Wesley Mission Brisbane
Encompassing all walks of life
Wesley Mission Brisbane's vision is about working alongside people in need within the community at all stages of life. Fundamentally, it is about our staff and volunteers developing meaningful relationships with people, seeking to understand their position and supporting them in whatever way we can. We have the great privilege of working alongside other human beings and seeing the signs of the potential for hope that is inside every person.
From our earliest days as part of the Central Methodist Mission (now the Albert Street Uniting Church), Wesley Mission Brisbane has reached out to the community, providing practical and spiritual support. Reverend Rowe took up his position as Minister of the Albert Street Methodist Church in 1907, the same year Wesley Mission Brisbane was founded. Very soon after he started in this role he issued an invitation to all newspaper boys in Brisbane to attend a supper in the local social hall. These boys were particularly vulnerable, many of them were homeless or living in perilous situations.
The local Brisbane Newspaper reported the next day stated that crowds of lads turned up - some well dressed, others barefoot and poorly clothed. As a result of this meeting a penny savings bank was established to help the boys manage their money and escape the cycle of poverty which many of them faced. In addition, a new swimming club was started to provide social interaction and promote healthy living.
Today this is known as community consultation and community action.
Working together for a brighter future
One hundred years on, there are still a great many people in Australia who for a wide variety of reasons live in poverty, who live in abusive situations, who are homeless or who suffer mental illness. Often these people are isolated from the wider community. The role of organisations such as Wesley Mission Brisbane is to meet with people who are marginalised, to truly hear their stories and to try to help them participate more fully in the communities in which they live.
In 2007 Wesley Mission Brisbane celebrates its centenary of providing community service and aged care. The Mission's community programs have now expanded to include disability and employment services, support for disengaged youth, youth-at-risk and young parents, family day care, community centres, the National Auslan Booking Service for the Deaf community, support in the home for frail aged people and continuing emergency relief.
