|
The
Marrickville township is south of the centre of the Local Government
Area. Other suburbs in the LGA include Petersham, Lewisham, parts
of Newtown and Enmore, Tempe, St Peters and Sydenham.
The nominal
boundary between North and South Marrickville is Marrickville
Road. Silver Street Mission is just in the South Marrickville
section of the LGA.
A 2001
Marrickville Council/ Commonwealth Government study identifies
South Marrickville as among Sydney's neediest places. Although
it doesn't suffer from the problems of homelessness and visible
misery often noted by visitors to parts of neighbouring South
Sydney, it contains many needy families and isolated singles. |
|
Some years
ago, we identified our primary mission area as consisting of
a roughly 1km diameter circle around the church. This reaches
to around Addison Road to our north, Cooks River to the South,
Sydenham Station to the East, and Wardell Road to the west. These
are all within walking diatance of the Mission's buildings.
Within
this circle, we noted that the greatest needs are in the area
to the south of the church location. The vast high density government
estates in Illawarra Road and Cahill Place provide housing for
some of the most vital and community-minded people in the area,
but also house some of the people with the greatest range of
problems and difficulties. Apart from local primary schools,
the Air League and two or three churches struggling in the same
way as the Mission struggles, there are no facilities for expressing
a community life. A team of 6 could be fully occupied in that
area... if we had the resources.
The Mission
already has some members strategically placed in South Marrickville.
Even before we can commit ourselves more firmly to The
Devil's Triangle, we need to develop an outreach to the
"many nations and tribes" of South Marrickville.
Return to Top |
|
There
are two parts to reaching out in these areas.
The first
is ingathering. By this we mean, finding, making friends with
and encouraging existing believers living in these areas to link
with the Mission. Alongside this thrust, there is a need to provide
community-building activities for families and individuals living
in the area, regardless of their state of faith.
Possibilities
include video nights and social evenings geared to people with
small children. Many families need a relaxed night out that is
still affordable. |
The
second part is true outreach. This entails taking Christianity
into the identifiable sub-communities of south Marrickville.
Possibilities
include establishing a local evening service, probably linked
with a community activity of some kind. Venues could include
local schools or parks, or the Air League Hall.
The Mission
needs a team which it could send into such work. Please pray
with us! |