Newsletter Archive

July Newsletter 2008

PASTOR MAX WALKER SAYS...

EDITORIAL:

Jesus, homeless wandered the highways and the byways with his rag tag group of followers sharing the pleasures and the rigors of the road with them. They laughed, cried, argued and grumbled ate and went hungry together. As they traveled Jesus shared the wonders of God with them, building strong and enduring relationships with them. He prepared them for the devastation of the Cross and the excitement of the resurrection. At Pentecost they received His Holy Spirit and set, despite hunger, persecution and seemingly insurmountable difficulties, out to share the love, the compassion and the good news of Jesus to a hurting world, Their love for each other and all about them caused them to be called the people who turned the world upside down. Groups of people met in the Name of Jesus in upper rooms, in public halls, in the market place, at the City gates, in homes, in palaces and slum dwellings. The church grew despite religious hostility and persecution and political opposition.

Why? The basic reason was that they shared together the love and compassion of Jesus supporting each other through the tears and the tribulations of their daily lives. They were community facing the good the bad and the indifferent together. Unfortunately we see few examples of this community life in the church today as the church has become so institutionalized that it has lost the compassion and love of people that puts self last and the needs of others first. Maybe in the highways, under the bridges, in the midst of injustice and persecution, loneliness and poverty if we look we will find the love and compassion of Jesus at work.

Pastor Max Walker.
CEO

Chatting

Sunday Catch Up

Chatting

Items of Interest:

FareShare Program:
FareShare is the new name of One Umbrella. Cornerstone is in fairly close contact with this group and we periodically get deliveries of individual meals and/or bulk orders

Collaborative Food Program:
Cornerstone is part of the program to distribute food produced by FareShare. Guidelines have been set up and the key players in the scheme determined. It is hoped that shortly, when the new freezers are set up in Foodbank, local distribution will occur from there.

Agencies will collect individual food packs from there on a Wednesday and distribute them, at their leisure, from their own premises. For our purposes we will have not only the food packs but also access to bulk quantities.

The Dove:
Pastor Levi having returned from his honeymoon reports that the Dove continues to function well with 25 – 35 attending regularly. He appreciated the support of those who ran the program in his absence and the great job they did. Pastor Levi attended the United Neighbors of Hope Conference at Belgrave Heights recently and found this very challenging and inspiring. It is with sadness we said goodbye to Jan a regular volunteer at the Dove.

Partnership Meeting:
The Material Aid Partnership Meetings comprise the key welfare providers recognized by Greater Dandenong Council.

Once again Cornerstone will be funded for three years with annual reviews and a CPI adjustment. Cornerstone will be part of the bimonthly partnership meetings of the Greater Dandenong Welfare Partnership. Three year funding allows us stability in funding and to plan ahead. With the escalating costs of utilities, food and transport it is great to receive assistance in this way.

Jeff Denehey’s death:
Jeff was one of a number of heavy drinkers who frequented Cornerstone in the late 90’s. His claim to fame was being magnificently drunk at one of our Thursday Night services and toppling like a great tree falling out of his chair whilst holding a full cup of coffee and not spilling a drop. He was one of a small group of regulars from the Albion that had dual membership there and at Cornerstone. Overall he was a quiet, gentle man. He had a stroke and his family took him to NSW. Marion Jones a former Cornerstone volunteer was contacted about his death recently. The family said he spoke often of Cornerstone and how it unconditionally accepted and helped him. We will remember him over morning tea in the near future.

The UNOH Conference:
This is the major Christian Conference that deals with the hands on ministry to the poor and deprived in our community and the major issues of social justice faced by them.

Belgrave Heights Convention Centre was packed with people developing ways to meets the needs of a hurting community that the church itself appears incapable of doing. The meetings involved much interaction as people wrestled with the best way to be Jesus to a hurting society.

Guest speakers included Jackie Pullinger from Hong Kong, John Smith from the God Squad, Archbishop Elias Chacour, an Arab Christian from Galilee running schools attended by both Jews and Arabs. Present were Anj and Ash Barker founders of UNOH and now ministering with their children in the slums of Bangkok. As usual the speakers presented a radical Christianity demonstrating the love and compassion of Jesus.

Programs:
Cornerstone has seen continual growth again in July with most of our meals sessions catering for over 100 people while a similar increase has been noted in the Saturday and Sunday programs.

Donations can be made via our website cornerstonecentre.com.au or directly to The Treasurer PO BOX 358 Dandenong 3175. Donations in kind can be left at our premises on corner of Mason and Walker Sts Mon – Friday 9.00 am – 1.00 p.m.

During August Cornerstone for Sunday afternoon programs on 10th and 24th.

Pastor Don reporting:

It’s been another windy month at Cornerstone with more roof tiles coming loose and some hairy moments up on the roof putting new ones back in. Saturday nights have been well attended as have the Sunday afternoon programs where Evangelist Kumar Abraham has preached twice in the last month and been well received both times.

Outside Cornerstone I have taken boys to the Football, Slot car racing, the Tarun Stevenson album launch, Boys Brigade on Tuesday nights, McDonalds for chats and even to Frankston and Ringwood to check out the new Eastlink freeway. The MIDDWAY Cobras are still undefeated and numbers at training have dropped a bit over the winter months.

Cornerstone regular Neil Sleeth is looking forward to the next away game as he enjoys the free bus trips there and back. The pasties at Cornerstone seemed to make him sneeze and our resident busker Ian Woods copped most of the blast and took a dive to the floor which had a few people laughing.

Sunday afternoons are perhaps the most relaxed of all the Cornerstone programs.

The Tuesday morning Church services at the Dandenong Psychiatric hospital have also been well attended with several Cornerstone regulars in hospital for treatment also attending the Church service I lead there.

Pastor Levi and I have met with Leanne who works in Cranbourne for the City of Casey with thoughts of starting a Cornerstone program in Cranbourne sometime soon. We still need to talk to other groups including Church groups to see who else might like to be involved but we’re hopeful of starting something in Cranbourne later this year.

The Cornerstone Sunday morning service had around ten to fifteen people attending plus our volunteers which brought the number up to around twenty. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the general consensus is to do it again once a month from now on.

Trinity AOG Church have run their ‘Streetlighters Youth Ministry’ event at Cornerstone three times now and the numbers at their last meeting were between 60 and 80 and they expect them to increase. They attract many young people from Sudanese and Islander backgrounds who enjoy playing basketball and doing artwork on the paper provided on these nights.

Andre from ‘Big House Communities’ (Christian Outreach andrevan1@optusnet.com.au 0400 002 172.) held a meeting to plan the ‘FREE’ Family Fun Day in Dandenong in late November. Cornerstone may be involved in helping to plan and run this event.

Lots more to report but I’ll keep it brief this month. It’s been great to have more volunteers turning up lately but we could always do with more.

MARANATHA!

Pastor Don Cameron

DonInDandenong@netscape.net

Work: 9794 5654 / 0415 888 528

Cornerstone: Pastor Max Walker CEO.
Postal Address:	PO Box 358 Dandenong Vic 3175
Address:	Church of Christ building cnr Mason and Walker Sts Dandenong Vic 3175.
General Enquiries:	(03) 9794 5654
Fax:	(03) 9794 5949
Free Legal Service:	(03) 9794 8428
Email:	ALLMAX@bigpond.com