-CDM Staff

I want World Changers to know the world needs us to step forward as world changers in an ever-changing world. We don’t need to lose hope in the effort to help others. -Kyle Self

Pastors Kyle and Tina Self of World Changers Church Gold Coast (WCCGC) have been in Australia for four and a half years, working as God’s hands and feet in their local community. For more about their pandemic response and Christmas 2020 outreach, see last month’s article here.

WCCGC consistently provides outreach beyond the church walls through “Soul Winning on the Streets.” There’s quite a bit of domestic violence, substance abuse, and homelessness in the area. WCCGC has created a team whose purpose is to go minister the love of Jesus to these people, and let them know that no matter what they’ve done or where they are in life, God has a plan for them.

The ladies in WCCGC’s Radical Women’s Ministry have periodic initiatives, the goal of which isn’t to catch up, but to put purpose behind their gatherings. They held a Lemon Bliss High Tea and provided the opportunity for attendees to give monetary donations. Those donations went the chaplain of a local school for special needs children. Seven children were set to graduate (in Australia, the students must pay for their own graduation tickets); instead of the families covering that cost, the Radical Women’s Ministry covered it for them. Inspired by Pastor Taffi Dollar’s Prestige Ministry, Pastor Tina, along with some ministry volunteers, began to do outreach to women working in local brothels and strip clubs. They encourage self-worth by giving the women flowers, meals, and candy, and introducing Jesus through a “no judgment zone.” They minister the hope of Jesus and the message of self-worth. Because of Pastor Tina’s consistency, the ladies have grown to appreciate her and the ministry. The ladies have even presented Pastor Tina with gifts in appreciation for her outreach. After the pandemic restrictions lift, the ministry will continue to reach out to these women.

WCCGC is connected with a World Changer, Bobby Smith, whose prison ministry in Port Villa, Vanuatu, has greatly impacted the lives of prisoners incarcerated there. As a commitment to this ministry, which reaches both men’s and women’s facilities, WCCGC now regularly sends Bibles to Port Villa for the prisoners. One prisoner has used his Bible so much that it’s falling apart!

Churches across that region don’t typically allow prisoners or convicted criminals to attend services, but the ministry recognizes that these souls need to learn and be restored—not just survive. WCCGC has put together Grace for Life, a 48-week curriculum based on several sources, including Pastor Dollar’s writings, to give Bro. Smith content from which to teach. The curriculum has been so impactful for inmates that government officials want the Bible and that curriculum to be used as an English language learning tool there. During the COVID pandemic, Bro. Smith’s wife was stranded in Australia for six month, and WCCGC supported Bro. Smith as a missionary and housed his wife while she was there.

According to a CNN report, there were approximately 15,000 fires across every Australian state in the center of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It is estimated that 3 billion animals were killed or displaced during these fires that covered approximately 28.32 million acres of land. Gold Coast, where WCCGC is located, didn’t experience the heavy burden of the record-breaking fires like other cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, so the ministry sought out opportunities to once again be the hands and feet of Jesus. Pastor Kyle and Pastor Tina put out an invitation, asking if there was anyone who needed their help.

A school in a small town, Tenterfield, contacted them. They needed water and water bottles for the kids. Though the fires did not touch their town, the fire retardant being used on fires near their town got into the local dam, killing the fish and negatively impacting their source of drinking water. The water was so polluted that people could not even take showers. WCCGC rented a huge truck, filled it with several pallets of water, and provided drinking water and water bottles for the kids to have while they were at school. The Tenterfield school took what they needed, and gave the rest to a local relief fund that was near empty, so others in the community could partake of the clean drinking water, as well.

Ironically enough, one of the issues now in certain areas of Australia is too much water. In the first quarter of 2021, areas of Australia became impacted by heavy flooding. 300 millimeters of rain fell in one day. Given the terrain, environment, and weather, the communities there are able to minimize the injuries and loss of life from these kinds of extreme weather events. However, they are less able to mitigate the loss of homes, belongings, vehicles, and livestock. Water from the river was met by water from the ocean, raising and lowering with the tide to impact homes in the area. The relief efforts there will be focused on cleanup. The sludge must be cleaned up immediately or it will harden. When you go to these towns after the floods, the sidewalks essentially become garbage dumps. To have their homes and property destroyed causes a lot of despair and WCCGC is eager to go make an impact. A few of the members well-trained in evangelism and mission work will go down to dig into the community. Following the lead of the Red Cross and Salvation Army, they will go into homes, help with cleanup, shovel out sludge, and remove debris. Their goal is to be a beacon of hope, the salt and light for people, to let them know who God is and about the hope they can have in Christ.

According to Pastor Kyle, the most devastating thing in COVID was seeing the unification of the church from February to May 2020, and then seeing how the murder of George Floyd in America split the church down the middle again. Pastor Kyle, as a white American in a white country and with no awareness of how the indigenous people of Australia had been repressed, saw this massive split happen inside the church. Because he’s Jewish and part Native American, he has a very big heart for people of culture, and got called out for it. Knowing that his response could change the social and political support WCCGC has in Australia, Pastor Kyle decided that he would no longer tolerate social injustice. He went onto the radio and called out major networks, as well as called major church leaders, and asked for unification of the church. He was pulled into radio station after radio station to, as an American, help them understand the situation. Pastor Kyle called one of the WCCI ministers in Georgia, Mike Jones, because he believed you really have to be an African American to give context. He was honored to open the door and give context there.

The hardest thing was seeing how the potential of the pandemic could have brought us together, but instead polarized our indifferences, brought them all to the surface, and caused us to grow further apart, rather than together. To see, at the end of those twelve months, not only in homes, marriages, communities, and families, but also in race and countries, that we are learning to value people for who they are, not where they’re from, shows the uphill climb. He believes, as missionaries and as people, we cannot negate or run from social issues. We have to introduce Jesus and the Good Samaritan mindset into all issues. His stance did cause some momentary grief, but there’s been great outcome. See an Australian article about Pastor Kyle and another U.S. pastor here.

People can look at the list of things WCCGC has done and think they need to do more. Pastor Kyle and Pastor Tina were able to do all they did because they focused on their family first. They wouldn’t have been able to reach out this way if they didn’t support each other. Out of their overflow, they poured into their family; out of their family’s overflow, they poured into the community.

According to Pastor Tina, “For God so loved me; for God so loved you; for God so loved Georgia and Australia. His love is the why. More people need to hear that, though it looks like a disaster right now, God’s love never goes away, no matter what situation we’re in. His grace is so sufficient, and when sharing His grace, a little bit goes a long way. It’s not so much quantity, but quality and the heart behind it.

Don’t ever believe that you can’t do something when you can’t do something. Wherever there is God, there’s a way. -Pastor Kyle