Which is why the Federal Government is considering introducing a charter of rights.  And why not? It sounds like a great idea. Why wouldn’t you want freedom and a fair trial (not to mention a gun in your handbag)? But actually, I think an Australian charter of rights is a really bad idea. Here’s why.

In Australia, laws are made by parliament, which is made up of people we elect. Every three years we get to decide if we like the laws they made, and get rid of them if we don’t. So the parliament makes good laws.

The laws are then applied by the courts. If you break the law, a court decides which law you broke, and how badly, and what should be done about it. So courts get to interpret laws, but they never get to change them.

The only exception is the High Court. The High Court protects the constitution (the one law, the law to rule them all), so if any law made by parliament contradicts the constitution, the High Court can get rid of it (i.e. decides that the law is illegal).

A charter of rights changes all this. An Australian charter of rights would work a bit like the constitution – it would be above all laws, another law to rule them all. If we had a charter of rights, it would be the High Court’s job to decide not only whether a law is constitutional, but also whether it contravenes our rights.

This sounds ok, until you think about how it would work in practice. A charter of rights would mean that the High Court could take any law parliament made and decide that it was against our rights. Say parliament made a law that religious schools were allowed to employ only members of their religion. The High Court could then say, no, Australians have a right to equal employment opportunities. The law is against that right, so it has to go.

That’s not a problem in itself – maybe Australians should have equal employment opportunities. The problem is that a charter of rights gives the High Court, a group of seven judges, the power to decide what becomes law in Australia and what doesn’t. High Court justices are not elected, and once they’re on the bench, they’re there for life. I’m not saying that the justices would necessarily abuse their power. But in a democracy like Australia, it should be up to our elected representatives to make the laws, not the judges.

This is why High Court appointments in Australia aren’t really a big deal. When the government appoints a new justice, it may get twenty seconds on the TV news, or an opinion piece in the paper, but not much more. In the US, the appointment of a Supreme Court justice is talked about for months. Newspapers, blogs, talk shows and commentators discuss in the most minute detail every possible idea in the head of every possible candidate.

Americans do this because they know that a new Supreme Court justice is a new law-maker, with more power than most elected officials in Washington. The Supreme Court can knock down any law the American government makes, and they do it all the time. And they can do it because of the Bill of Rights.

We don’t need this in Australia. We are protected without a charter or rights. We enjoy as much freedom as anyone else on earth. We elect the people that make the laws, and then get rid of them if we don’t like it. That’s the way it should be.

Dear Unichurch ,

To those who have been praying and giving, you are a blessing from God. Thankyou for partnering with me for the gospel in South Wales. And now for the news.

1) Student ministry has been going great – we have a student service every month on a Sunday night, and then an outreach in a tavern in Cardiff once a month. The other weeks look like just hanging out at coffee bars, and people’s houses ‘building community’ where people’s lives are built into each other and where non Christian friends can be easily invited to join in.

Seeing the students care for, encourage and teach one another has been fantastic. May I encourage Unichurch peeps to organize times in the week to be purposefully inclusive and hang out with the aim of just getting to know people in our church, in order that you might be able to care and love each other better.

Please pray for ‘Outpost Cardiff’, the name of the evangelistic night which happens once a month at Koko Gorillas Tavern in Cardiff. Pray that students will be bold enough to invite their friends along, and that non-Christian and interested people may come. Pray that Jesus will be made known the people studying in (old) South Wales.

2) A lot more is happening as we go into public high and primary schools, do street evangelism, youth ministry and church administration. Please pray for plenty of good gospel opportunities, like the one I was able to have with a philosophy student from Cardiff Uni. We spoke together for about 20 minutes, “cold turkey”, about Christianity. I explained that Jesus was God’s King and Judge and claimed to be able to forgive sin etc. He then said with some indignation “Geez, he seems pretty confident doesn’t he!” That’s exactly right, I ended up saying, and he proves his confidence in rising from the dead. The resurrection is the falling point of Christianity. It either happened, proving Jesus right, or it didn’t and he was a loony or a liar. It was great seeing his countenance change as you could see the Holy Spirit convicting his heart. Please pray for him.

It would be great to keep hearing about how I can be praying for you all back home. Sad to hear about the fires. They have made international news.

Much love from the Dragon to the Swan,

Dave Elsing

   At Unichurch we have a sponser child. He name is Kristina (or Tina for short) and   last week we received a letter from her. She says she is well, and so is her family. She’s in grade 2 at primary school, but has an exam soon, so she asks if we can pray for it. For Christmas she participated in a concert at the Compassion Project, where she sang in the choir and danced. She also drew us a picture of her house, which is pretty cute

(If you want to help support Christina there’s a contribution box on the welcome desk at church)

And of “all nations” that Matthew 24:14 speaks of, there are many still to be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Nearly 3 billion people are still unreached!  Four out of ten people in the world (not much less than half!) have yet to hear.  Today 97 percent of the world’s unreached people live in the 10/40 Window, a rectangular shaped area on the globe, extending from West Africa to East Asia, from 10 degrees north to 40 degrees north of the equator.  The Window also encompasses the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists (see joshuaproject.net).

We will have opportunity to see the work of gospel partners: Gospel for Asia (http://www.gfa.org/), Asia Evangelistic Fellowship(http://www.aefi.org.au/) and REAP  (Relief, Education/Evangelism & Aid Program http://www.reapintl.org/).

In contrast to the colonial missions, which is the picture that often pops into our minds when we hear the word “missions”, these groups have a unique approach. They aim to reach people groups who’ve never heard the gospel via missionaries who are native to their cultures.

In the eyes of the people, native missionaries do not represent a foreign country or a strange religion. They already know the language or can easily learn a local dialect. We’d celebrate if just one person from our Australian congregation went to India to be a missionary. But a Gospel For Asia missionary would be more effective in their own culture, because they don’t have to spend decades learning the language and culture Further, a native missionary can be sent out at a fraction of the cost of a Western missionary.  The average cost for a native missionary is only $1,100 to $1,800 per year, compared to over $75,000 per year for a foreigner.

Indigenous churches are able to grow and multiply more effectively if native people take ownership of the church planting – perhaps more than if they are dependent on foreign missionaries. The possibility of reaching Asia’s multitudes through native missionaries in our generation is very real, as thousands are being trained to plant churches across Asia.

We will be visiting native missionaries at Bible Colleges and Bridge of Hope Schools, but our visits to the missionaries out on the field will be more limited – it is dangerous for the native missionaries to be seen with foreigners. There has been over 30 Christians killed in Orissa in the past two months and over 50,000 homes have been destroyed there and in neighbouring states due to persecution.

We will certainly be brought to our knees in earnest prayer on our trip, and we greatly appreciate the prayers of our brothers and sisters back home.

Your brother in Christ,
Paul

Secondly, the guys at St Bart’s are having a few cricket games with another shelter (St Pat’s in Freo) and they want to have a few training matches this month. So every Saturday from about 1pm-3pm at a field near city beach they’ll be playing and it’d be great if we could send a few guys along each time. It looks like Rebecca (one of the paid staff) will be going but she’s the only on I think. If you can help out, even just the once, then let me know.

As for this year, I’ve been talking with a few staff at St Bart’s and it seems there is a real need for more activities on the weekend. The two main reasons for this are:

1, There are almost no paid staff who work on the weekends. This also includes external government-funded organisations like Reclink who work only on weekdays.

2, A lot of the guys actually work or are looking for work during the week and get tired or unmotivated by the end of the day. So we’re not seeing a whole mob of guys at our weeknight events.

So the big-picture plan I have for this year, is to increase our involvement on weekends.

My aim is to have 3-4 guys from Unichurch doing Something with St Barts every Saturday. Some things to note are below:

* The guys involved with Wii, Darts, Pool etc, are welcome to just stick with that commitment (which is already huge) or swap it for a weekend activity as they choose.

* The activities will almost all be outside St Bart’s. This is something that is hard to manage on a weeknight but it is great for they guys to get out. Activities on the list so far are: Cricket, Soccer, football, swimming, bushwalking, abseiling and gardening. If you have an idea for an activity, then let me know.

* We need more guys. I figure with 30 of our guys willing to come on weekends, we could each donate one Saturday afternoon every 10 weeks. That sends 3 guys each Saturday which I am told is an ideal number. There is a balance between having enough of our guys to have lots of 1-on-1 conversations and not swamping the event. This is manageable for us and
would make a huge difference to St Bart’s.

* We need to encourage more of our guys to do the training. I will make an announcement from the front but it’s far more effective if you can start a conversation with your mates. Try to encourage guys to do the training even if they are unsure about how much time they want to commit. They can always do the training and then decide what to do. They can’t
get involved later without the training.

* This is a hard job. Giving up your time is no small thing and I am really thankful for what you’ve already given to the shelter. It’s also hard because it can be outside our comfort zone.

Of all the different types of service you can do around Unichurch, I think this can be one of the the toughest and least acknowledged or rewarding. In many cases, you’re not only doing something hard when you could be relaxing, but the guys you are helping might not care about you or what you are doing for them. You’re also doing it by yourself or in little groups of 2-3 Unichurchers, so nobody you see on Sunday night is going to thank you.

But you know that Jesus loves the guys in St Bart’s and He wants you to look after them.

Ashley Horton