No ‘either-or’ in giving in crisis

Member for Mallee Andrew Broad and Micah Australia executive director Tim Costello have urged Australian churches to support farmers doing it tough while continuing their generosity to others around the world.

Mr Costello said farmers in rural Australia were facing a mounting crisis and people needed to show ‘love for our neighbour’ by offering practical support.

“We are calling on the Australian church to go above and beyond in its generosity to these farmers and their families,” he said.

“At times like these, the church can come together and show compassion, through both our prayers for rain and our generous giving.

“This is the bond of Christian inter-nationalism, which responds both locally and globally.”

Mr Broad, a farmer, said it did not have to be an ‘either-or’ situation when it came to giving.

“We can do both. We can support our farmers and can continue to support those elsewhere in the world that are suffering,” he said.

“That is the Christian faith – we do not need to turn our back on one group to support the other. Our call is to love our neighbour – both locally and globally.”

Mr Costello last week released an open pastoral letter to Australian Christians asking them to consider ‘how your church might respond at this time to the drought and go over and above to help those affected,’ while issuing a caution about the current rhetoric calling for a stop to giving overseas.

“It has been of some concern to me over the past few weeks, to witness leaders and parts of the Australian public issue a similar plea to help our farmers, by calling for us to withdraw help from others in our world who are also suffering,” he said.

“We know, in the Kingdom of God, generosity is never an either-or – it is always both.”

Joined by leaders and pastors from churches, Mr Broad said it was encouraging to see the response from many denominations across the nation who had already launched emergency appeals for farmers.

“It’s great to see the sense of community that comes during times like this in our nation,” he said.

“We feel a great sense of responsibility for our farmers and we do need to act. But our message today is that we don’t need to partition our generosity.”

“It’s great to see the sense of community that comes during times like this in our nation” – Andrew Broad