Church set to celebrate 50 years of gospel truths
THE Cairns community will come together to celebrate the 50th birthday of the first indigenous church in the region this weekend.
Founder Pastor Bert Hollingsworth retired from service at the Cairns Full Gospel Church in July ahead of his 90th birthday.
He said despite retiring, the church would always be in his heart.
“I’ve retired from official administrative leadership but there’s no retirement in the Lord, I’m here until Jesus comes and takes me home,” he said.
He said he was happy with the service his church had provided to the people of Cairns, and that he wouldn’t have been able to do it without his best friend and wife, Charmaine Hollingsworth.
Mrs Hollingsworth said their work for the church was the best way they could have spent the last 50 years.
“We are just so happy to have maintained a debt-free, solidly privately-owned property for our church,” she said.
The Hollingsworth’s granddaughter, Rebecca Hollingsworth, said her grandfather’s journey from living in a mission to owning a church was inspiring.
“He is an Aboriginal man, he was born in Yarrabah, and his parents were Stolen Generation,” she said.
“He came out of the mission and he wanted a better life. He was baptised at 13 and started attending church.
“He’s the first Aboriginal Australian to graduate from a seminal bible college in New Farm in Brisbane at the Commonwealth Bible College.
“Then he met my grandmother, who he knew as a kid, and married her in 1950, so they’ve been married for 65 years, and then established the church in 1966 and have been there ever since.” She said her grandfather’s vision was to create a space that indigenous people could feel welcome in.
“It was never a black-only church, it was open to everybody, so these days it’s obviously multicultural, but he set that up to advance Aboriginal people and him and his family have been involved in civil rights stuff in that area as well, and he’s unique in the sense that he’s now Australia’s oldest living indigenous minister,” she said.
Ms Hollingsworth said it was up to her and her generation to continue the legacy that her grandfather started.
“He’s a pillar of this community, doing over a hundred weddings and a hundred funerals during this time, as well as dealing with the atrocities that happened here.
“I’m proud of him, there’s a sense of pride and there’s something that we younger people can look up to and carry on his legacy and for me it’s important.”
The Cairns Full Gospel Church’s 50th anniversary celebrations start today at 3pm at the church on Buchan St, Westcourt. All are welcome to the service, which will be followed by a traditional kup murri late lunch.