Handy Folks

People want to be rich financially but shy away from being rich in relationships. In the 1930s Mount Isa was established as a mining outpost with a pioneering spirit. Today wives and children want to live in an affluent Perth suburb while the men fly in and out of the mining sites. Is this progress?

Some Christian communities have their members relinquish all personal assets to a common pool. How does that help them to launch out on their own if they are not stewards of their own resources?

What is at stake here is selfishness. People would prefer to commute and keep their own abode rather than living on-site. What do they have to hide?

When you practise hospitality you make yourself transparent to your guests insofar as how you live out your values. Likewise when you live at your place of work you have to crucify the thought of keeping a double life. What you do at home and what you do at work has to match to the same standard. Ouch! Any vice that you still nurture will be exposed in no time for everyone else to see.

For some that is unbearable. For the braves it is the chance to carry your own cross daily and be accountable.

Why do some churches run men's retreats or youth summer camps? Doing life together exposes your ability to assimilate in a group. You can fool people for so long by flying off the handle in the privacy of your own home (at the detriment of your so-called loved ones) but you can't fake your behaviour for too long under the scrutiny of a peer group.

Christian communities have not been the mainstream way of living recently. In fact Western churches have an appalling record as far as practising hospitality. The scarcity of rental accommodation and the financial pressures on mortgage holders may change all that shortly.

In order to thrive a community needs to have a well defined goal. Just like a business has a purpose statement a community needs to pull towards a common vision in order to succeed.

The major complaint about the modern church is the lack of pastoral care. Many pastors are burning themselves out trying to be psychologists, life coaches, marriage counsellors, youth carers, etc... while the flock is reluctant to do their homework and sits by with a consumerism attitude.

For those whose lives have been shipwrecked on the reef of misfortune, living in a caring community might be the saving grace. They can be discipled into their full potential in Christ before being released in the world at large as an enemy of the kingdom of darkness.

Add comment

In medieval Europe monks would retire to an estate of their own in order to preserve their lifestyle at odds with the prevailing barbarism. They would study and copy the Scriptures by hand and worship with their unique Gregorian chant. But most importantly they would provide food and lodging to the bewildered traveller. They would be industrious and self-sufficient growing their own food, tending their own flock and attending to all the maintenance required for their community.

Don't you think there is an urgent need for such communities to spring up everywhere? We have taken the bait of globalisation and become utterly dependent on people far away we should not trust. We have relegated welfare and hospitality to a secular government who is actively removing all Christian values from our institutions. With such a poor witness no wonder the church has become irrelevant in today's society...

Good Samaritans are far and few in between. Nothing much has changed since the days Christ walked this earth. Those who are supposed to help cross to the other side of the road. Well I have a vision! I would like to take over a motel and use half of the rooms to setup such a Christian community. The other half would of course continue to provide lodging for the passing traffic. The more I dream about it, the more I get ideas to add to it. Community members would run scores of service businesses such as lawn mowing, swimming pool maintenance, steam carpet cleaning, car detailing, house painting and decorating, etc... The motel itself would have hairdressing, spa, laundry, dry cleaning, coffee shop, restaurant, take away and the list goes on and on.

The conference room would be used as a church on Sundays. The restaurant would have live music of a kind that gives glory to Christ.

If there is room at the back we could grow and sell organic produce. There would be pony rides and jumping castles.

There would be containers for hire. People who have been expelled from their home with nowhere to store their possessions would avail themselves of the facility. They could be comforted and counselled in a safe environment.

If we were to take over a service station across the road we could provide old fashioned full driveway service to the passing motorists. What a great way to serve and engage with strangers than to check their oil, tyre pressure, clean the windscreen and rear window while they enjoy a cup of coffee and meet our folks.

Add comment

George Muller, Christian evangelist and Director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England, cared for 10,024 orphans in his life. (27 Sep 1805 - 10 Mar 1898) He was well-known for providing an education to the children under his care, to the point where he was accused of raising the poor above their natural station in life. He also established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of them being orphans.

The work of Muller and his wife with orphans began in 1836 with the preparation of their own home at 6 Wilson Street, Bristol for the accommodation of thirty girls. Soon after, three more houses in Wilson Street were furnished, growing the total of children cared for to 130. In 1845, as growth continued, Muller decided that a separate building designed to house 300 children was necessary, and in 1849, at Ashley Down, Bristol, that home opened. The architect commissioned to draw up the plans asked if he might do so gratuitously. By 26 May 1870, 1,722 children were being accommodated in five homes.

Through all this, Muller never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost over £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. For example, on one well-documented occasion, they gave thanks for breakfast when all the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone, and the milkman gave them plenty of fresh milk because his cart broke down in front of the orphanage.

Every morning after breakfast there was a time of Bible reading and prayer, and every child was given a Bible upon leaving the orphanage, together with a tin trunk containing two changes of clothing. The children were dressed well and educated - Muller even employed a schools inspector to maintain high standards. In fact, many claimed that nearby factories and mines were unable to obtain enough workers because of his efforts in securing apprenticeships, professional training, and domestic service positions for the children old enough to leave the orphanage.

Muller prayed about everything and expected each prayer to be answered. One example was when one of the orphan house's boiler stopped working; Muller needed to have it fixed. Now this was a problem, because the boiler was bricked up and the weather was worsening with each day. So he prayed for two things; firstly that the workers he'd hired would have a mind to work throughout the night, and secondly that the weather would let up. On the Tuesday before the work was due to commence, a bitter north wind still blew but in the morning, before the workmen arrived, a southerly wind began to blow and it was so mild that no fires were needed to heat the buildings. That evening, the foreman of the contracted company attended the site to see how he might speed things along, and instructed the men to report back first thing in the morning to make an early resumption of work. The team leader started that they would prefer to work through the night. The job was done in 30 hours.

Muller wrote frequently about the stewardship of money and the non-reliance on earthly riches, and how God would bless the man who kept to these principles, and felt that laying his own experiences bare would prove the truth of his claims. His personal income, from unsolicited gifts (he refused any kind of salary) rose from £151 in 1831 to more than £2,000 in 1870. However, he retained only around £300 a year for himself and his family, the rest he gave away.

source Wikipedia

Add comment

The world may have tagged you as the scum of the earth but there is somebody who still believes that you are worth everything. The rest of your life doesn't need to be a repeat of what you have already been through. Instead you can redeem yourself and make your life count when you meet your Redeemer.

The devil is a malevolent swine who has already made significant inroads to destroy your soul but Jesus came to snatch you out of his grasp. As you get hold of that unique opportunity with both hands you discover your true identity and dust off the true treasures that were in you all along.

You need to surround yourself in a caring and loving environment where you can grow and blossom into the unique individual that will be revealed in you. No doubt your past will try to haunt you like a bad smell and you may need to change your name and move to a different city to make a fresh start.

Handy Folks is in the business of recycling lives. We take people who have no hope and give them a future. We provide you with accommodation and employment together with mentoring in a community environment. Now is your chance to turn the tables on the enemy of your soul and prove to yourself and to the world that you were worth dying for.

You need to bask in the warmth and sweetness of the love of God - something you had been deprived of all along. That lack may have induced you to turn to crime just to survive. Once your identity and self-worth in Christ are established you will be able to let go of your addiction - you won't need to hit that pleasure button again because joy and happiness are now part of your staple diet through the Scriptures and the caring environment where you now live.

Instead of being a danger to society you can now contemplate being a danger to the kingdom of darkness that owned you. Once you are established standing up on your own two feet, the testimony of how you overcame all the forces arrayed against you will be a lighthouse to guide others to recovery.

The irony is that you will be the envy of the lukewarm Christians who once pointed the finger at you, labelling you an outcast. Now you have the joy of an intimate relationship with God with good deeds to prove it while they still feed on the same empty religion.

Add comment

With my purchasing power I can either collude with child or slave labour in emerging economies or I can choose to support a local business that provides employment here.

People don't seem to care where the goods on the supermarket shelves come from. Yet as a consumer you participate in the global economy and you have a responsibility as a citizen as to how and where you spend your purchasing dollars.

This goes against the grain of the advertising propaganda which manipulates us with the pleasure hot button. Buy this and you will be somebody. Buy this and you will feel good about yourself. Buy this and you will gain some kudos. Shopping therapy has been pushed to the limit.

Rarely do people wake up in the morning thinking: "Today I am going to spend some money on renovating my house. I wonder who could I bless by providing work to those who need it the most?"

The irony is that with a criminal record you cannot work for the government or a large corporation. But if a small business hires an ex-inmate the government will pay their wages. Go figure. The small business guy is the bunny who hasn't got the time or procedures to check it all yet he is expected to take all the risks.

This is similar to the concept of ethical investments. As a shareholder you want to know if the company who pays you dividends produces wealth in a worthy manner. Do they abuse their workers? Do they dominate their market segment by colluding with government to intimidate their competitors? Do they test new drugs on unsuspecting students or unemployed used as guinea pigs? Do they flaunt safety and health issues for more profit?

The problem is that the silent majority doesn't care. So it's a free for all as long as you are discreet in your endeavours to do more with less.

In a global economy arguing for the dismantlement of trade barriers we have slaughtered our local industries on the altar of the WTO. Small businesses are being squeezed out of existence.

On the bright side, people like a champion. Local farmers are getting vociferous on the issue of coal seam gas and market manipulation by the supermarket chains. People are happy to pay more for organic produce. Instead of saving the whales or saving the trees shall we see a campaign to save our local businesses? Shall consumers finally take responsibility as to where they spend their dollars?

Add comment