At the end of September we had ten people come and join us for A Different Way, an intensive live-in week exploring Christ’s calling to a new way of living, jointly run by Manna Gum and TEAR.
We followed a rhythm of singing and praying, studying the Bible, thinking through application of Biblical concepts to our current context, and practical work or activity, each day exploring a different theme, such as salvation, creation, money, work, poverty, community etc. As well as having lots of conversations about subjects such as resource use, standards of living, budgetting, hospitality and ethical shopping, participants also found themselves making compost piles, planting trees for revegetation sites, sorting e-waste and urban gleaning!
Although coming from different contexts and life stages, we were very impressed with how well everyone entered into the program, shared, worked together, and supported each other. This was our first go at running this week, but having had a go, we are now fairly convinced we will try and make this an annual event. Thanks to everyone who helped out with A Different Way.
Much of the rest of the winter was spent combing through Australian aid data for a research project on the delivery of Australian aid through the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. The finished report, Banking on Aid, will be released early next year along with some public workshops - stay tuned ...