More on the Gianstefani's departure:
[
makingitreal.wix.com]
Background to the London project:
Written by Sue.
For a year before and during the reunion of the Jesus Christians in Australia in 2010, Sue Co-produced (with Alf) a film called "The Tyrant Within".
After Roland and I were kicked out of the Jesus Christian community in Australia (run by Dave Mckay), we had endeavoured to maintain as good a relationship as possible with the JC's from the same community in England.
Since we were no longer in the community, but were working with the JC's quite closely, we had invested all that was left of our finances into getting an Italian translation done for the film, The Tyrant Within, with the plan to take them to Italy over the winter after they were delivered. (We have a veg oil powered motorhome and people give us donations for the literature and DVD's when we distribute them). The finished DVD's were delivered to the JC's (led by Dave Mckay) in London on the day the community decided to go underground, but we were not permitted to get copies. A few weeks after the JC's had gone underground, in November 2010, after we had saved up some more money, I wrote to all the different members and teams of the JC community for the first time since their decision to go underground, to ask to buy some of the new DVD's (that I had co-produced).
You can read that correspondance here;
[
makingitreal.wix.com]
From: survivors_team3@yahoo.co.uk
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 10:49 AM
To: David McKay ; USTeam
Cc: Fran and Kim ; UK team ; Alan Wright ; Alf Simon ; Baz Ross ; casey casey ; Cherry McKay ; Paul & Ulrike ; Roving Wombat ; Simon z ; Trevor Brown ; Oz Team ; Jeremy Kronmiller
Subject: re more lit?
Hi everyone,
Any chance of buying some of the new DVD’s here in the UK?
Hope all is well for you all,
Love, Sue (Roland and Dann).We weren't sure what response we would get. The only response we had was from Paul and Ulrike who sent us the fake form letter that Dave had written, saying the community had officially disbanded and no longer existed. This was an obvious snub directed at us and a clear message that we could no longer buy literature off them.
You can read that correspondance here;
[
makingitreal.wix.com]
From: Paul and Ulrike
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 1:48 PM
To: This Computer
The following is a computer-generated response.
The Jesus Christians have officially disbanded. This letter is probably not really for you. However, their website is still available, where you can read all that you need to know about them and their beliefs. Please read it and pray about what God wants you to do.
These are dangerous times, and only those who are ready to "count the cost" and pay the price are going to survive spiritually. Lukewarmness is not enough. If you have a Bible, please read what Jesus said to the multitudes who came to him in Luke 14: 25-35.
A forum has been created for people who write to this address, so that if you wish to make contact with others who have been influenced by the teachings of Jesus, you can do so, at least temporarily, here:
[therock.yap365.com]
If you are the one in a million who is ready to "forsake all" for God, then pray that he leads you to others who are similarly committed.
But don't let anything stop you from practicing the teachings of Jesus right now. Jesus said that anyone who hears his teachings and does not obey them is like a foolish person building their house on the sand. He said the way that leads to life is narrow and very few will find it. Pray that you may be one of those few.
We figured that not letting us buy the DVD's was another way of Dave trying to punish us. We later read after Alan left the community and showed us what Dave had said, that Dave had TOLD members not to reply to our request for more literature, and had instructed the UK team that if we were to turn up at their storage unit asking for the new DVD's, we were not to be given them, but only given older material to get rid of us. Fran was the only one (to our knowledge) who voiced any disagreement to that decision.
You can read that correspondence here: NOT UPLOADED YET
So we used all the money we had to order a small print run of our first independent publication in December 2010. That was the time of the heavy and crippling snow in London, and our booklets were not able to be delivered for a whole month. During that moneyless month we offered to do freework, which is when we started this gardening project. We have since received God's miraculous provision and blessing abundantly, and the project has continued to this day.
Such is what happens when you live by faith!