Dave will be in the US & Canada June 8-24 2012.

He will be meeting people and speaking with groups in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Houston and last but not least at the one and only Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina.

Los Angeles June 8-11.

If you want to connect contact John Jensen pinnedagain2001@yahoo.com

Vancouver June 11-14

If you want to connect contact Craig Greenfield craig@servantsasia.org

Minneapolis June 14-16

If you want to connect: Lauren Morrison get_your_riot_gear@yahoo.com

Philadelphia June 16-18

If you want to connect contact Brett Anderson brett@thesimpleway.org

Houston June 19-21

If you want to connect contact Jason Porterfield jason@servantsasia.org

Wild Goose June 22-24.

If you want to connect: Marcelle Clowes marcelle@wildgoosefestival.org

Dave will be sharing his Journey Into The Heart Of Community.

Dave will be hosting Open Conversations About Christian Community Work. 

And Dave will be presenting seminars on a wide range of subjects, including:

1. From Exclusive To Inclusive Christian Community

2. Guidelines For Christlike Interfaith Community Work

3. Christ’s Own Way Of Working With Marginalised People

4. The Trinity As A Divine Paradigm For Human Community 

5. The Trinity As A Creative Model For Community Development

6. The Beatitudes As A Framework For A Personal-Political Revolution

Dave also will be promoting six books in the Dave Andrews Legacy Series Wipf and Stock are publishing in North America, including Christi-Anarchy, Not Religion But Love, A Divine Society, Learnings, Bearings, and People Of Compassion. (See reviews under ‘publications’ www.daveandrews.com.au)

We live in a culture that is held captive to a vision of growth: where privilege, entitlement, exploitation and endless accumulation are the norm. But we yearn for a Kingdom culture, where followers of Jesus have been freed to practise Christ’s vision of sufficiency: living in solidarity, humility, justice and equality. TEAR Australia’s “ENOUGH” conference is an opportunity to be uplifted by this vision. To be transformed by a Kingdom culture, and empowered to live it out in today’s empire-ruled culture, through Christian community. Together, we will explore what it means to have had enough (of poverty, injustice and excuses), and what it means to have enough (sufficient for our needs).
http://enough.org.au/

26th August, 2011

TEAR’s partner, World Concern is providing emergency food, water and medical assistance and supplies to over 12 million people in East Africa are still in the midst of what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is calling “the world’s most serious food crisis”.

TEAR is continuing to respond to this ongoing crisis by supporting our partners on the ground. One of our partners, World Concern, is working on the Somali-Kenya border, providing emergency food, water, medical assistance and supplies, with the goal of reaching thousands of people in strained host communities on both sides of the border.

One of the key ways World Concern is helping immediately is by repairing and improving the performance of existing wells. It recently worked quickly to fix the only well in the town of Damajale in Kenya, one of the many communities on the Kenya-Somali border that has had an influx of displaced people. In the past month, an additional 2,000 to 3,000 people have arrived in Damajale, having walked for days—even weeks—in search of food and water. The overused pump of the well had failed due to overuse, but World Concern was able to secure a new pump and repair the system, bringing back the life-giving water supply.

“Their crops have failed, their animals have died, and they have left their homes in search of survival.”

- Dave Eller, World Concern

World Concern is carrying out work on other pumps like this one and also repairing and increasing the capacity of wells in the area to help secure crucial water supplies. It is also working in host villages like Damajale to get water and food to people there.

In addition to immediate aid, World Concern is also working to provide long-term solutions to the region, including drought resistant crops, rainwater catchment systems and new wells.

Please donate now and help us respond to this crisis.

According to the UN Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit, “Famine is expected to spread across all regions of the south in the coming four to six weeks,” and is “likely to persist until at least December 2011”.

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that unless there is a massive increase in the response to the East Africa food crisis, the famine declared in two regions in Somalia will spread to five or six more regions.

In a press briefing on Monday, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos outlined the needs around the intensifying crisis.

“These stories, these images, are a wake-up call. They remind us why we cannot spare any effort to ease the suffering; why we must do all we can to stop it happening again.”

She said that 12.4 million people—in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti—are in dire need of help, and the situation is getting worse.

“The stories we see and that we hear are dreadful. It is hard to imagine the horror of mothers forced to leave their infants behind to die, as they trek for weeks to reach safety.”

“The sense of loss felt by orphans as they reach overcrowded refugee camps, sick and malnourished, alone, and with no future.”

“These stories are a wake-up call. They remind us why we cannot spare any effort to ease the suffering; why we must do all we can to stop it happening again.”

TEAR is responding to the East Africa food crisis through our partners Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, and World Concern Africa and Somalia.

Many Somalis are seeking refuge in Kenya, and this massive exodus is complicating the already difficult emergency situation. Refugee camps near the border are overflowing with highly malnourished people who have walked long distances with little or no food and water.

TEAR Australia is now supporting our partner World Concern in its work with vulnerable, drought-affected communities on the Kenya/Somalia border. World Concern is working with displaced people on the Somalia side to provide water, sanitation, shelter materials and supplemental feeding for the most vulnerable. It is also working to expand medical support to this area.

On the Kenya side, World Concern is working to support communities that are suffering from the drought and also dealing with the strain on resources due to the influx of refugees to the town outside the camps.

As part of its work, World Concern will be providing 4000 people identified as most vulnerable with 20 litres of water per person per day and a monthly water ration for livestock. It will also provide support in repairing and maintaining key water points and constructing pit latrines for improved sanitation facilities.

In addition, it will be running an emergency feeding program and NFI (non food item) distribution to 10,000 beneficiaries.

Please donate now and help us respond to this crisis.

I’ve been reflecting on this reality as I have listened to the debates around a price on pollution this week.

As Christians, we embrace the core belief that we are not owners of creation, but stewards. It all belongs to God. Our responsibility as stewards is to use creation and care for it in ways that are consistent with the teaching of Jesus, the character of God, and the nature of the kingdom. That will necessarily include ensuring the way we use our resources results in justice for the world’s poor.

Our perspective on a price on pollution needs to be God centred and other centred. Certainly we consider our own needs, but never only our own needs. That’s the distinctive voice that has been missing from this debate, and one that Christians can bring – a selfless voice – and a necessary voice.

Our position on climate change:

Micah Challenge Australia is a campaign focused on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and halving poverty by 2015. Micah Challenge is not a climate change campaign. However, the poor communities that our coalition partners work with around the world are dealing with the effects of a changing environment. This issue is posing a very real threat to the achievement of the MDGs.

That’s why Micah Challenge has been asking the Australian government to take a leadership position in efforts to reduce climate change as part of our Share the Earth: MDG7 campaign.

We welcome the government’s announcement on Sunday because it represents a step towards Australia showing leadership in efforts to reduce climate change – which is what we’ve been asking them to do. Click here to download a full outline of our response to the government’s announcement and the the Micah Challenge coalition’s position on climate change.

So what are we asking you – our supporters – to do?

Pray and act!
- Join Christians around the world to pray for creation.
- Let your politician know you care by running a Share the Table event.
- Learn more about MDG7 and our other environmental asks, such as water and sanitation.
- Read our latest blog that explores this important issue and join in the discussion – we welcome your thoughts about ways we can speak out for and with the global poor.

While we acknowledge that climate change can be a confusing and sometimes controversial issue, we also believe it is vitally important that we do not forget the world’s poorest people as we continue to seek a sustainable future for our environment and the people who depend on it.

Thanks for the work you are doing standing with and for the world’s poorest people.

- John Beckett
National Coordinator, Micah Challenge Australia

Micah Challenge Australia
Ph: (02) 9356 8500
www.micahchallenge.org.au

Micah Challenge is a global campaign to mobilise Christians against poverty, in the spirit of Micah 6:8 “…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God”,and in support of the Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty by 2015.

Now, we’re going global…

Welcome to a brand new approach to world peace.

All across India, tens of thousands of children have begun writing heartfelt letters to the students in Pakistan. All across Pakistan, tens of thousands of children are replying with heartfelt letters back. New connections are being made. New friendships are being formed.

Imagine if all the schools from both nations were to participate? What will happen when this generation grows up?

At Friends Without Borders, we are making this possible, and invite you and your school to take part in this historic heart-to-heart experiment.

Children have a natural instinct toward friendship and will jump to reach out and create new friends, when given the opportunity. The simple act of writing a letter leaves deep and lasting impressions that help to humanize ‘the other.’ These are the seeds that promise to mature into a safer, friendlier world.

Check out http://www.friendswithoutborders.org/