Compassionate Ministries
SHARING THE LOVE OF CHRIST THROUGH BOTH WORD AND DEED
Since ADM’s beginnings in 1891, the gospel has compelled and sustained our mercy ministries.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
— Micah 6:8
The theological education of women and ministries of compassion have formed the cornerstone of ADM’s mission over the last 135 years. While the crux of theological education has changed little in the last century, the expression of ministries of compassion has taken many forms. From the first deaconesses employed as parish sisters (think community chaplains) to orphanages, schools, and hospice care, caring for those who are vulnerable and in distress is in our DNA. The ability to pivot to meet the untended needs of the overlooked in society is a credit to the faithful and courageous women who are part of ADM’s story.
In 2026, ADM is ready to begin the next chapter of our compassionate ministry. We have designed a Community Partnership scheme that provides substantial three year grants to small, established, Christian charities who are working with vulnerable women and children.
Community Partnerships
Diamond Women
Diamond Women is a ministry that has been walking alongside women and families for almost 20 years, offering compassionate, professional, and non-judgemental support for those facing an unplanned or unexpected pregnancy.
Women can access information about their options, case work, counselling, material assistance, advocacy, and mentoring. In addition, they can be part of various programs which strengthen parenting skills, build confidence and provide pathways to education and employment.
Working in partnership with local churches, health professionals, and community services, Diamond Women creates a genuine “village” of Christ-centred care around each woman, which truly demonstrates God's abundant love for her.
Olive Tree Health
Olive Tree Health offers embodied healing in a context of safety, choice and community for women living with complex trauma due to domestic and family violence and abuse. The integration of exercise-based physiotherapy, neuroscience and trauma-sensitive practice, equips women with practical strategies they can use in everyday life to evolve from living in "survival mode" to living with calm, strength, and confidence. Olive Tree Health is rooted in God’s faithfulness. It is inspired by Jesus who entered the world in bodily form, and therefore, recognises the importance of stewarding our bodies and health well.
Olive Tree Health works in partnership with health professionals and support networks to provide a holistic, coordinated approach. This approach is central to restoring safety, dignity, and agency, thereby, increasing a woman’s capacity to work, prioritise self-care, and build healthy relationships with herself and others. When women heal and thrive, they are better able to support their children’s healing, interrupting cycles of violence and creating safer futures for the next generation.
Nungalinya College
Nungalinya College has been equipping Indigenous Christians for leadership roles in churches and communities since 1974. The college is based in Darwin and is supported by the Anglican, Uniting and Catholic churches of the Northern Territory. The student body is over 70% female, and students travel from their rural or urban communities to study in short-stay residential programs. They explore the Christian faith contextually through courses in Foundation Studies, Bible Overview, Making Disciples, Faith & Family Wellbeing, Chaplaincy, Christian Ministry and Theology, Children Ministry and Bible Translation.
Each year, people from over 80 different communities across Australia come to study at Nungalinya College. At Nungalinya they are equipped with essential skills and spiritual enrichment to become leaders in their communities, embedding positive and lasting change in the lives of women and children.
News & Resources
Compassionate Ministries news
Domestic and Family Violence Learning Library
Past Programs
Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Women in Ministry Support Scheme
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women in Ministry Support Scheme is dedicated to supporting Christian women and their ministries. The aim of the program is to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christian women who are serving their communities in formal or informal ministries, either in a paid or unpaid capacity. Grant funding between $250 - $2,500 will be awarded to successful applicants.
COVID-19 Response Grants
COVID-19 has impacted our communities in a range of ways, and vulnerability and insecurity have deepened for many already struggling before the pandemic.
ADM formed the COVID-19 Church Response Program, to equip Christian women to do mercy and justice through their local church, to meet real and present need and practically share the love of Jesus through this period.
Restoring Sanctuary Innovation Grant
Domestic violence is a critical issue affecting women, children and men in Australia.
With a single prize of $80,000, this 2020 project drew new initiatives responding to the ongoing crisis of domestic violence, so that women may flourish as God intended.
Loss, Grief & Trauma Care Pilot Project for Aboriginal Women
Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship Australia (AEF) and Anglican Deaconess Ministries (ADM) came together to design a Loss, Grief and Trauma Care Pilot Project for Aboriginal Women.
The 11-month project began on 31 July 2017 and was rolled out initially across Queensland, NSW and Victoria. It aimed to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to explore their experiences of loss, grief and trauma, and facilitate healing through the use of creative tools – all within a biblical framework.
Continuing from the success of the East Coast Program, ADM progressed with further roll-out of the Grief, Trauma and Loss workshops into communities in the West-Coast region of Australia.
Northern Territory Traineeship with Miriam
An ADM Mercy & Justice Grant is supporting a unique pilot initiative in the Northern Territory Anglican Diocese. Miriam Numamurdird is the first local Christian leader in the Northern Territory to participate in this two-year paid traineeship in Bible translation & leadership development. She is working in partnership with Rev. Kate Beer, CMS Ministry Development Officer for the Diocese.
About the Program
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As followers of Christ, we are called to share the gospel through our words, through telling others about what Christ has done for us (Romans 15: 20-21; Philippians 1:18). We are also called to proclaim the gospel through our actions and deeds, and through what our lives demonstrate about the gospel, and about and the love, mercy and compassion of Christ (James 2: 14-18; 1 John 3: 17-18; Eph 2:8-10). Each and every church is called to actions of mercy that form part of ‘faith expressing itself through love’ (Galatians 5:6), and that extend the reach of the gospel to all.
Since ADM’s beginnings, the gospel has compelled and sustained our mercy ministries. In responding to Christ’s love, at ADM we continue to share the gospel through both Word and deed, and to build on the rich foundations laid by the deaconesses who faithfully served Christ and shared his gospel with a broken and hurting world.
In responding to the second greatest commandment to love our neighbour (Mark 12:31), ministries of mercy show others what the gospel looks like. As churches grow in serving marginalised and disadvantaged members of their communities, and become places that are accessible, inclusive, and welcoming for all, we see God’s love displayed and opportunities for more and more people to meet Jesus, and to experience his love. In the Church, mercy ministries are inseparable from the work of discipleship - of seeing people come to know and experience Jesus, of continuing to grow in his love and persevere through challenges because of the hope that he brings.
As well as sharing the gospel, mercy ministries also reveal the fruit of the gospel in each of our own lives, and are a response to the love we have received through Christ as we each share this with those around us.
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ADM continues to grow gospel-shaped women who serve Christ in the Church, the community and the world. We equip and encourage Christian women as they bring the gospel to bear in Word and deed, and who share the love of Christ with those experiencing marginalisation and injustice.
Our recent work includes programs supporting and resourcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christian women in ministry, as well as initiatives led by Christian women to equip churches in caring for survivors of domestic abuse. We also support those ministering in chaplaincy and pastoral care, as well as in mental health care and disability ministries. We have also funded Christian women to develop church-based mercy initiatives that respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that share the love of God with their local communities.
In every church, we see opportunities for both Christian women and men to come together and to form contextual mercy ministries that extend Christ’s love to the world, and that respond to the abundant love and mercy that Christ has shown to us. At ADM, our vision is not just to equip and encourage those who are already ministering in mercy initiatives, but to also resource and support new ministries, to see every church serving in mercy ministries that extend the love of God in every context, and every community.
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Through our mercy ministries, we:
Equip and encourage Christian women in developing gospel-shaped mercy initiatives that meet the distinct needs of their communities
Resource and partner with Christian women who are ministering faithfully in marginalised and disadvantaged communities and contexts
Work to see gospel-shaped, integrated and discipleship-focused mercy ministries in every church