A Fabulous Feast

Story Tips

Find Australia on the map.
Challenge the children (and their parents) to find a way to engage in community service through the church. If your church does not engage in community outreach, consider starting a program in consultation with the pastor and church board. The mother who oversees the monthly meals at Tia’s church told Adventist Mission, “We had been looking for a couple years at how we could be Jesus’ hands and feet in the community, and we thought, “Why don’t we do this?”
Download photos on Facebook: bit.ly/fb-mq.
Download Mission Posts and Fast Facts from the South Pacific Division: bit.ly/spd-2022.
This mission story illustrates the following objectives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: Spiritual Growth Objective No. 5, “To disciple individuals and families into spirit-filled lives”; Spiritual Growth Objective No. 6, “To increase accession, retention, reclamation, and participation of children, youth, and young adults”; and Spiritual Growth Objective No. 7, “To help youth and young adults place God first and exemplify a biblical worldview.” IWillGo2020.org.

Mission Record

In 1885, the first missionaries arrived to Australia, all from the United States, and they were Stephen N. Haskell, John O. Corliss and family, Mendel C. Israel and family, a printer named Henry Scott, and William Arnold. The first Seventh-day Adventist church in Australia was organized with 28 members during the first evangelistic series of meetings, which concluded on January 10, 1886, at North Fitzroy, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne. Today, Australia has 434 churches and 112 companies. With 63,277 church members, that’s one member for every 402 people in the country.

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, December 24.

By Andrew McChesney

ia is 13 years old and lives in Australia.

One day, the mother of one of Tia’s school friends asked if she would like to help prepare a special meal for needy people.

Tia thought to herself, “Why not?”

So, Tia and two friends, 14-year-old Eleora and 10-year-old Bella, showed up at a Seventh-day Adventist church after school.

Tia was very busy. First, she helped place tablecloths and decorations on the tables. Then she went to the church kitchen, where she chopped a whole bunch of lettuce, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes to make a super-big salad. Then she helped bake peach cobbler for dessert.

Tia and her two friends worked hard for an hour and a half. They chatted merrily as they worked. It was fun! Then people began to arrive to eat at 5:30 p.m.

Tia said hello to people as they entered the dining hall.

“Hi,” Tia said to an old woman walking with a walker.

“Hello, dear,” the old woman replied.

“Hi,” Tia said to an old man walking with a cane.

“Hello, young lady,” the old man replied.

Tia didn’t say anything more. She wanted to talk with the people, but she was shy and didn’t know what else to say.

“Hi,” Tia said to a mother with a little girl.

“Hi,” Tia said to the little girl, who looked even more shy than her.

Soon the dining hall was filled with more than 100 hungry people.

Tia watched as people started to eat her salad of lettuce, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. She watched as some tasted the dessert of peach cobbler. She worried that there were so many people in the dining hall that there might not be enough salad and peach cobbler for everyone. But there was enough for everyone. There was even enough for her!

“Would you like to eat?” one of the adult volunteers asked her.

Tia and her friends happily ate salad and peach cobbler in the yard outside the church building. They didn’t sit at a table inside because they wanted to make sure that there was enough room for all the other people to eat comfortably.

Tia felt good. It was fun to set the tables. It was fun to help prepare the food. It was fun to say “hi” to the people at the meal. It was fun to eat. But most of all it was fun to help other people.

After that first meal, Tia started to volunteer to help prepare special meals for needy people every month. She said every girl and boy should consider volunteering to help needy people.

“It’s really fun and, if you are allowed to and able to, it is really fun and interesting and fun to do,” she said. “I think Jesus wants us to invite people in and serve them because He was always interacting with people.”

Thank you for your mission offering that helps spread the love of Jesus.

Story Tips

Find Australia on the map.
Challenge the children (and their parents) to find a way to engage in community service through the church. If your church does not engage in community outreach, consider starting a program in consultation with the pastor and church board. The mother who oversees the monthly meals at Tia’s church told Adventist Mission, “We had been looking for a couple years at how we could be Jesus’ hands and feet in the community, and we thought, “Why don’t we do this?”
Download photos on Facebook: bit.ly/fb-mq.
Download Mission Posts and Fast Facts from the South Pacific Division: bit.ly/spd-2022.
This mission story illustrates the following objectives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: Spiritual Growth Objective No. 5, “To disciple individuals and families into spirit-filled lives”; Spiritual Growth Objective No. 6, “To increase accession, retention, reclamation, and participation of children, youth, and young adults”; and Spiritual Growth Objective No. 7, “To help youth and young adults place God first and exemplify a biblical worldview.” IWillGo2020.org.