At Cooktown Baptist Church we are committed to reaching out to our local community, our nation and to the world with the good news and hope found in Jesus Christ. Cooktown is our mission field and we support others outside our congregation who are serving in mission contexts throughout the world.
Jono and Destinee Macleod
Jono and Destinee are mission doctors who have been ministering in South Sudan with In Deed and Truth Ministries with their 3 daughters since 2014.
South Sudan is the world’s youngest country, formed in 2011 after the longest civil war in the history of Africa. In South Sudan less than 1% of the country have electricity, less than 1% have running water in their homes, and the average distance children walk to collect safe drinking water for their families is 5km.
Less than 50% of South Sudanese live within walking distance of a healthcare facility, 10% of children die before their 5th birthday, and 1 in 50 women die in childbirth. At the last count in 2010 there were only 120 doctors caring for 12 million people!
Jono and Destinee run a Maternal Child Health Centre caring for the poorest of the poor in the Tonj region of South Sudan. In 2017 the clinic cared for 42,000 sick mothers and children. Several thousand people make decisions each year to follow Christ through the clinic and medical outreach programs. They also run a village based Community Health Evangelism program which uses bible stories to share the gospel, and which teaches health prevention.
QAVAH PARTNERSHIPS
QAVAH Partnerships is a charitable organisation which supports the peoples of western Papua New Guinea and the Indigenous People of Northern Australia through flying in food and health products, improving communication to the outside world and assisting these indigenous communities raise their living standards.
School Chaplaincy
Supporting our kids to grow as well as supporting their families
SU QLD School Chaplaincy
The vision of SU QLD, is to see each child and young person connected and supported in community, serving others, and experiencing fullness of life. Their mission is to bring God’s love, hope and good news to children, young people and their families.
Chaplaincy Services provide spiritual, ethical, and personal support to school communities. SU Qld Chaplains provide positive adult role models for students. Chaplains are present in schools at the invitation of the Principal, in consultation with the local community, and with the support of the P&C Association.
A School Chaplain is a safe person for young people to connect with at school and provides a listening ear, caring presence, and a message of hope. Chaplains run positive, fun activities for students and assist in fostering supportive, caring school communities.
Working with other members of the school’s support team, the Chaplain cares for students struggling with issues such as difficult relationships with other children or family members, poor self-esteem, family breakdown, and depression.
The partnership between the school and the Chaplaincy Service, supported by local churches, businesses and community organizations, provides a network of local support and assistance. These positive relationships help young people to face difficult issues and provide hope, connection, meaning, and purpose.
The Chaplaincy Service is available to everyone in the school community regardless of their religious beliefs.
David Kamholtz, Chappy, services 4 schools in our cluster. He has been a Chaplain for 12 years, and co-ordinates ‘Rock and Water’, Seasons for Growth, Drumbeat and a few other social-emotional and spiritual programs. He is passionate about a Father and Sons Rite of Passage program which includes a 250km Mountain bike ride through the Wakooka Trail. Chappy assists with sporting and cultural programs, attends school camps, assists in classrooms, runs programmes that help students develop social and life skills. Students may request to see the Chaplain on an individual basis for support in personal matters. Chappy is married to Emily Kamholtz and is kept busy with their four young children.