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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Been thinking allot about the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) or the US term, GFM (Global Financial Meltdown). I have been thinking about it because since I returned from Bangladesh in January, I have found myself thinking about the many people who I met in that country who's lives are affected far more dramatically, than people here in Australia.

It is a difficult conversation, because you can easily find yourself comparing misery with misery. That is not my intention. Having been made redundant three times in my life means I am aquainted with the pain that financial uncertainty brings. However, in each situation, we were ok. We have an incredible series of safety nets to fall back on in times of financial distress in a place like Australia.

Not so in Bangladesh. The nation is very poor, and so many individuals I met face pretty bleak futures, because of the GFC.

However, the thing I found most difficult to cope with is the term we give the phenomenon. Global: Well, that's a no brainer. Financial: it effects all kinds of financial systems, or the various parts of the one global financial system. Crisis: hmmmm, this is where it gets interesting.

In the early 2000's, George Bush had his administration use the term "Climate Change" as oppossed to the aforementioned "Global Warming". The term "Global Warming" alarmed people, as it probably should! So the administration, in a master stroke of spin, had the crisis "rebranded". Enter: Climate Change. Sounds more like a holiday than a crisis requiring attention.

The same treatment has been given to the GFC. To call it something benign like the Global Financial Crisis takes attention away from two very important issues. The first is that it is not a crisis in the sense that this thing appeared from out of nowhere like some random act of nature. Due to the incredibly unregulated financial markets in the US, financial institutions were able to act in an incredibly cavalier fashion, essentially lying to existing regulation authorities (including the international markets) in order to appear more profitable than they actually were.

In short:

Banks lent incredibly irresponsibly to people whom the banks knew were not in a position to pay back such house mortgages.
The bank leaders and managers did so in order to sell more banking products.
The reason they needed to sell products, was in order to make greater profits.
The driving force is the greed of the few.

Bank leaders and managers lying in order to satiate greed. So it grieves me no end, to call something that has to do with the powerful few abusing their position for the sake of their own personal greed, something benign like the Global Financial Crisis. Why don't we call it what it is? Global Abuse of Power? Global Corruption Crisis? Financial Institutional Greed Crisis?

The second issue that went through to the keeper is the one of international trade. For decades, the World Bank/International Monetary Fund has been telling the governments of developing countries that if they want loans and investment, then they cannot prop up failing businesses. If a business or corporation fails in their country, they just need to let the market do it's work, which effectivley means, indigenous corporations fail and international (read corporations from places like the USA, UK, Australia and the like) move in and take up the market share.

Failing businesses and corporations in developing nations means incredible pain for workers in parts of the world that do not have the kinds of safety nets that places like the USA, the UK and Australia do.

So, the "GFC" hits, US car manufacturing companies begin to fall over and what happens, they go to their government and ask to be bailed out with tax payer funds. The American senate responds with packages.

So the USA effectivley declares to the world that there are two sets of rules, one for developing nations (who have no negotiating power and have to accept the raw deal given them) and one for developing nations (who have the power to do whatever they want).

The net result of all of the above, is that the communities and the individuals who are most vulnerable, are those in developing countries, and specifically, those from poor communities.

I have been struggling, particularly during this time of Lent, to know how I as an individual follower of Jesus, can somehow respond to this incredibly overwhelming set of unjust systems that wreak havoc on poor communities. As I have contemplated a response, one thought was to share it with others. And so I have.

Grace.

Labels: Culture, Discipleship, Faith, Justice, Theology, Trade

Posted by Stephen @ 9:46 PM 0 comments

Thursday, November 13, 2008

::Rants-http://www.climateofchange.tv/

I forgot that I could actually embed this video in my blog post so you don't have to travel off to another site to see it. This is Tear's latest video. I really urge you to check it out.

The "twist in the tail" is climate change from the perspective of poor communities. Very much worth 6 minutes and 18 seconds of your life.

Labels: Discipleship, Environment, Justice, Theology

Posted by Stephen @ 2:37 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

::Theology-Christians and Climate Change

I am a little excited and optimistic these days that Christians are beginning to realise the importance of Climate Change as an issue and many I know are even beginning to act upon it.

At Tear Australia, one of the reasons we think it is important is because the group of people who are often *the* most vulnerable to climate change are the poorest communities on the planet.

With that in mind, Tear have released a new resource for the Australian (and broader) Christian community to give them some resources around Climate Change from perspective of it's impact on poor communities. Check it out here if you want more information.

Labels: Discipleship, Environment, Faith, Justice, Theology

Posted by Stephen @ 4:13 PM 0 comments

Monday, November 10, 2008

::Rants-Good facilitation

I was reminded of what good facilitation is yesterday. A colleague of mine, Kate Conway, from Tear Australia lead missio Dei through a process of thinking about (a) how a community disciples kids and (b) how as part of the discipleship process, we can help kids learn about God's love for all the people in the world and how we can be practical in helping to make a difference.

After about one and a half hours, we had over 80 simple ideas that we could implement with our kids as families and households, and as a church community. ALL of the ideas came from people in the community.

The brilliance was that Kate was able to draw out what many of us already knew.

This is *good facilitation*.

Labels: Children, Discipleship, Family, Justice, Leadership

Posted by Stephen @ 1:23 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

::Politics-A change in mandatory detention laws?

I was pretty excited to get this email from the Tear Changemankers network. Here is an excerpt...

Join the celebrations
After campaigning with others on refugee and asylum seeker issues since 2001, TEAR Australia ChangeMakers can join the celebrations. The Immigration Minister has proposed changes to make detention of aslyum-seekers a last resort and put in place clear boundaries so that it cannot be indefinite and unreviewable.

Asylum seekers coming by boat to one of the places that the previous Government excised from Australia's migration zone will now also have access to assistance and review of their cases – rights the former policy stripped them of.

We are very supportive of the Government's proposed changes. We hope and pray that we will never again see people (including many children) locked up for years, with all the associated mental and physical harm, while they seek protection in Australia.

If you are interested in getting involved in activity like this, check out http://www.tear.org.au/getinvolved/change-makers/

We still need to lobby the minister for immigration, letting him know that we are aware that he is trying to see this law changed, and to continue to encourage him to take this positive action. Check out the website for how to get involved in that too.

Labels: Asylum Seekers, Celebration, Discipleship, Justice, Refugees

Posted by Stephen @ 2:25 PM 0 comments

Sunday, July 27, 2008

::Rants-Reflections on the UNOH Conference

I spent last Friday at Surrender 08 conference. Then on the Sunday, some of us from our community, missio Dei spent the day there also. It was a great time to reconnect with some old friends in the radical discipleship movement, as well as a time of making some new ones. It is a time/place/space where, if I may borrow a phrase that Marcus Curnow often cites, I feel I am with "my people". As a matter of fact, Marcus was there!

I am coming to appreciate how calling a special time to come together to hear stories old and new, and to be inspired again, can be quite important. Lisa and I came away recommitting to being more intentional about our attempts to live a life of mission, committed to embracing those who live on the edges. So did a few of the missio guys also. It was a wonderful time.

Two of the highlights for me are as follows:

Harry (our almost 4 year old) is getting real curious about Aboriginal Australians. In my attempt to try and treat him as a person, instead of an utsy cutsy kid, I tried to explain to him about how Aboriginal people have been dispossessed of their land, and consequently their culture and dignity. He handled it pretty well, although my analogy of someone stealing someone else's house, while it worked, disturbed him a little. On the Sunday afternoon, the Jar Jum dance troop from Sydney closed the gathering, and Harry sat enthralled, as he experienced some of the rich culture of Australia's first people, for the first time. He is still talking about it. This encounter has done more in ne afternoon, than most of my attempts to tell him this part of Australia's history and story. So I am really pleased that it was transformational for Harry.
The second reason it was somewhat moving for me, is, quite frankly, I am trying to figure out exactly how I understand and relate to the Holy Spirit, as a post charismatic/pentecostal. Notice the word "post", not "non". I am trying to figure out what it means to value Gods kingdom, and pursuing the values and principles of this Kingdom (like justice, compassion, mercy, love and forgiveness) in a charismatic/pentecostal way. I struggle with allot of the ritual that the charismatic/pentecostal experience is saddled with. So I have been on a journey of trying to figure out what a new pneumatology would look like. The focus of my reflections is the question, what would a life in the spirit, that pursues the invisible city of God look like? So it was with a deep sense of profundity, I listened to Jackie Pullinger. She talked about walking through the walled city of Hong Kong, and how, if she was to be involved in a sustainable ministry, she needed to see not only the city as it was, but the city as it should be. This was her metaphor. She would have had no idea that she was speaking straight into my question. A life in the spirit, has it's origins in being able to see not just what we would ordinarily see, but life as it would be when the invisible city of God eventually is established here on this earth. For me, it was a moving pointer to the beginnings of trying to flesh out a post charismatic, post pentecostal pneumatology. (In Christian theology pneumatology refers to the study of the Holy Spirit.)

Thankyou UNOH for helping me take another few steps on the journey.

Labels: Discipleship, Justice, Missiology, Pneumatology, Spirituality, UNOH

Posted by Stephen @ 8:17 PM 0 comments

Ideas have a mind of their own, and when they get together, woa, what a party!