to grow in self esteem, establish strong values, and develop practical mission skills.
 
In the wake of World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, the demand for music training, resources and events from emmanuelworship exploded. One response to this demand was the launch in 2010 of a brand new initiative called the Beat School of Music. Modified versions of the School called "Beat" Music Workshops have already been run in many schools and parishes around the country.

One of the most popular demands from emmanuelworship is the ongoing production of new music resources for schools and parishes to utilise before or after encountering the team. To meet the demand for vibrant, contemporary resources for young people, emmanuelworship has already produced four professional CDs with accompanying music books, a USB resource for schools and contemporary Catholic Mass resources.
 

Our Challenges for the Future:

  • Expand production of music CDs, DVDs, books and resources.
  • Further develop the School of Music and increase staff capability to respond to training invitations, both interstate and overseas.
 

Serving the Poor and Disadvantaged

Emmanuel has significantly invested in the service of the disadvantaged in Australia and beyond.
 
January 2010 saw the development of Blind Eye Ministries, a social justice mission of Emmanuel. Outreaches already established include a weekly homeless mens hostel outreach, fortnightly hot breakfasts for the homeless, Easter and Christmas outreaches, Indigenous outreaches, immersion programs and a pro-life arm consisting of weekly prayer vigils and "Culture of Life" forum nights.
 
Impact Uganda is an outreach of Emmanuel to the people of Uganda. Impact's primary project is child sponsorship, focussing on education programs. Other projects include medical relief, school and building projects, and provision of Bibles in the local language. The current projects are determined jointly with our 'sister' team from Holy Trinity Community in Masaka, Uganda with whom we have a strong relationship.
 
Our Challenges for the Future:
 
  • Grow and train our volunteer base for Blind Eye Ministries to involve more people in this mission, and create sustainable funding for the Mission Coordinator.
  • Support the long-term work of the Holy Trinity Community, to establish more local industries in Uganda to provide sustainable income for the local community.
  • Provide continuing leadership and youth programs in East Africa, and expand the Child Education Program so more Ugandan children can receive basic food and schooling.
 

Ways to become a Mission Partner include:

We invite you to respond to this invitation to become a Mission Partner with Emmanuel Community.
 
  • Becoming a Prayer Partner
  • Becoming a Financial Partner
  • Making a One Off Donation for a particular need
  • Contributing through your family trust or your estate