At the invitation of the National Council of Churches of Australia (NCCA) and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission (NATSIEC) to the World Council of Churches (WCC) a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Christians have recently visited the Aboriginal Peoples of the Northern Territory in Australia as a 'Living Letter' (12-17 September 2010).

Living Letters are small ecumenical teams that visit a country to listen, learn, share approaches and challenges in overcoming violence and in peace making, and to pray together for peace in the community and in the world. The concept takes its name from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians: "You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Corinthians 3.3, RSV)

Following its visit to Australia, the Living Letters team will produce a report detailing its observations, concerns and recommendations. Meanwhile, the team has released a Statement thanking Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territories for their warm welcome and expressing concern at the discrimination, oppression and racism that Aboriginal Peoples experience on a daily basis. “We are dismayed by the lack of consultation and negotiation from Governments of all levels as they make and implement policies and programs that have significant impacts on Aboriginal Peoples. Many of us are shocked because we did not realize this is still happening in Australia.”

Anglican Taonga, the newsletter of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, reports that New Zealand's Anglican Archbishops, endorsed by the Province's Social Justice Commission, have drawn attention to the Statement. See here