Sorry I haven’t posted much.It has been quite busy offline and away from the Mac.

Will post in detail later, but things are slowly progressing for Holy Fools and that I would love your prayers while it is undergoing formation and planning.

A couple of updates — The Red Pill Survey is closed — results to come soon & Forge are now running a forum for networking and discussion — here.

Write more soon.…

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Matthew Raley’s The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hippies, Political Activists, and Everyone in Between (Kregel Publications, 2009) certainly has a captivating title, and I was excited to receive and start reading the latest book from Viralbloggers. I had not heard of Matthew Raley nor The Diversity Culture previously, so it was the title, with all it’s imagery that lead me to read this interesting, but rather overly complicated book.

Sadly, Raley doesn’t specifically cover the folk from the title, rather lumping them altogether as The Diversity Culture. He then elegantly deconstructs the USAmerican Evangelical culture’s bigotry and stereotyping of this Diversity Culture, calling the reader back to a (radical?) Jesus like approach. He does this through exploring Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.

While The Diversity Culture was an easy read, with some wonderful imagery of the characters at the Cafe Siddhartha, I was left questioning the need to label people and began to appreciate the exploration of the Samaritan woman’s conversation with Jesus, where, whether intentional or not, it became evident that Jesus certainly didn’t need to categorize folk. This is not to say that Raley’s The Diversity Culture, is a poor book! Far from it! It is well constructed and would benefit many in the pews in mainstream legacy church in USAmerica, or for that matter, Australia too!

The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hipsters, Political Activists & Everyone in Between

Where I am left questioning the need to read such a book, is where my experiences differ from Raley. Where Raley is a USAmerican, I am Australian, where Raley is a Pastor, I am not. But that is not where it started to become evident that this book wasn’t written for me. I  realised after some time that my own experiences and life had already lead my through the cafe and out the otherside, where, with my life and work with the homeless and those suffering on the edges of society here in Australia, conversations with the Samaritan woman occur almost daily.

I would recommend Matthew Raley’s The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hippies, Political Activists, and Everyone in Between (Kregel Publications, 2009) to those in the pews of USAmerican evangelical churches, but only if they were terrified about stepping out the doors of the church buildings and their circle of Christian culture and engaging with their neighbours. But, I would I would suggest reading  along the way to greeting their homosexual, mixed relations, Hindu neighbours!

Matthew Raley’s blog

First chapter download

Prime Time America Interview with Raley —  (Raley is interviewed from 20:00 to 28:00. Note: This interview is hosted by Moody Radio, a longtime bastion of the culture wars.)

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If you haven’t taken the Red Pill Survey : Mental Health Issues in Leaving the Legacy Church, please take a few minutes to do so.

I will be publishing the results of the survey next month and can’t wait ti share with you what the results are. So far, it has been an interesting trend about the mental health of those leaving legacy church to strike out in organic church, emergent church or missional church. What ever the language you use, please take a moment to complete the survey.

The survey is anonymous.

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Take Part in START FREEDOM A campaign for young people

A global campaign for schools and young people who will become aware of the issues surrounding human trafficking and realise the power to make a difference.

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It was a big night at The Dining Room — very emotionally draining.

I spent the evening with a bloke who would not come into the main dining room for fear of crowds, wore no shoes and appeared to be confused and distraught at first. After I greeted him and we started talking he broke down and told me that his wife had passed away in March this year, and that he had spent the whole day trying to get drunk to forget. I took him aside, brought a cup of tea and we chatted some more — and it became more and more obvious that he was in pain and very much in grief over his wife.

We shared a meal out in the car park and connected over spaghetti. It took longer than normal as he kept breaking down but we eventually parted with a hug, a deep heart-felt hug and with parting words of thanks. I am not sure he will be back but I know he appreciated the space and the opportunity to share some of the grief and pain he was feeling. He shared that he has not spoken to anyone and was not going to speak to anyone through Centrelink.

He left with a car load of friends who he said had helped him but didn’t understand the pain he was feeling. They were all from a local boarding house and spent most of the day drinking.  Not sure if I will ever see him again.

On another note the homeless guy I have mentioned before — has left the family tormenting him and is living back in his old car and trying to get himself organised again. Things are looking up for him.

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• September 18, 2009 — Formalising a Ministry to the homeless and marginalised (12)

The process to formalising a ministry for the homeless etc involves writing a statement of purpose for the Incorporated Association in the State of Victoria. Here’s the one I wrote for the formalisation of the ministry I mentioned here.

Holy Fools Statement of Purpose

To share community with, and provide a range of practical support, services, aid, and comfort, striving to empower and create opportunity for those on the fringes of our society experiencing homelessness, poverty, sickness, suffering, distress, misfortune, disability or helplessness to realise potential in life, while meeting their holistic needs.

To be a strong, confident and loving voice speaking out from the fringes of our society for those experiencing homelessness, poverty, sickness, suffering, distress, misfortune, disability or helplessness. To speak boldly into the community, media, and the church, with a message of social justice, love and hope, encouraging dialogue and discourse, and calling for action and response.

To encourage, offer and promote opportunity for action, discourse and dialogue for the Church and followers of Jesus to live out the Gospel call for Love, Justice and Faith in their local community and in the  community at large.

To be an open, inclusive community amongst those we serve, being a living, growing and loving movement of Christ, speaking boldly and loudly into the culture with the Gospel message of hope, love and reconciliation.

To develop collaborative relationships with individuals and/or organisations whose mission and ethos align, partnering with, and working in cooperation with government, social and community agencies, local church and para-church groups, for combined advocacy and outcomes, while serving the needs of those we serve.

Thanks to those who helped contribute to this Statement!

Anyone want to help design a logo or contribute or join us?

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This is a scene from the film “The Fragrant Spirit of Life,” a San Damiano Foundation production released in 2008. We found Sam, Esther, and Jane outside the small village of Serere in eastern Uganda. They are being cared for through the amazing work of the nonprofit organization Village2Village.

And the follow up!

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Coroner calls for rooming house reform

The Victorian Coroner, Peter White, has recommended sweeping changes to rooming house licensing and regulation after an inquest into the deaths of Leigh Sinclair, 25, and Christopher Giorgi, 24, in a Brunswick rooming house fire in 2006.

The Call this a home? Campaign welcomes the Coroner’s findings. We urge the State Government to protect vulnerable residents in sub-standard rooming houses by adopting Mr White’s recommendations.

The Government must implement significant change to ensure no more avoidable deaths occur in unsafe private rooming houses. The State Government is currently considering the recommendations of its Rooming Houses Taskforce and is expected to make an announcement in the next month or so.

Call this a home? encourages campaign supporters to continue advocating for change through letters and calls to your local MPs, local media and online.

Please take a moment to write a brief letter to one of the newspapers below to reinforce the call for protections for vulnerable Victorians.

Read The Age’s opinion piece on this subject from Tuesday

Letter to the editor contacts

The Age - letters@theage.com.au
The Herald Sun - hsletters@heraldsun.com.au
The Australian - letters@theaustralian.com.au
The Melbourne Times - letters.tmt@fairfax.com.au

More information on the coroner’s findings

Read the Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic media release
Read the VCOSS media release
Read the Coroner’s findings

Visit our websites for more campaign resources

www.callthisahome.net
www.facebook.com/callthisahome
www.gopetition.com/petitions/make-victorian-rooming-houses-safe/sign.html
Read the latest media coverage on rooming houses

To make an anonymous complaint about a rooming house call Consumer Affairs Victoria (freecall) on 1300 365 814.

Call this a home? Campaign for safe rooming houses in Victoria

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I have kept the Red Pill: Life After Legacy Church Survey open for longer than I planned due to busyness and such.

So, if you haven’t yet had a chance to answer the survey exploring some of the mental health isssues of leaving legacy church, then please go and answer a few basic questions.

I will close the survey off at the end of October and publish the results early in November.

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Just got back from the launch of Jim Reiher’s latest book, “James; Peace Activist and Advocate for the Poor” (UNOH Publishing, 2009) held at the UNOH Urban Mission Centre in Dandenong. I am looking forward to reading this, having enjoyed Jim’s exegesis on wealth and prosperity doctrines in “The Eye of a Needle” (UNOH Publishing).

Here’s what has Jim wrote about himself recently,

I work for Urban Neighbors of Hope in Springvale. And am politically active in the Greens Party. I am a member of the Dandenong Interfaith Network. And like to keep up with family and friends.

I will post a review of James when I finish.

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