In 2000, it was revealed that Wesley Mission has spent up to half a million dollars on a plan to trial a safe injecting room on its site without consent from either local residents nor the Uniting Church congregation with which it shared its property. The congregation and local residents were irate. The safe injecting room was later shelved and the Wesley Mission and Wesley Uniting Church split.
Alistair Macrae is head of the Uniting Church's theological college and a Wesley Mission board member. He was installed as Uniting Church moderator after the controversy began and was part of what he called the 'mop up' process.
'The Synod intervened and separated the congregation from the Mission in a way that it hadn't been historically allowed for,' said Macrae. 'There was a lot of ill feeling around the place and it hadn't been properly addressed.'
It was clear healing was needed, but no one knew how to deal with what had become known as 'the troubles'. That prompted the theatrical production Faith, in which Macrae also acted. The Torch Project was born.
In 2004, the Mission received a substantial bequest from a member of the congregation. Of course, given the split, the congregation was disappointed that one of its own had pledged big money to the Mission. As a way of deflecting further heat, the Mission decided it would put the money into a project that benefited both the Mission and the congregation.
The Torch Project was employed. The Torch Project is a Melbourne-based theatre company that uses both professional actors and community members to create plays aiming to reconcile groups in conflict. Mari Lourey, co-writer of Faith, said she, like Anne Phelan who once played Myra Desmond in Prisoner, was surprised at the level of acrimony.
'When such a traumatic event has occurred a lot of people don't feel heard and don't feel listened to. We felt caught in the crossfire of incredibly dangerous emotions.'
During the research process, Lourey was told not to talk about the troubles as no-one would want to revisit them. However, she found they were all anybody wanted to talk about. The production that emerged in early 2006 looked at Wesley's long history, encompassing the interests of residents, car park attendants, the Mission, Big Issue vendors, Lifeline, the congregation and its linked Chinese members, and the many people Wesley mission serves.
The play's central character,