Tag Archives: Ipswich mall

Life is Worth Living

It is Worth Saying that Life is Worth Living Crisis: In the last month, at least four people have committed suicide in the local Indigenous community. Conundrum: There is a deliberate policy of not publicising suicides, because it is well known that such news can trigger others to commit suicide. Effect: A whole community is left […]

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Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ – Jesus

What are you doing, helping people like that? A friend recently heard what I’m up to on the streets of Ipswich and was flabbergasted. Not that she thinks I’m doing anything wrong, to the contrary she dubbed me “Saint Kevin”, about which I have profoundly mixed feelings, but I can add it to the list […]

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Evangelism: A Revolution

That Old Question: What really is Evangelism? I’ve posted a couple of things previously which reveal my unorthodox take on what ‘Evangelism’ actually is, but more recently the threads that I had been alluding to have been woven together in a quite remarkable way in real life. It is time to review and restate what […]

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It Starts: The Kingdom of God is Germinating in Ipswich

October 2013: It Starts. I need to record some of the things that have been happening because God is making himself known in remarkable ways in Ipswich at the moment. I think I need to just blurt it all out without structure, because otherwise I will make a dozen or more separate blog posts!

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Advice for living on the street: Don’t be female.

Welcome to the Jungle The Law of the Jungle (summarised as “only the strong survive”) is unfamiliar territory to most people who will be reading this blog. So unfamilar, in fact, that many of us like to think it doesn’t apply to the human experience. It does. The content of this post is blunt, and possibly quite […]

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On Earth as it is in Heaven

To What shall I Compare the Kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is coming to the street subculture of Ipswich. How can I describe it? How can I document it? Just thinking about it brings Jesus’ refrain to mind, “to what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?”, and his declaration to Nicodemus, “very […]

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Join us in Street Ministry

You too, can Preach to the Street I have recently been producing and distributing little cards which contain a single Bible verse, and a very brief reflection on what that verse means for someone reading it. This has been wildly popular with my friends on the street. So far, two of the guys have asked […]

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Sonny with a Chance

The Bible: A Book of Comfort My friend Sonny saw me in the Mall today and we had a bit of a chat. He said something very wise, which I pointed out was similar to something Jesus had said. At that point he produced a well worn, well loved Bible, and began reading it to me.

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Evangelism: A View from the Inside

A State of Being: Freedom I was reflecting, as I often do, on what the chances are that I will be able to impart my joy to others before I die. What a tragedy it would be if I, having received so indescribable a gift, should die without having shared it. May it not be so! […]

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Street Theology: Justification by Faith

How Biblical Justification Looks “On the Street” Everybody loves being right. It’s even better when you are recognised as being right in front of other people. When those other people have scoffed and mocked you, the victory is all the sweeter. But the ultimate prize is when you are declared right, and your mockers declared wrong, and […]

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The other side of the “No Smoking” sign: discrimination by Social Cleansing

Is this Social Cleansing? I’m a non-smoker. Indeed, I am even an ex-smoker, and I support the principle of removing cigarette smoke from the lives of those who don’t smoke. But the recent (1st Feb 2013) ban on smoking in some of the public spaces in Ipswich has made me uneasy from the start. Today […]

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“Mission to the Marginalised”…?

How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a missionary? I was invited recently to talk under the heading “Mission to the Marginalised”. (I frequently wrestle with the appropriateness and definition of words like “mission” and “marginalised”, but at least the other two words in the heading were pretty straightforward) I […]

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Big Fella and the Promise

“This life is very real to me, God” How many of us can stand with Big Fella and testify: “The promise is calling out to me to be a witness”? That’s precisely what the promise does, if we are to understand it properly.

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Big Fella is “Justified by Faith”

Neither Death nor Life In a track that cries out about the ongoing toughness of the spiritual journey, Big Fella takes comfort from the sure knowledge that he is “justified by faith”, and concludes that “neither death nor life can separate us”. This is precisely the point! We do indeed have that assurance. Praise God.

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Big Fella is “Seeing the World Through God’s Eyes”

“No more jail cells. Bill’s been paid. No more ticket to hell” “I’m like a dealer on the street corner, pushing Christ to the junkies and the dope pushers: people I used to run with…” For Big Fella, it’s personal. He’s still got friends in the drug scene, and he wants to pluck them out, […]

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Together we stand, with Big Fella

The problem isn’t skin, it’s sin, and everything that lies within Another (fairly early) track by Big Fella, with plenty in it that we can all learn from. A notable subtext is that the racial divide is very much a reality for Indigenous Australians, certainly in Ipswich. There are parts of Australia where you could […]

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Can Christ “get a witness” in Big Fella?

Is your heart ready to deal with this? Here is a man who was so good at crime that his friends and family assumed he would be in it forever. Jesus took him out of that life, and now the call of Christ is: Are you built for this? Can you handle this? Is your […]

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Domestic Violence: He fractured my skull, but I love him.

That awkward moment when you fracture your pregnant girlfriend’s skull In the Mall this week, we had the privilege of providing support and encouragement to a young pregnant woman with a fractured eye socket. It seems her boyfriend had become enraged in a drunken fit of jealous imagination, and pummelled her with punches resulting in […]

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Big Fella lays it all down, “In these Rhymes”

In These Rhymes Here’s another one from Big Fella. Notice in the lyrics that producing this work is part of the way in which God is working on the man: “Just layn’ it at your feet in these rhymes”.

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Criminal Minds

What does the heart of a career criminal, converted to Christ, sound like? This friend of mine has been part of the Ipswich Mall ministry from the beginning. He knew nothing about music but was called by God to discover, learn, and create Gospel Rap music. It’s lonely In this song you will hear selected […]

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