Missionary Memories is sub-titled Stories from Young ABM Missionaries Over 160 Years. The 59 missionaries represented in the memoirs are no longer young and many now no longer in this mortal life.

But the record of the times and circumstances of their lives as missionaries remains vivid and it is timely to re-present them to the ABM fellowship of supporters – to see, to ponder, to reimagine and to give thanks.

The original text was compiled and edited by John Cottier and Judith Cottier and published for ABM in 2011. It shows glimpses of some of the personal paths taken in fidelity to the missionary imperative and stands in continuity with current and differing forms of mission undertaken today on behalf of the Anglican Church of Australia.

Something of the Rev’d John Cottier’s life can be read here. Both he and Judith Cottier, missionary educator and long-term principal of Perth College, Western Australia, are represented in the book they edited. I extend the thanks of ABM to Judith for her support in getting this work online, and also to Jan Carroll.

A keyword in the sub-title is “young”. I invite the reader to take the imaginative step into these inherently youthful stories set many decades ago. It was often about younger adults stepping forward to serve. The Introduction says that it was “a kind of Acts of the Apostles”.

The Foreword to the book was written by the Most Rev’d Dr Philip Freier, then Archbishop of Melbourne, as he remains in 2021. He wrote, “Joy and I were some of the last missionaries supported by ABM . . . and serve(d) in Kowanyama from the end of 1983 . . . “. Kowanyama is found on north-west Cape York and was once known as the Mitchell River Mission.

These personal stories remind us of the central role of relationship in mission. Each memoir contains threads that connect us, as an Australian church, to the worldwide Anglican family. Connections that continue to this day as the work of mission continues to expand in the hands of local ‘missionaries’ working within their own communities and cultures. ABM’s present-day partnerships are rooted in the pioneering cross-cultural service and sacrifice of these and many other ambassadors of the Gospel.

Rev’d Canon Dr Ivan Head,
Gifts in Wills Officer, Anglican Board of Mission

To download a copy of Missionary Memories:

please click here