40 YEARS OF SHARING
GOOD NEWS
Morris travelled to rural villages to disciple people, providing
weekly and monthly meetings in homes and facilitating a reading
room from a rented space in town so people could study the
Bible. A team of people began an NGO that continues to work
to provide transformation of marginalised B people through
education, training and group formation. Morris continues to work
in a leadership role with the NGO but
from Australia.
Morris’ ministry among the B people looks very different today than the
first few decades. There are now very few foreigners working in the area
as local B people who’ve come to faith now share the message among
their communities. This empowerment of local people is integral to Global
Interaction’s approach that enables people to share Jesus in ways that
are cultural meaning.
In April of 2017 we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Morris
working with the B people of South Asia. Morris answered the call
to head to South Asia in 1977 and has never looked back.
Morris, originally by himself and then with his family, lived in
South Asia for 14 years. For strategic reasons the family moved
back to Australia but continued to walk alongside the people with
whom they had developed strong relationships, while continuing
to form many new ones. Morris regards the past 40 years as a
time of obedience, learning and growing in love for the people to
whom God called him.
During a meeting, which Morris ‘by chance’ attended, the speaker
was Stuart Robinson who had just returned from South Asia.
Morris heard the need and thought God might be calling him into
cross-cultural mission. After applying to Global Interaction, Morris
completed a four-year theological degree, which gave him a Biblical
base for his future work.
The first four years in South Asia were spent at a university
hostel for young men and in a ministry that discipled individuals.
At the end of this time, he suggested that local men should
be trained to take over the running of the hostel. Morris
believed, even then, in empowering the local people to provide
independence from missionary workers in the future.
During home assignment in 1982, Morris married Ros and they
later had three daughters. During the 14 years, the family
predominantly lived in provincial towns in South Asia. During
that time, there were two major floods that left millions of
people isolated from services. In the 1988 flood, the family were
marooned while their colleagues and their extended family had no
idea if they were safe. Thankfully, they lived in a brick house so
Morris could block the doors and drain holes to keep the water
out of the house. With enough stored food and by boiling the
water they could keep their young children safe and healthy.
Morris and Roslyn with first daughter Emma (Top Left)
Most B people are involved in farming or fishing
- Photo taken by Phil. (Right)
6
GLOBAL INTERACTION
Morris’ heart still lies with the B people and his work from
Australia involves developing leadership capacity among local
people, facilitating short-term volunteers, leading the small team
of long-term cross-cultural workers and building partnerships in
Australia to help sustain strategic projects.
Another significant change that has occurred over the past
four decades is the completion of a culturally appropriate and
linguistically accurate version of the Bible. This is the result of a
great deal of hard work from a team of people, including many
volunteers. It allows the B people to hear and read the Good News
in their own language with accessible vocabulary.
Morris reflects on what he has learnt over 40 years and highlights
the value of relationships, loyalty and commitment. He has
appreciated the importance of maintaining a broad awareness of
community issues and how they affect people. A surprising lesson
has been how he now reads the Bible with a different frame
of reference.