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Global Mission Office

We have made some changes to the format of our contribution to the Bush Telegraph to try and maximise our information sharing. On this first page you find the same headings each month containing ‘quick fire’ information. Further details are always available from the Global Mission Office. Please note our new Office address above. The second page will carry a more lengthy comment and update.

Global Mission Gazette

The latest edition focuses on our work in Europe. To get a free copy, contact our Communications Manager, Lori Hill on
globalmissiongazette(at)xtra.co.nz.

Quik Gifts

‘Quik Gifts’ are one off donations of under NZ$5000. The item will always be something that would greatly assist a project/church and we challenge congregations to take them on.

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Lecturer Project to Talua Ministry Training Centre - Vanuatu - Sponsor a 1 month Lectureship programme ($1500).

Assist with donations to purchase new resources and books for the Onesua High School library. (from NZ$250.00)

Tyres for the Navota Farm Bike (NZ$500.00)

Navota Truck appeal – a few gifts of $100 is all we need.

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Link Gifts

‘Link Gifts" offer the opportunity to make a longer term commitment to friendship

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Disaster Relief Trust – This year we have responded to disasters in India, Nuie,

Vanuatu, and Madagascar – help us to continue to respond.

Support the Prison Ministry run by Kathryn McDaniel (Thailand Trust)

Support the Remedial programme at John Wesley School, Eshowe, Zululand.

Bush Missioner Programme in Vanuatu. Link yourself with an island community.

Project Officer Trust (Vanuatu) – commit yourself to a monthly donation and share in the excitement.

Support Glen Barclay’s work as a peace-worker in The Holy Land as your parish Peace Project - financial assistance required to sustain our commitment.

Support our AIDS Initiative Programme in East London, South Africa. ($250/month)

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Scholarships

CWM have announced a new scholarship to study a Masters degree in Theology in the Netherlands. A similar scholarship exists for study in Taiwan. More details available from the GMO.

Have you seen 'The Passion'?

This seems to be the big question around town and if nothing else, the film is certainly generating huge debate. Sojourners (www.sojo.net) lists a range of web-sites that articulate the full range of responses. Take a look if you are interested.

What are people passionate about?

Sojourners also reported on a recent poll which was conducted in the US and commissioned by The Alliance to End Hunger and Call to Renewal. They contracted a leading bipartisan polling group who simply asked which is the more important election issue in America: a candidate's position on gay marriage or hearing a candidate's plan for fighting poverty?

Those polled were a representative sample of likely voters - Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and diverse in racial and faith background. In the poll, an overwhelming majority of voters said that in deciding their vote for president, they would rather hear a candidate's plan for fighting poverty (78 percent) than a candidate's position on gay marriage (15 percent). The polling also showed that even in the midst of budget belt-tightening voters want Congress to strengthen anti-hunger programs. Apparently children living in poverty is a moral issue for most Americans. The Alliance to End Hunger commented that it is vital that people of faith are united in believing people living in poverty is a moral and religious issue. Is it for us?

Passions in the Holy Land

Please take the time to read some of the entries Glenn Barclay has made in her on-line diary (www.presbyterian.org.nz) as she serves on our behalf in Ramallah. It is a tough, unrelenting ministry that would stretch any of us to the limit. If like me, you often struggle to understand all the complexities of the struggle, you may like to ask for a copy of the ‘backgrounder’ Conflict in the Holy Land which is available from CWS or the GMO.

Or possibly you would just like to view a multimedia presentation, called Occupation and Resurrection, compiled by Sojourners at:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=special.multimedia&content=palestine

Some of the other voices in the conflict have been captured by Harpers and can be found at
http://www.harpers.org/NoExit.html.

These interviews with Israeli soldiers were conducted by Israeli journalist Uri Blau for Kol Ha'Ir, a Jerusalem weekly, in September 2001. Some excerpts:

Ariel [21, served in Hebron and Ramallah]: This is a religious matter, and I'm religious. If my religion said that I had to shoot for the sake of my people and my religion, I'd do it. That's the problem here.

Roi [19, paratrooper, serving in Hebron]: When I first got to Hebron I wouldn't open fire on little children. And I was sure that if I ever killed or hurt anyone, I'd go so crazy that I'd leave the army. But finally I did shoot someone, and nothing happened to me. In Hebron I shot the legs off of two kids, and I was sure I wouldn't be able to sleep anymore at night, but nothing happened. Two weeks ago I hurt a Palestinian policeman, and that didn't affect me either. You become so apathetic you don't care at all. Shooting is the IDF soldier's way of meditating. It's like shooting is your way of letting go of all your anger when you're in the army. In Hebron there's this order they call "punitive shooting": just open fire on whatever you like. I opened fire not on any sources of fire but on windows where there was just wash hanging to dry. I knew that there were people who would be hit. But at that moment it was just shoot, shoot, shoot.

Yosef [21, served in Hebron and Ramallah]: Although I think justice is on our side, that doesn't mean I stop pitying them for one moment. Maybe I think that the constant closure of Hebron is absolutely justified, but that doesn't mean I don't pity them for being under this closure. I don't hate them for one second.

And from our 'love songs' files

The most played song on American radio during the twentieth century was You've Lost That Loving Feeling written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector, and Cynthia Weil. It has been played over 8 million times which amounts to about 45 years if the song was played back to back! Hopefully the Church never loses ‘that loving feeling’ as defined for us by Christ’s sacrifice.