The Mason Nomads (not Grey Nomads - Yet!!)

Some news which we have not yet shared on our Blog is that we have been officially accepted as BCA Nomads!

So what is a BCA Nomad you ask??  Well, BCA stands for Bush Church Aid Society, and is an organisation that shares the gospel, builds up the church, and cares for people all around Australia.

BCA began it's life in Australia in 1919 when the "Colonial and Continental Church Society" (CCCS) enabled BCA to be properly constituted - however you could say that BCA's beginnings were as part of the CCCS which was established in the Swan River Colony in Western Australia in 1836.

BCA operates a Nomads Scheme.  This scheme is designed to put travellers in touch with BCA Field Staff where travellers can offer their skills and fellowship to the staff and surrounding communities for as much or as little time as they have available.

Although our family isn't the 'typical' Nomad demographic, we certainly do qualify to be Nomads, so we have signed up, received all the relevant information, and been in touch with the BCA Field Staff that we intend to visit in the first 6 - 8 weeks of our trip.  We have planned our initial route around 5 placements in the areas that we intend to visit first on our trip.

When we were first discussing about a potential trip around the country, we wanted to ensure that we contributed something back to people and communities that we visited.  It was very important to us that this trip wasn't going to be all about us, all of the time.  So we decided that we would investigate how we could contribute to the communities that we visited, and the BCA Nomads Scheme seemed to be the most logical solution to us.

Our regular church in Sydney (St Philips South Turramurra) have supported many people who have gone out into different communities around the country and around the world, and so this has encouraged us to also be using our gifts as we travel our beautiful country.

We are really excited about what opportunities lay ahead of us through this scheme.  We really believe that you only get to know a community properly, when you entrench yourself in it!  Tourist destinations are fine, but a community isn't about what attractions are in its borders, rather the community is all about the people who live in it, and what better way to get to know a community than to volunteer some time, energy and money into making it a better community.