1. "The Darker Side of Chocolate," by Rev Tim Costello:
Chocolate is a luxury that adds to our waistline and often makes us feel guilty. Yet if people knew about the exploitation and dangers that children in the cocoa fields are forced to endure, chocolate would also make them feel sick.
2. "Join the Jesus Justice League," by Rev Ron Jessop: I will never forget a scene I saw one Christmas Day many years ago. I was driving with my wife Mary and our three boys from Geelong to Reservoir to have our family Christmas lunch. As we stopped at some traffic lights in Flemington, I just happened to see a derelict man sitting in a bus shelter opening a can of what looked like Spam. I was moved to tears, as the thought hit me that this was this man's Christmas lunch. He was about to eat it alone in a bus shelter. Mary coincidentally observed it too and was similarly moved. It sowed a seed in our hearts that over the years has prompted us to take action in seeking to care for those who have not got access to the resources that we have.
3. "21st Century Slavery," by Wilma Gallet: Two hundred years after Wilberforce's tenacious campaign, which resulted in the successful passage of the Abolition of the Slave Trade bill through the British Parliament on 25th March 1807, we see numbing evidence of a thriving slave trade which exploits vulnerable women and children.
4. "Youth in Transition ... To Where?", by Harvey Bishop: "Where have all the young men gone?" So sang the group Peter Paul and Mary to another generation. Today they could well sing "Where have all the Christian students gone?" According to US Sociologist George Barna and an Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) pamphlet, over 80% of Christian students fall away from their faith during their time at university.
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