Cec Shevels writes about Australia's gambling problem.

Australians love to gamble. The statistics suggest that each of us spends, on average, over $1000 per annum on some form of gambling.

Every year, workers across the country stop work for a couple of hours to have a bet on the Melbourne Cup and spend over $150 million dollars in the process. What other nation comes to a halt just to bet on a horse race?

But horse racing is small fry compared with gaming machines (pokies) and lottery products, and it’s the pokies where people lose the most money. According to a report put out by the Department of Gaming and Racing, Hunter gamblers lost a staggering $400 million last year on 10,360 gaming machines.

On a positive note, poker machine profits help to fund our licensed clubs, which have become real centres of community across NSW. They provide very comfortable facilities and sponsor a range of sporting and community services and support local welfare initiatives.

However, there is a down side. About 5% of our population place themselves and their families at risk because of their gambling and lose more than they can afford to lose. About 5000 people in the Hunter have a major problem and have lost control of their gambling.

Welfare agencies know the problem well, dealing with regular situations involving  gambling addictions which can lead to family breakdown, job loss, homelessness, imprisonment and suicide.

Those who are addicted live in hope that gambling will lead to a changed future for them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t.

There is no doubt, gambling is part of our culture, but we must have controls. New harm minimisation methods were introduced 5-7 years ago. These include a requirement that venues display “chance of winning” information on each machine and various other measures but these controls don’t seem to be enough. Many families continue to suffer.

There has been much discussion in Newcastle in recent months concerning the need to lock down drinking establishments earlier. This should also apply to gaming machine venues. If they were available to the public on restricted hours each day, financial losses and family tragedies would be reduced. This is probably an appropriate time to review all gaming machine legislation to ascertain why the recent harm minimisation initiatives are not as effective as hoped.

We must also encourage our State Government to restrict the development of new forms of gambling, e.g. internet casinos and betting exchanges, which some entrepreneurs want to introduce to NSW.

We should never, in my view, abandon gambling to the free market.

We need to keep working at getting the right balance between enjoying legitimate recreational activities and ensuring adequate controls are in place to minimise the risk of harm to consumers and their families.

Cec Shevels
Samaritans CEO

Fr David Battrick offers an opportunity for Encounter readers to ask questions about Ministering Communities in Mission.

If someone in our congregation is ordained for local ministry are they really ordained?

The short answer to the question is yes – all deacons are really deacons, and all priests are really priests! In this Diocese the most familiar model for ordained ministry is the work of full-time parish priests, but this is only part of the picture.  We will find other models in this Diocese such as clergy who minister in their retirement, clergy who have full-time employment outside of the Church or who are funded by other means, and clergy whose ministry is located in all kinds of contexts outside of a local parish (such as hospital and prison chaplains for example). 

We need to remember that there are already a range of different arrangements through which priests and deacons minister in the Diocese. At the present time, we do not say that full-time parish priests have a different kind of priesthood from those who work in secular employment, and neither should we in the future.

Most of the clergy in this Diocese have lived in a theological college environment, prior to or at the beginning of their ordained ministry.  The vast majority of clergy in our Diocese have at one time been in full-time paid (stipendiary) ministry.  And this is the distinction between ordained local ministry and what we have known in the past.

Distinctive deacons (who will not be ordained to the priesthood later) and priests in ordained local ministry will not be expected to attend theological college and neither will they receive a stipend for the ministries which they undertake.  Whilst this is common in many parts of the Anglican Communion, it has not been the norm here.

Women and men who are discerned for ordained local ministry are required to undertake three years of part-time training as well as formation in their parish communities under the oversight of the parish priest.  The normal vehicle for this training is the Bishop’s Certificate and Diploma in Theology for Ministry progams (these programs are also open to people who are not being formed for ordination).

Candidates are discerned by their parish communities and then assessed by the Bishop’s Examining Chaplains who make recommendations to the Diocesan Bishop.  The criteria for their discernment is based upon the recognition that they will always be involved in a team ministry under appropriate supervision.  The standards for candidates and the discernment process have been published and are available to those interested.

The Diocese recognises only one form of ordination to the diaconate and priesthood, there will not be a two-tier system in place.  But in common with the practice of many other dioceses in Australia and around the Anglican Communion, we also recognise that ordination does not need to be limited to those who hold degrees in theology, or who are able to minister in a full-time capacity. 

Through Ministering Communities in Mission we seek to multiply the ministry and missional work of the Church, recognising the baptismal dignity of all Christians, using the gifts which God has given to us all.  For a small number of people in the Diocese this will mean responding to a call to ordained ministry, whether that be full-time and paid, or part-time without stipend, all to the glory of God.

Please send your questions to davidbattrick@angdon.com<//link>.

Visit our Ministering Communities page.

Mark Pullin reports on the recent youth event, Ignite.

I always wonder when I’m speaking to the youth of our Diocese, am I speaking with too many assumptions?

Is it wrong for me to assume that they know and understand stories from the Bible? Is it wrong for me to assume that they’re committed Christians? When speaking to a broad age range: where is the middle ground as far as preaching a message goes?

These were all of the thoughts circulating in my head during the planning for Ignite 2007. And in the end, I needn’t have worried. Our kids are fantastic!

Ignite (our annual Youth Synod follow up event) was held in the Parish hall of St Peter’s East Maitland on November 3. It was amazingly well attended by bus loads of kids from the Central Coast, Taree and the Newcastle area facilitating the largest Ignite we’ve ever had.

We had time for friendships to be re-found, incredible energised worship by the Youth Synod band and a lesson on how important good deeds and Christian actions are to our faith.

All of our kids engaged with the program and so many came up afterwards saying how they were looking forward to being a part of what happens next year with camps and other events.

I think it’s a testament to our kids and their faith just how far they’re willing to travel to link up with other people their own age at what they know is a Christian event. While it’s fantastic they can’t wait till they meet up again next year, I think we, as a Diocese, need to be asking ourselves what are they going to get between now and then that will allow them to build on their faith.

What are we offering that allows them to keep their enthusiasm and keep growing everyday?

I think the answer needs to be relationship. Some call it mentoring and I’ve even heard it called the “be with” principle. Whatever you call it our kids are crying out for it and they are responding to it when it is taken seriously and offered to them genuinely.

No matter how good our programs, services or intentions are, if we don’t engage with these kids as friends and equals first, then how can we expect them to be a part of the broader church?

Every time I stand in front of these kids I’m reminded of just how awesome they are and how vital it is that we proactively hold on to them.

They are worthy of every blessing God has for them, and quite often God’s blessings are the people he puts around us.

There’s an Ignitian question: “How did I see God in my day today?” If young people at your church asked themselves this question, do you think their answer would be you?

Mark Pullin
CEY Ministries

Visit the CEY Ministries page.