Our BUV is a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) union of churches. As we consider how we create safe spaces for those who are victims of Family Violence, we need to give special consideration to other cultures where particular customs and attitudes to women create environments of abuse.

The story below is by Dr Ree Bodde from ‘Think Prevent’ the Victorian Anglican initiative to combat and prevent Family Violence. Think Prevent is committed to being an active bystander against discrimination, sexism, sexual abuse and violence whether at home, on the sports field, at work, in houses of worship or out with friends, family, colleagues or workmates. You can learn more and find some great resources from Think Prevent here.

A Dinka (Southern Sudanese ethnic group) riddle poses that “If you were crossing a river with your cow and wife and there is danger of drowning and you can save only one of them, which one would you save? The answer is “that you save the cow because with it you can marry another woman.”

The practice of dowry (bride price) though seldom discussed, flourishes across certain cultures in Victoria and elsewhere in Australia.  Dowry related abuse toward women and children is a problem that has existed for some time. Recently, law makers and practitioners have begun tackling this social problem impacting families and communities. 

A Sudanese faith leader recently explained to me the logic that informs dowry “a daughter has been brought up by her family and is their source of income. The only property parents have is their daughter. You give away your daughter for dowry and then you are financially set,” he said.

Another spoke of a direct connection between dowry and domestic abuse.  “In paying for dowry,” he said, “a wife is the husbands property and can beat her for not being good at chores, for answering back, asking for financial support.” He added, “wives under the dowry custom become a slave to the husband’s family, so that even if the husband dies, the wife cannot remarry without the consent of the husband’s family. "

In a visit to a South East Melbourne faith community earlier in the year, I was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that 3 women had been murdered as a result of dowry-related violence over the last 5 years.   

Some men’s willingness to break the silence about dowry-related abuse against women and girls is significant as it embodies the fundamental recognition that it is a problem overwhelmingly for which men are responsible.

Men have a moral obligation to change attitudes and behaviours that are negative towards women and girls. Specifically, that females are property and, replace these with norms of respect and equality.  

While some men are part of the problem, all men are part of the solution.

Dowry and the ownership of women by men is not unique to South Sudanese culture. Indian women face similar issues, where this is common practice and where women and girls are vulnerable to culturally sanctioned exploitation and abuse. See recent media here

For help or information regarding domestic violence, call the Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 737 732, or visit 1800respect.org.au

Lifeline: 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au

White Ribbon www.whiteribbon.org.au

Source: BUV News

The Kilsyth South Baptist Church (KSBC) has been truly blessed by God in the planning, development and building of the new Worship Centre, new offices and meeting rooms which were officially opened in February, 2016.

During our time of reflection on this project, we have seen God’s plan unfold on something that was started over 22 years ago where He has led us and provided for us in such a rich way we want to share the good news story with others.

Kilsyth South Baptist Church – Stage 1 and 2

KSBC was planted from the Heathmont Baptist Church led by their Senior Pastor, Rev John Wright, and 23 other committed Jesus followers back in 1989. The church started meeting at St Mary's Anglican Church and later at the Progress Hall in The Basin. With financial support from the Heathmont Baptist Church and the Baptist Union of Victoria, a 5 acre block of land was purchased in Liverpool Road, Kilsyth South.

The design for a new Worship Centre was undertaken, to be completed in three stages. The first stage was completed in 1994, then several years later the second stage known to us as the “ children’s wing” was completed.

Stage 3.

In 2004 the leadership group believed the time had arrived to commence stage three. An appeal for finance was made to the members with the result some $45,000 was pledged. This was not enough to commence Stage 3, so it was decided to use the generous, financial gifts to purchase 2 portables to be used for Youth and Children’s Ministries.

In 2010 it was decided to once again visit the building of stage three and a number of meetings were held within the church and KSBC home groups to discuss the plans for the Worship Centre along with other building work and the financing of the project. A cost of $1.7million was agreed upon for the project which generated a positive response and a sense of excitement from the members and regular attendees. The leadership group then decided on a plan to raise finance through pledges and fundraising.

The first pledge brochure was given to members with a range of financial commitments to choose from and within two weeks pledges totalled $770,000. Three years later in 2014, a second round of pledges took the total to $1 million dollars.

The Time to Build Committee then began working with the architect, tenders were called for and builders interviewed. However in our church were a number of professional builders and the members decided at their meeting in February, 2015 for KSBC to become the owner builder, led by a team of professional and dedicated church people. This was not an easy decision to come to, but in looking back it was the right one for KSBC to choose for stage three to be built.

The Church employed a builder as the Project Supervisor, who led and worked with our team and the Worship Centre was first used in December, 2015 for the local primary school’s graduation. The all-purpose building, offices and new car park were completed in March, 2016.

The Good News

 As owner builders we have been able to complete the task with a saving of over $400,000 over the lowest tender and complete it within a time frame of less than twelve months.

It’s not only about the cost savings. It brought people in the church together. Strong unity was seen and people of all ages were involved in the many working bees, preparing morning teas for workmen and being part of the number of groups needed for a building project like this to be undertaken.

It has given us a Worship Centre in our community that is a light to all who are seeking help and wanting to know the message of hope that is Jesus Christ. We have had the local primary school using the centre, over 480 people attended a concert in April with Silvie Paladino and the Salvation Army Brass Band , major youth events and other community gatherings have taken place in the short time since work has been completed.

God's Leading

 As we consider what has been achieved we have seen God’s hand in the building of the Worship Centre

• The money pledged was at the right time in God’s plan for this building work
• The church folk have been generous in their giving of money and time
• God brought into KSBC, over a period, people who had building and planning skills to do His work and allow us to go down the track of owner builder
• The project was completed without injury, disagreement or building problems with the council
• The financial support of Baptist Financial Services was a blessing and they were very co-operative and easy to work alongside, throughout the project.

The new Worship Centre will allow Kilsyth South Baptist Church to continue to expand its mission of Sharing Jesus, Caring for People, and Encouraging Christian Growth within our community and beyond.

Source: BUV News

The survey will map the Australian church landscape and track changes over time. It will help church attenders and leaders to reflect on the health and vitality of their local churches. The NCLS Research team, responsible for the comprehensive survey, is an ecumenical group that aims to provide a credible evidence base to help churches build vitality and connect with the wider community.

“While we ask questions about a wide variety of topics, in 2016 we are particularly interested on how cultural diversity is expressed in local churches. It has been encouraging to see larger orders for surveys across nine different languages,” said Dr Powell. “We also want to learn about innovative practices in churches.” Another topic for the 2016 NCLS is ministry to children and young people. “Many churches are taking advantage of our Child Survey for 8 to 14 year olds. This will be the foundation for the future study of the role of family and church in the spiritual development of children over time,” explained Dr Powell.

Gaining feedback from churchgoers through survey results may help local churches to take suitable action in their own context. “We hope local churches will use the 2016 NCLS as a positive, inclusive process to build for the future,” commented Dr Powell.

Insights from the 2016 NCLS will also inform denominational leaders, staff employed by charities and community care agencies, international aid and mission organisations, church schools, social justice advocates, academic colleagues, media, and social commentators.

Further information on the 2016 NCLS is available at 2016.ncls.org.au, including endorsements from denominational leaders, resources that churches receive and stories of how local churches use the NCLS.

Background: The National Church Life Survey (NCLS), has been conducted every 5 years since 1991 in the same year as the Australian Government National Census. The 2016 NCLS is the sixth wave of the NCLS project.  Over 20 Christian denominations partner with primary sponsors: Anglicare Sydney, the Uniting Church Synod of NSW and the ACT, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Australian Catholic University.

For more information go to 2016ncls.org.au/

Source: BUV News

The State of Work in Australia study was initiated by Reventure, a new organisation specialising in faith and work research, utilising the Barna Group, a globally recognised polling firm.

Overall, 66% of Christian workers are satisfied with the amount of stress in their lives, compared to 61% in the general population.

“It is quite probably that the higher level of purpose and meaning that Christians find in their work offsets some of the stressful nature of their work,” explains Reventure Managing Director Dr Lindsay McMillan, “Satisfaction with stress levels correlates closely to with job satisfaction.”

It is important to realise that not all stress is bad. Everyone needs some level of stress to get motivated and productive, which is called eustress. At some point — which differs individually — the amount of stress becomes negative on effectiveness, leading to distress. For this reason, an individual’s satisfaction with stress is a more important measure than the overall stress one is feeling.

“An unexpected outcome of the survey is that Christians generally have a higher physical health rating than their colleagues at 52% versus 39%,” Dr McMillan said. “This appreciation of their physical health is one factor that might assist in dealing with unhealthy stress at work.”

Christian workers are also more likely to have much more positive mental health ratings than their colleagues. Those ranking their mental health as excellent or very good was 59%, compared to 48% for all workers.

“Christian workers follow similar overall trends in stress-mitigation activities, with the clear exception of much higher engagement in spiritual activities such as prayer and faith goals,” explained Dr McMillan. “These indicate that the dissatisfied and highly stressed are turning to spiritual activities even more.”

Details of the study:

The study was conducted in April 2016 and consisted of a nationally-representative survey of 1,001 Australian employed adults with an oversample of church attenders with 321 identifying as church-going Christians.

The study was representative of all major denominations.

The sample was balanced for gender and age and included fulltime (57%), part-time (33%) and 10% self-employed/independent workers.

The sample included a representation of workplace settings including 40% professional office workers, 12% working in retail, 11% working from home, 9% in education, 6% in a health setting.

For more information:

Contact Dr Lindsay McMillan,
Managing Director,
Reventure Ltd, +61 (0)409 186 322.

Source: BUV News

To combat the grief, loneliness, failing health and memory loss faced by many older people, a new movement to record seniors’ stories is gaining popularity. At Baptcare’s Orana Day Centre, long-term client Dot McHugh is enjoying telling her tales to dedicated volunteer Greg McCulloch.

 “I’m really starting to feel as if I’m rather an important person,” Dot said. “I’ve been very lucky, I’ve lived a fairy tale life and it’s been wonderful to look back on—I had a great childhood and I loved my job as a teacher.”

“I lost my husband ten years ago, I’ve always talked about him to keep him with me and now it’s written down for my grandchildren to see.”

Greg McCulloch has worked in the social care sector all his life and believes as people age, it’s important to know they have a voice and how they’ve lived has value.

“I really look forward to our sessions and getting Dot to focus on the happy times in her life,” Greg said.

“I’m a bit older, and I’ve done a lot of reminiscing with individuals living with dementia. I feel it’s important to make care more meaningful. Dedicating time to really communicate with someone whose sight is failing and who perhaps has hearing impairments is vital.”

“It’s been a treat getting to know Dot, to learning about times gone by, the history of the local area and learning what a kind, caring and feisty lady she is.”

Find out more about the mission and work of Baptcare at: http://www.baptcare.org.au

Source: BUV News