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a healthy church...transformingLIFE

Tasmanian Anglican

December 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 


Tim addresses the crowd at the Margate Tavern.

 


Robin Legg, Meredith Campbell, Tim Costello, Robert Legg with plenty of challenges to digest.

 

An Evening with Tim Costello: 'Is there anything worth believing in today'

 

 

The noise at Margate Tavern was not created by a Friday night 'APOK (Parish of Kingston) happy hour' but an indication of the excitement of 150 people eagerly awaiting Tim Costello to deliver his talk.

Tim, who is CEO of World Vision Australia, delivered a powerful speech and was able to supply the audience with a wealth of facts and figures to challenge and improve their understanding of wealth and poverty. His explanation of shopping being a pseudo-spiritual experience was thought-provoking as well as challenging. He challenged the audience in other ways, too, but always with humour and good grace.

A survey conducted by the Australian Institute was cited by Tim which asked the top twenty percent of those who earn more than $1 million per year the following question: 'Does your wealth provide enough money to buy everything you want?'

Disjointedness

A staggering fifty percent of those surveyed answered 'No'. An alternative title for this message could have been: 'Does Wealth Bring Happiness?' Not so, says Tim.

He had the audience spellbound as he explained that what truly bring happiness are family, community and values. Money can buy lots of things but it cannot replace these important areas of life. We have, as a society, moved far away from our Judaic roots and value system. The danger in this is that when a society makes decisions independent of these value systems it introduces disjointedness from morality, faith and virtue.

Reducing level

He praised the Aussie ideal of fair play and their increase in personal giving in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. Perhaps, suggested Tim, the Australian people have a greater understanding of a direct correlation between terrorism and poverty and that a better way of fighting terrorism is not with bombs but in reducing poverty, criticising the reducing level of aid given by the Australian Government over the years.

All in all a good night with good food, fellowship and plenty of challenges to ponder and digest.