Connecting to belonging: a cross-disciplinary inquiry into rural Australian Anglican Church engagements with people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Abstract

People from diverse backgrounds enrich the rural, regional, and remote communities where they relocate and settle. Research about rural diversity tends to focus on demographics (age, gender, country of origin) while ignoring personal narratives of integration, for example, engagements with religious institutions (such as the local Christian church). This article presents the research themes from an investigation using co-operative inquiry into rural diversity and the Anglican Church, with specific reference to the Australian experience. It is a cross-disciplinary dialogic exchange between social workers and theologians. Positive narratives about connection, welcome, participation, and belonging are shared.

Keywords:

• Church of England
• engagement
• diversity
• rural communities
• co-operative inquiry
• Australia

Notes

1. Australian major cities are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012) as all Australian capital cities except for Darwin, plus the locations Wollongong and Newcastle.

2. In 2011, 7.59 million (34%) of Australians resided outside Australian capital cities (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011c, 2012). Organisations, however, like the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2011, 2) indicate that “little is known” about people/families and their experiences of living in the bush compared to those living in Australian cities.

3. The Bureau draws on the Macquarie Dictionary definition of ethnicity, which is: 1. relating to or peculiar to a human population or group, especially one with a common ancestry, language, etc.; 2. relating to the origin, classification, characteristics, etc., of such groups; 3. of or relating to members of the Australian community who are migrants or the descendants of migrants and whose first language is not English; 4. recognisable as coming from an identifiable culture. (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011b, 4; Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016, paragraphs 8–10)

4. Matthew 8:11–12 states: “When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord’, he said, ‘my servant lies at home paralysed, suffering terribly.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Shall I come and heal him?’ The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go’, and he goes; and that one, ‘Come’, and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.’ And his servant was healed at that moment.”

5. Revelation 7:9–10 in the Bible states: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”

6. 2 Corinthians 5:17 in the Bible states: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”