How it all began

How did this all start Roby?

This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions I receive around ECM. I answer it with slightly different versions depending on the circumstance or time, however it always reminds me of where it is that the place stemmed from and who I am along the journey.

After a pilgrimage in 2003 to Rome for the Beautification of Saint Mother Teresa, my life has not been the same.

I was a young 20 year old simple man who had begun an adult faith journey after having been lost throughout my teenage years, and after school being reached out to by a peer named Tim. This season of conversion combined with the profound experiences on the pilgrimage, changed the course of my life to date.

I was invited to go on the pilgrimage with a man I consider a modern day saint, the late John ‘Franksy’ Franks, an orphan, a recovered alcoholic, and mental health battler, a friend and part of my family growing up, and ultimately a man of faith.

On this pilgrimage I was transformed by the life, legacy and work of Teresa of Calcutta. A small, bold, faithful, prophetic woman who laid down her entire life to serve the poor, and challenged mainstream and conservative fear-driven thinking. She pointed me to the person of Jesus, and I could see His mission alive in their life and legacy. I felt called this one day, praying in a small humble chapel, to follow in her lead and to give my entire life to serving Jesus through the poor.

I have always seen life in simple ways. My father and mother instilled in me a people-first at all times principle that has also governed my adult life.

I sat on the floor of St Mary’s South Brisbane some months later after returning from the pilgrimage and I clearly experienced the overwhelming presence of Jesus, wrestling with my life’s purpose and calling, and looking for home within the Church.

I had found two places of belonging which supported the experience and journey I was on, however the local Church seemed so polarised, one group pursuing passionate personal faith, and the other immersed amongst the local poor of the city - with a seat on Sunday for all. I was a little lost and struggling as I could see that if the Church was to have any impact on my life and world, then it would need to be both a place passionate about Jesus, and naturally in doing His work in the community starting with the poor.

I sat cross legged on the concrete one Sunday night and I was overwhelmed with a sense that in my lifetime I will see both a passionate wholehearted Church with a focus on the poor, and in the words of Pope Francis, a ‘Church Poor for the Poor.’

This is my why, this moment was my beginning, and whilst we have a daily passion to provide sanctuary for those struggling on our streets through the great work all the team do each day, ultimately I have a passion to renew the Church of our time, taking back full responsibility wherever She is located in the world, being a Church for the poor, a guaranteed place of refuge and safety as She and Her followers did so faithfully and prophetically in the first three hundred years of Christianity.

Emmanuel Community has backed this vision, and what we do at our South Brisbane centre is the bones of what I see the future of the Church. We need nothing but to open our doors, speak life into each brother and sister who walks in, and take the journey of life with them, and not be afraid to give an account for the hope that is within us, and that is Jesus for me.