It's not a cult, it's a collective

If you're watching BBC's 'Castaway' at the moment, you'll know who Danny Wallace is.

What you may not know, is that in 2002 he started a movement called 'Join Me'. On an impulse, inspired by a similar project attempted by a relative who had recently died, Wallace put a classified advertisement in a magazine asking readers to:

"Join me. Send one passport-sized photograph to..." (followed by his address).

The advertisement contained no other details nor any reason. Wallace claims he had no plans as to what he would do when people sent their photos. He originally hoped he could reach and improve upon the number of people who joined his great uncle Gallus: three!

The Join Me movement soon took shape. It now has over 12,000 members. As the group grew in number Wallace was put under pressure by its members to explain its purpose. Having had no reason in mind when he first asked people to join, Wallace sought a purpose for his Joinees.

Ultimately he presented the idea of performing random acts of kindness, preferably to a stranger, every Friday. Acts like paying for the cup of tea that the person in the queue in front of you has just ordered... offering to carry an old woman’s shopping (and not legging it)... or something as simple as holding a door open for someone. Fridays thus came to be called Good Fridays.

This reminded me of a church I once visited where they had a social action team who spent their weekends committing such random acts of kindness around their local town, like trimming peoples hedges, washing cars for free, paying for people to 'go large' at the local McDonalds.

The church based their outreach on a passage in 2 Corinthians 9 v 12-15 where it says:

'carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians ... you show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone'. (The Message)

I loved the idea when I first heard about it at that church, and I still love it now. And although I might not actually send a passport photo away and join Danny Wallace's collective, I feel like I will definately subscribe to the Good Friday idea!

Watch this space ....