Members and friends of the Wellspring Community focus on our commitment to work for justice and peace. Prayer and politics belong together, as do confession and commitment to action. We remember that God's guidance, judgement and mercy can change situations and people.

We believe that:

The Gospel commands us to seek peace founded on justice;
costly reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel;
work for justice, peace and an equitable society is a matter of extreme urgency;
God has given us partnership as stewards of creation and we have a responsibility to live in a right relationship with the whole of God's creation;
that, handled with integrity, creation can provide for the needs of all, but not for the greed which leads to injustice and inequality, and endangers life on earth;
everyone should have the quality and dignity of a full life requires adequate physical, social and political opportunity, without the oppression of poverty, injustice and fear;
social and political action leading to justice for all people and encouraged by prayer and discussion, is a vital work of the Church at all levels.

We seek to:

engage in forms of political witness and action, prayerfully and thoughtfully, to promote just and peaceful social, political and economic structures;
promote a policy of renunciation of all weapons of mass destruction in all nations of the world;
promote the United Nations Organisation as the principal means of international reconciliation and security, in place of military alliances;
support and promote research and education into non-violent ways of achieving justice, peace and a sustainable global society;
Work for reconciliation within and among nations by international sharing and exchange of experience and people, with particular concern for politically and economically oppressed nations;

(Adapted from the Iona Community statement on justice).

FAIR TRADE

As a Fair Trade Faith Group, the Wellspring Community is committed to bringing change to God’s world and the people for whom Jesus lived, died and rose again.

Fair Trade empowers disadvantaged artisans, workers and farmers, especially in developing countries to create their own sustainable livelihoods through employment, regular income, improved working conditions and more direct access to markets.

Fairtrade empower millions of farmers and workers around the world by tackling poverty and poor working conditions, as well as conserving the environment. It’s hope for a better future by making trade fair.

Many of the world’s most serious issues share a single root cause – extreme poverty. The Fairtrade Minimum Price, Premium and Standards are designed to tackle this so that farmers and workers have reliable and sustainable incomes, and the power to make their own choices.

The Wellspring Community demonstrates its commitment to Fair Trade by serving Fairtrade tea and coffee at all functions where people meet. We also encourage our members to seek and use Fair Trade products wherever possible.

We promote Fair trade through our magazine, ‘Pipeline. And through our sponsoring occasional webinars.

Fair Trade or Fairtrade?

‘Fair Trade’ applies to products sold through recognised Fair Trade agents following the Ten Principles of the World Fair Trade Association.

FAIR TRADE LOGO

‘Fairtrade’ indicates that the
product is certified by Fairtrade.
Products bear this label.

Wellspring Community Statements on Israel/Palestine November 2023

In view of the horrific situation unfolding in Gaza, Wellspring Council is asking all Wellspring members to consider the issues prayerfully and to take action by contacting their local members, encouraging vigorous action by Australia’s politicians towards a ceasefire and progress towards a just peace.

The first document is a response prepared for Wellspring by member Doug Hewitt, our Interfaith and Ecumenical contact person. The second document is from the World Council of Churches. We invite you to read, reflect, pray and act.

Wellspring Community Position Statement on Israel/Palestine November 2023

This statement by the Wellspring Community is a response to the extreme and accelerating urgency of the current threat to both Palestinians and Israelis, and the cry for support which has come from Palestinian Christians, calling us to continuing prayers and renewed action. Through this statement we hope to encourage Wellspring Community members to develop a deeper awareness and public activism which promotes a just future for all in Palestine and Israel. We are reminded that there is still a vibrant Christian presence in the Holy Land, despite many leaving to escape the violence.

An Appeal for Peace

The prophet Isaiah had a vision for a future of peace: “They shall not learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2: 4. Wellspring Community condemns the actions by Hamas with their use of indiscriminate violence, and we endorse the international call for the safe release of all civilian hostages. We fail to see however, the murder of innocent civilians at the hands of the State of Israel as being any less violent. For world leaders to only denounce the actions of Hamas while affirming the right of Israel to do whatever it takes to feel safe is in contravention of international law.

Current Context

This year, 2023, is the 75th anniversary of the what all Palestinians call “the Nakba” (the catastrophe). When the state of Israel was being established (1947-1949), about 750,000 Palestinians were dispossessed and displaced. Many became refugees, thousands were killed and some 500 villages razed. This process of forced surrender of land, houses and income has continued ever since. During the 2020’s the situation has been deteriorating rapidly, with increasing attacks with impunity on Palestinian women, men and children, their property and land. Many, who cannot live with violence have left the land of their ancestors, with Australia being one destination, and our cities have a growing Palestinian diaspora. Those Palestinians who remain in their homeland, exist under an occupation which is in contravention of international law, in what amounts to apartheid (see reports from Israeli Human Rights Groups B’Tselem and Yesh Din, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch) in an Israeli dominated single state from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean. The long-held promise of a two-state solution remains a dream.

We recall that Hamas was formed in 1987, with the collusion of Israel and the US, to counter the then problems they had with the Palestinian Authority, and the Western commentary often cited is that the Hamas goal is to ‘destroy Israel’. What is rarely reported is that since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Israeli leadership has repeatedly stated their intention is to remove Palestinians from the land. David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the new State of Israel declared: “It must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples...the only solution is a land of Israel...without Arabs. There is no room here for compromise.” The current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January 2023 continued this call saying: “The Jewish people have an exclusive right and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlements in all parts of the Land of Israel – in Galilee, the Negev, the Golan, Judea, and Samaria.”(Palestine). It is clear that the policies and tactics deployed these past 75 years by Israel toward Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, attest that a land with as few Palestinians on it has always been Israel’s goal.

Regrettably, many western Christians across wide denominational and theological spectra, adopt Zionist theologies and interpretations that justify war, making them complicit in Israel’s violence and oppression. We must oppose any theology or use of Scripture to justify privilege and discrimination, as being contrary to the teaching of Jesus.

A recent letter from Christians in Palestine to International Church Leaders begins with the text:

“Learn to do right; seek justice; defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17). The letter says in part:

“Time and again, we are reminded that western attitudes towards Palestine-Israel suffer from a glaring double standard that humanizes Israeli Jews while insisting on dehumanizing Palestinians and whitewashing their suffering. This is evident in general attitudes towards Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip that have killed thousands of Palestinians ... and the killing of more than 300 Palestinians including 38 children in the West Bank this year before this recent escalation.” From an Open Letter to Western Church Leaders, 20 October 2023.

In response, we must acknowledge that the terrifying violence that currently is occurring, not only in Gaza, but in Israel and throughout the West Bank, is of grave concern. We express deep horror and sadness at the human tragedy in both Palestine and in Israel, and believe that all violence is abhorrent: the deaths of Israelis, the abduction of civilians, and the merciless denial of access to basic human needs to Gazans. This includes the deplorable bombing in Gaza of medical facilities, places of worship, schools and other essential services, leaving in the wake many thousands of civilians dead, including over 3500 children, and rendering over one million people homeless.

As horrifying as this spiralling violence is, there is a primary violence that is its cause. For 75 years, Palestinians have been the victims of injustice, dispossession and dehumanising discrimination. Since 1967, they have been under aggressive military occupation, with increasing colonisation of their land and daily denial of their rights; and Palestinian Christians and churches have endured increasing restrictions, especially during their liturgical festivals. For the past 16 years, Gaza has been under a crippling air, land and sea blockade causing unbearable despair. It is incomprehensible how 2 million people could continue to live, caged in an area half the size of Canberra, with no available avenue to travel except through obtaining permits from Israel or Egypt. They are not free to develop any industry to support their economy, or to trade with the outside world, to have access to sustained safe drinking water and electricity, to be able to realise hopes and dreams of a future. Out of this oppression comes anger and despair.

The UN Rapporteur on Palestine, the Italian international law expert, Ms Francesca Albanese, appointed to the role in May 2022, said the residents of Gaza have “been living for 16 years in a cage, deprived of most goods” with shocking rates of child mortality and depression. She said young Palestinians were “fed up” because whatever form of resistance Palestinians have chosen has always been portrayed as terrorism, and had no realistic hope of achieving statehood. “Violence breeds violence, and this is what we have seen here,” she said of the October 7 attacks.

Conclusion from the Open Letter from Palestinian Christians:

“Finally, as Palestinian Christians, we also continue to find our courage and consolation in the God who dwells with those of a contrite and humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15). We find courage in the solidarity we receive from the crucified Christ, and we find hope in the empty tomb. We are also encouraged and empowered by the costly solidarity and support of many churches and grassroots faith movements around the world, challenging the dominance of ideologies of power and supremacy. We are steadfast in our hope, resilient in our witness, and continue to be committed to the Gospel of faith, hope, and love, in the face of tyranny and darkness. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here ‘a new land’ and ‘a new human being,’ capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters” (quoted from Kairos Palestine Statement).

Recommendations to Wellspring Council re Statement on Israel and Palestine.

That the Wellspring Community:

Adopts the Statement on Israel and Palestine presented to its Council meeting on 15 November 2023
and recommends it to all members for their study.
Notes the World Council of Churches Statement of 13 November 2023, with its list of recommendations
for action by church members and the wider international community.
Calls on our Government to advocate for an immediate ceasefire and for international efforts to achieve the release of hostages and an end the current aggression by all parties. This involves protection of all residents of the Occupied Territories, and restoration of access to basic human needs for the people of Gaza.
Urges the Australian Government to recognise the history of primary violence causing this conflict and to work constructively with the UN and other countries for the dismantling of the underlying causes of war.
As Christians, we affirm the fundamental Biblical truth that every life is of intrinsic value and that there can be no peace without justice. We join with the leaders of Christian Churches in the Holy Land to pray for the UN and others who seek to broker a ceasefire and for all who work for justice and reconciliation.

Statement From the World Council of Churches on

War in Palestine and Israel

A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. (Jeremiah 31:15)

We look to the Holy Land with a heavy heart, for all the death, destruction and trauma being inflicted on the people of the land. We listen to the cries of innocent children, women and men, who suffer so grievously and unjustly from this brutal violence. We lament with all who suffer – Israelis bereaved, held hostage or otherwise affected by the attacks on 7 October, the people of Gaza displaced from their homes, grieving for loved ones buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, and enduring continuous intense bombardment.

We yearn for peace and for justice, for an end to the seemingly endless cycle of violence and suffering, and for its fundamental root causes to be addressed. We lament the abject failure of the international community and of political leaders in the region who did not persist in the search for a sustainable peace founded on justice and mutual respect for the equal human dignity and rights of all, and who kept the cycle of violence turning. As we stand on this precipice of morality and faith, we pray for peace, for justice, for wisdom, for understanding, and for restoration of our humanity.

The World Council of Churches joins in the international shock and outrage at the brutal attacks on Israeli communities by Hamas militants on 7 October 2023. We condemn the attacks on civilians, the killing of so many innocent children, women and men, as well as the taking of hostages and the use of civilians as human shields.

Examining the current situation in Gaza, under attack from Israeli armed forces, the WCC together with the churches of the region are outraged by and condemn Israel’s disproportionate retaliation. We have seen the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, hospitals, churches and mosques by Israeli forces. The death toll has surpassed 11,000 - over two thirds of them children and women - and the number of injured 37,000. Attacks on churches and their institutions, including shelters for displaced civilians – especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas since the war began – are totally unacceptable.

Additionally, in the West Bank – from where participants in WCC’s Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) were evacuated in mid-October due to the war and the closure of the West Bank – we are witnessing unprecedented high levels of violence from the occupation, against Palestinian civilians, schools and communities by both settlers and Israeli armed forces, and closure of access to all Palestinian villages.

The executive committee of the World Council of Churches, meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on 8-14 November 2023, lifts up before our loving and merciful God the suffering and traumatized people in the land of Jesus Christ’s birth. We highlight the lifelong and potentially inter-generational consequences of the terrible trauma that children in both Palestine and Israel are experiencing. We lament that the heads of churches in Jerusalem, due to the current circumstances of the war, concluded that they had to cancel the celebrations of Advent and Christmas. We pray for peace in the land, a sustainable and just peace founded at last on recognition and respect for the God-given human dignity and equal human rights of all people – Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians alike – rather than a false ‘peace’ imposed by occupation and force of arms which cannot and should not be sustained.

The executive committee:

Appeals for respect by all parties for the God-given life and dignity of every human being.

Further appeals for respect for the principles of international humanitarian law, especially for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure – including hospitals (such as the al-Ahli, al-Shifa, and al-Quds hospitals), places of worship and holy sites (such as the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church), and UN premises – and calls for full and impartial legal accountability for all violations of these principles by whomsoever committed.

Demands the immediate unconditional release and safe return of all hostages.

Demands an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors, and calls for guarantees of the unimpeded distribution and delivery of vital humanitarian assistance, including water, food, medical supplies and fuel, and the reinstatement of electricity and internet services in Gaza.

Urges the UN and relevant authorities to investigate all war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law committed from 7 October 2023 until the end of the war, where truth must prevail and accountability must be ensured so that such crimes may not happen again and again.

Implores the UN Security Council to overcome the obstructive partisanship that is preventing it from fulfilling its responsibilities in relation to the current conflict in accordance with the principles of international law, including in relation to the need for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Refutes all those who seek to portray the current conflict in religious terms, misusing scripture to justify violence, killing, cruelty and oppression; we reject and denounce all such efforts to distract from the root causes of the conflict in the region.

Stresses its grave concern about the proliferation of hateful acts and expressions of antisemitism and of hatred of Arabs and Muslims in the region and the wider world, against the background of the current violence. In light of attacks on Jews all over the world who are falsely held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government we reiterate the executive committee’s acknowledgement one year ago of “the legitimate fears of Jewish people around the world of the shortness of the trajectory from antisemitic attitudes and hate speech to genocide” and its reaffirmation of “the categorical denunciation by the WCC’s founding assembly in Amsterdam of antisemitism as sin against God and humanity."

Rejects any attempts to transfer Palestinians outside Gaza, permanently or temporarily.

Urges all members of the international community to re-engage in active and sustained support of efforts for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, based upon an end to the illegal occupation and to the siege of Gaza, recognition of the equal human rights of all, and the applicable principles of international law. Without this, peace cannot be sustained and the recurrent cycle of violence is tragically likely to continue.

Reiterates the WCC 11th Assembly’s categorical condemnation all such deadly and destructive violence whether perpetrated by Israeli forces or by Palestinian armed groups, which only perpetuates the cycle of violence, and reaffirms the Assembly’s observation that the situation in the region cannot ultimately be resolved by violence but only by peaceful means in accordance with international law.

Expresses the worldwide ecumenical movement’s profound solidarity with all the people of the region, in the midst of the current violent upheavals and uncertainty for the safety and security of their communities.

Invites all member churches and ecumenical partners, together with all people of good will, to pray for peace, and to actively support the ministries of the churches of the region and ecumenical and interfaith initiatives for justice, peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.

Document source: www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/statement-on-the-war-in-palestine-and-israel

reflection

"The fight for justice will not be won overnight. It is a long hard struggle and those involved may not live to see the fruits of their labours, let alone the day when justice shall flow like a river and uprightness as a never ending stream. In the early seventies the opportunity for justice seemed to have dawned as many committed themselves to work for the poor and it seemed that substantial victories were won.
Today under the power of transnationals wealth and the military industrial complex, the possibility for justice seems as far removed as ever...While continuing to be involved in God's mission of justice in the world, the worshipping community finds strength for its messianic lifestyle as it comes before God with empty hands and broken hearts and rediscovers the crucified and risen Jesus in its midst. Strength is renewed and hope is rekindled in the presence of the One who suffered and died for his convictions and was raised for the liberation of the world."

Athol Gill - Life on the Road. Quoted by Anne McPherson in "Sustaining and sustainable spirituality in Australia today."

Readings and Prayer

Readings

Psal m 12 | Isaiah 42:1-9

Prayer

"God in Christ you showed us
that you are not removed from us
but share in our agony and suffering.
You are the mother holding her child from the blast,
You are the tortured prisoners longing for release,
You are the war - weary soldier,
You are the scientist pacing the mid midnight hour,
You are the child with nuclear nightmares,
You know and suffer our human condition.
We know that nothing can separate us from your love.
We pray for your love to enfold us in comfort
Your love to share our agony
Your love to inspire us to love one another
Your love to live in hope."

From "Prayer for Hiroshima Day" in "The Pattern of our Days." p.148

Recommended links for Peace and Social Justice

TEAR

Act for Peace

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

Australian Anabaptist Association Peace and Justice Mailout

Common Grace

Photo credit banner: Tim Marshall Unsplash