Roundup: Humanitarian Day, God, property, John Flynn, natural disaster

World Humanitarian Day campaign

The United Nations campaign highlighting the work of the world’s humanitarian workers has reached 100 million people through social media so far, the world body announced today, describing it as its “first milestone” that gets it closer to the one billion mark, which it aims to reach by World Humanitarian Day on August 19.

Want to know God? Get religion

God is the God of a people alive and working in the world. God is a God of ancestors. As Chesterton said, “Tradition is the democracy of the dead. It means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes: our ancestors.” Finally, God is who God says God is. Encounter matters.

Liberating churches from ‘sacred spaces’

We allow property to be our identity. Rather than letting the world know us “by our love,” we ask the world to notice and enter our properties as the critical step toward belonging. Faith, we seem to say, means sitting in a pew.

Library books outback story

The real story of outback Australia is now on show at the National Library of Australia in Canberra (NLA). The display Beyond the Furthest Fences: the Australian Inland Mission celebrates 100 years of life-saving work by the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) — now Frontier Services — and its founder the Rev. John Flynn.

Asian nations ‘face greatest natural disaster risk’

Emerging economies in Asia, including India and the Philippines, face the greatest financial risk from natural disasters, an analysis suggests.