Thane is an Indigenous educator at the Wurundjeri Tribe Land Corporation and will be leading us in Welcome to Country. He has been with the Wurundjeri Tribe Land Corporation for 13 years, involved in many different parts of the organisation including Cultural Heritage, Land management/Conservation, Education and more.

Cindy is an inspiration! After completing her PhD, Cindy has moved to Northern Territory, where she is focussed on women’s economic inclusion, Indigenous entrepreneurship and enterprise-led social change.

Cindy writes, “I rarely have the opportunity to share how my Christian faith relates to my vocation as a First Nations ally and scholar in Australian Indigenous entrepreneurship and leadership. I'm excited to head to Victoria in March as a speaker for Surrender 2024. The theme is a perfect way to 'capture' my post-referendum mood. While many of us are still deeply hurt by the result, we must remain committed to the fight for Justice: our singular obligation as people of faith. “Justice, justice you shall pursue…” (Deuteronomy 16:20)

Bandok Tati is a Wurundjeri young men's dance group, a collective of passionate, staunch Wayalak Gulin (young men) who love their culture and wish to make the whole world more aware of their beautiful, sacred culture and history. “We also love to share our culture and stories with community, inviting them to come and dance with us regardless of their mob. Bandok Tati translates from our mother tongue, the Woiworrung language of the Wurndjeri people (also the language of which all of our songs are sung in), and it means Small Ant (Bandok) Brothers (Tati). We live on and primarily operate on Wurundjeri Biik (country), our borders extend from the Mordialloc Creek in the south to the Werribee River in the west. The meaning behind our name represents how ants, when they are alone, you may think of them as small and insignificant, you may not even notice them at times, but, it’s when they come together and build their home, which is giant in comparison to the size of the ants. It speaks upon the feats we achieve together, as brothers.”

Jayden is involved in grassroots and global community development. He learned a lot about human connection while newly married and living with 28 people at risk of homelessness during Covid lockdowns. Jayden and his wife Mikyla live in community at Servants Community Housing.

Watch Jayden on The Project.

Jayden says, “I’m excited - and more than a little humbled - to be sharing at Surrender next February! The theme, “Love Obligates Justice”, is more than a little daunting. It’s daunting because in our fractured world, it’s no longer obvious what justice looks like.

I’m hoping my reflections at Surrender can be both an encouragement, a challenge, and a practical guide as we walk the road together.

Stevie speaks of inclusion and empowerment, with a focus on people with disabilities. She has a passion for the power of words to create social change.

Since 2011 Stevie has worked for CBM Australia as a volunteer, employee and an associate. She has advocated for the empowerment and inclusion of people with disabilities in low- to middle-income countries, as well as disability inclusion among Christian communities in Australia.

Having cerebral palsy, Stevie advocates for assistance that is respectful and empowering.

Safina Stewart is a proud Wuthithi and Mabuiag Island woman who grew up cross culturally in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

Safina is passionate about culture, education, the arts, justice and faith. She is a magnificent artist and teacher, and contributes to the work of Common Grace.

We are looking forward to having Safina host one of our sessions on Saturday .

Suzan Wahhab was born in Jerusalem after the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. She grew up in Ramallah before migrating with her family in 1980’s to Sydney Australia.

Suzan’s maternal and paternal grandparents are refugees who lost their homes, businesses, and land in Jaffa and Ramleh following the 1948 Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe).

Suzan graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and Master of Commerce (Accounting). She is a CPA and financial strategist. She is co-founder of Sydney financial services practice Money Intelligence. Suzan shares her family’s Nakba story in her finance book Money Intelligence – Anchored in Values.

Jarrod McKenna (jarrodmckenna.com) is a peace award winning Australian pastor and social change educator who has been described by American Civil Rights legend Rev. Jim Lawson as “an expert in nonviolent social change”. For over 20 years Jarrod has been on the forefront of Christian engagement on climate justice, refugee rights, demilitarisation, and First Nations solidarity. Jarrod is the Founding Director of “Common Grace” that represents over 65,000 Christians in Australia pursuing “Jesus and justice”, is the former Nonviolent Movement Coordinator for World Vision in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, is a co-founder of the “#LoveMakesAWay for Refugees” movement, the largest Christian civil disobedience movement in the history of Australia, and is one of the co-founders of the global GazaCeasefirePilgrimage.com movement that is now found on every continent, including Antarctica, in over 150 cities around the world. As well as pastoring at Steeple Church in Melbourne and Table in the Trees in Perth, Jarrod with Kenyan theologian Carol Ng’ang’a runs “Decolonising Sunday School”, and is the host of InVerse Podcast with Dr Drew Hart that is in the top 1% of listened to podcasts in the world.

Chris has been married to Fiona for almost three years, we have zero kids and one old cat. I’m a real city boy, lived in Melbourne my whole life but we recently bought a house in Bendigo, so enjoying being in the little smoke for a bit. My ancestors are mostly from Scotland (there’s a Durie castle somewhere over there) and a little bit from Syria in the Middle East. We’ve been in Australia for about five generations.

Chris has a Bachelor of Arts and other study in Youth Work, Leadership Coaching and Residential Care. Some of his old job titles have been Youth Educator, Youth Facilitator, Youth Minister, Youth Worker: so obviously I love working with young people and encouraging people who care for them. At the moment I do project management in the child and family sector.

He is also the Chair/President of Praxis Victoria, a not-for-profit Incorporated Association running an emerging, low cost professional development network for Christian workers in youth and community services.

Daniel is Surrender’s Community Engagement Director and concerned with the issue of rising conflict across the globe. Amongst other things at S24, Daniel is hosting the Friday night panel, “What does a Just Peace look like.”