Australia's Christian Heritage National Forum

...long name. These guys have been convened by Prof. Stuart Piggin - who

knows his Australian Church history BACKWARDS. The goal of this

new organisation, is to provide an accurate tellling of the Christian Heritage

"side of the story" about our current National society, and how it was built.

I heard him speak this morning, and while the strong thrust of the message raises one concern for me (that it may be arguing too hard for a non-core ministry issue) - it's VALUABLE RESEARCH.

They've published a set of papers from their first national conference:
"Shaping the Good Society in Australia." Which I'm leafing through at the moment.

The article on p.89 on"Christianity and Education" is proving interesting so far.

They're giving away some freebies on the site too - including this good one (which I think may interest YOU Peter Adamson!). It's about WIlliam Wilberforce and his massive founding contributions to Australian early society, as a "Forerunner" in the late 1700's.
The current release film "Amazing Grace" tells the story of Wilberforce and his enormous
humanitarian reforms made in the British Parliament of his day. His interest in the
spiritual and holistic welfare of early members of the Australian colony was a saving grace

indeed - read the article and find out!

TITLE:

William Wilberforce, the Clapham Cabinet, and ‘Liberating the Captives’ in Australia.

URL: It's available at the BOTTOM of this page, via a link

http://www.achnf.org.au/achnf-resources/positional-papers.aspx

This stream of research is NOT the be-all-and-end-all of reaching others with the gospel - I have a sense that it CAN lead to further defensiveness if used too forcefully (after all, many of our contemporaries - staff & student - believe that the past is in our heads, but the future is in their hands!)

But have a read to INFORM YOURSELF BETTER, and have that gem ready in a conversation with a non-believing staff member at school, or wherever you are.

Al