Fourty-five influential Christian women leaders brought together by Micah Australia converged in Canberra last week to advocate for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
The Micah Women Leaders Delegation, comprised of women from more than 12 church denominations and Micah’s coalition of Aid and Development members, met with 40 politicians to discuss the role Australia can play in helping to combat an increase in simultaneous global crises and create a safer world for all.
Representing the Seventh-day Adventist Church and ADRA Australia in the women’s delegation was ADRA Australia’s national programs director Charlene Luzuk and university chaplain Pastor Moe Stiles.
“Micah has always upheld that Australia’s international development program is what best enables us as a nation to show our compassion and generosity towards our neighbours and those in greatest need, both in our region and globally,” said Beck Wilesmith, Women Leaders Network coordinator for Micah Australia.
Australia is a signatory to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whose objective is to eliminate extreme poverty and end hunger by 2030. However, these targets are now way off track due to the confluence of multiple crises in the past several years—including COVID-19, rising conflict and climate change. As part of Micah’s Safer World For All campaign, the delegation advocated for an increase to Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget.
“We’re challenging our parliamentarians to see what we can do as a nation to rebuild the aid budget,” said Miss Luzuk. “Our aid budget is the smallest it has been in a long time in terms of a percentage of GNI.”
On the first day, the delegates attended training on how to best raise their voices for the vulnerable in front of the politicians. The power of Micah Australia is in bringing together the churches of Australia to speak as one with a common goal.
“The NGOs and churches of all denominations came together as one, not just championing their own agendas,” said Pastor Stiles. “A few of the MPs we met with were pleased and surprised that we as a church could come together like that.”
Miss Luzuk reflected that her group pondered and prayed over Luke 12:11-12 before the day started, asking the Holy Spirit to be with them and to give them the words to say as is promised in those verses. As the day progressed, they discovered that other groups had also been praying over the same verse.
“We really prayed on that verse, and to hear that other delegation groups were also praying in this way was really affirming,” she said.
For Pastor Stiles, the other impactful component of the meetings in Canberra was being surrounded by strong, godly women.
“It was inspiring to be surrounded by incredible women of faith who are leaders in their respective roles,” Pastor Stiles said. “To have a delegation of 45 Christian women leaders stomping the halls of parliament isn’t something you would see every day.”
Miss Luzuk was grateful to be part of the community of women leaders who stood unified in their purpose as Christians to speak up for those who are marginalised.
“This isn’t new for Christians,” said Miss Luzuk. “For over 2000 years, Jesus has instructed us to speak up on behalf of the poor and vulnerable, and so we’re just doing what Jesus has told us to do. If I speak up with one voice, it can only go so far, but when you have 45 voices from across the country all saying the same thing to the MPs and parliamentarians, it has a bigger impact.”
“I went to Canberra with quite a few questions on how effective it would be, and I walked away seeing the importance of combining our Christian voice and working together for the most vulnerable in our world,” she concluded.
