Critical ministry in critical condition

Joseph Smith | 31 October 2007

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A non-denominational Christian ministry seeking to provide support, hope and education to Christian men and women struggling with unwanted same sex attraction is in danger of shutting down.

Liberty Christian Ministries which for over 13 years has sought to educate the wider Christian community about same sex attraction and how to care for those affected by it has been as close as three months away from closing due to struggling finances.

Liberty’s director and pastoral support coordinator Simon Riches says a slump in finances earlier this year meant there was only three months worth of salary left in the organisation’s funds.

“We did a big mail out to let people now our funds were low and people responded generously and boosted the funds” Mr Riches says.

However, Mr Riches admits that a non-denominational and controversial ministry such as Liberty is always in danger of lacking essential funding.

“There are many great things I want to achieve for our future and financial support is one of the things needed in order for the ministry to continue and develop,” he says.

“The dilemma for us is that we are not funded by any denomination.”

Mr Riches says various denominations throughout Sydney including Anglicans, Baptists, Pentecostals, Churches of Christ and Assemblies of God refer people to Liberty.

“As churches from different denominations refer people to us I would like them to partner with us and contribute a sum of money annually to our ministry. It would be a great recognition of our work,” he says.

Mr Riches says he is looking to see how Liberty can develop formal alliances with each denomination to assist funding.

“Every Christian ministry is always struggling for finances, so we are trying to find means to generate income that not just sustains but expands the ministry.”

Liberty’s freeing work

Mr Riches says Liberty receives between 20 and 40 contacts seeking various types of support each month.

His main tasks are running weekly support groups and meeting with individuals struggling with same sex attraction and doing speaking engagements in a variety of churches.

Last month’s speaking engagements included Springwood Anglican Church and St Matthias’, Centennial Park.

Mr Riches says the one drawback of his busy schedule that he is not able to grow the ministry and train up new ministry workers.

“I have done nearly 28 speaking engagements this year which has been a great opportunity to tell people about the ministry but this has obviously kept me busy,” he says.

“Because of these major demands on my time I am not able to mentor ministry trainees. I would also like to develop more support groups and develop a support group for wives.”

Mr Riches who is employed full time and an office manager who is employed 11 hours per week are currently the paid staff of LCMI. The committee of management is made up of people from various denominations who volunteer their time and skills to LCMI.

“I need to train up a few people to assist with the initial contacts and some of the day to day functions of the ministry so I can meet with key denominational leaders and people in the business community to develop a greater financial resources for LCMI ministry development,” Mr Riches says.

“If people are interested in volunteering with LCMI they can contact me and discuss their desire to get involved, any involvement is discussed and approved at a board level.”

For more details contact LCMI online or phone 02) 9798 4685.

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