Seeds of Change

Spring Edition | Issue No. 02 | October 2025

Welcome back, Subscriber First Name, to the 2025 Spring edition Just Stories!

Spring is a season of renewal — a reminder that small beginnings can grow into lasting change.

As we look back to move forward — ka mua, ka muri — we honour the stories that have shaped us and the new ones still unfolding.

In this Spring Edition, you’ll find our featured story, a story you might have missed, a preview of what’s coming next, and a brand new Resources page filled with thoughtful reads and listens to keep you inspired.

Thank you for being part of this growing community of readers and storytellers.

— The Team at Just Stories

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Each edition shines a light on people and communities working for justice and hope.
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Our Featured Story

Passion for Justice

When Rev Dr Rutherford Waddell spoke of “the sin of cheapness” in 1888, his words cut through the comfort of a society built on silent suffering.

From his Dunedin pulpit, he named what others ignored — the women sewing late into the night for pennies, the lives diminished by greed disguised as thrift.

Waddell’s courage drew both criticism and change.

He helped galvanise public outrage, shaped the birth of the Tailoresses’ Union, and influenced the government’s first steps toward fair labour law.

For Waddell, justice was not an idea but a sacred duty — the natural outworking of a faith rooted in compassion and truth.

He lived as if the Kingdom of God stretched beyond the church walls, into the factory floors and council chambers of everyday life.

Now more than a century later, his voice still challenges us: what does it mean to live what we believe?

Read the full story here →

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