Month: August 2015

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News & Announcements

Roses in the rain

The rain didn’t stop rose enthusiasts turning out to Scarborough Uniting Church for their annual Rose Pruning Demonstration, held by the Rose Society of WA. On Saturday 4 July, members from the local community gathered to watch, listen and try for themselves to learn how to get the most out of their rose bushes.

The event has been running for about five years, with a delicious spread of scones with jam and cream available free to the rose enthusiasts. July is a busy month for the Rose Society, as it is the best time to prune roses as they go dormant over winter.

“In Western Australia [roses] don’t go completely dormant like they do in colder places, but July is the coolest month,” said Robyn Cooper, member of the Rose Society WA.

Chris Blount, member of Scarborough Uniting Church said that the event has been a great way for the church to reach out to the community.

“It’s a bit of community spirit,” Chris said. “It’s a bit of community outreach really on the basis that people are more likely to turn up at something like this rather than church.”

The Rose Society of WA have recently released a publication, The Rose Garden, which is specifically about the care and cultivation of roses in a Western Australian climate. Copies are available from the Rose Society for $5 each. For more information on the Rose Society of WA call 9472 1591 or visit http://www.wa.rose.org.au.

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News & Announcements

Assembly and beyond

The office here at the Uniting Church Centre in WA was pretty pumping in the lead-up to the 14th Triennial Assembly meeting. As our synod played host to the event, there was plenty to do which was covered by a massive number of dedicated volunteers and staff. Volunteers were busy in a huge range of roles, from the Local Organising Committee to ushers, greeters, drivers and so much  more. Apart from a few hitches, the week turned out to be an inspiring, confronting and moving event and there were so many people who helped it all come together.

After some challenging years in the Uniting Church in WA, our members came together to bring us Assembly in a way that their gifts and skills were able to flourish. Our synod and city shone  during the week for the national church to see. During the week of Assembly, my colleagues from Uniting Church media and communications teams around the country were working tirelessly to  bring you up-to-date news from the event. Some of those articles are featured in this edition and I thank them greatly for the long hours they put in.

The newly installed president of the Uniting Church in Australia led the Assembly with humility and dedication to listening to voices from all the different parts of the church. He has a strong  passion for living out the covenant between the church and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and you can read more about his journey with this in our profile story here.

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Second generation Tongans let their light shine

If you want to be inspired about the work of the Uniting Church, go to the Tongan National Conference (TNC) and meet the Second Generation.

Every June more than 1000 Tongan members of the Uniting Church in Australia gather at the foothills of the Blue Mountains in Sydney for three days of fellowship and sharing.

A standout feature of the weekend is the contribution of the young people, the “second gen”, to every aspect of the conference.

From the rousing opening worship the second gen have a hand in everything, from the music and technical operations on stage, to leading faith discussions and providing input into decision-making.

This year more than 400 Tongan young people from 20 congregations all over Australia attended the TNC from 5-8 June.

The annual gathering is clearly a much-anticipated highlight for Tongan youth each year. Youth groups spend many months rehearsing choir and cultural performances for the different parts of the TNC program. This year there was even a video countdown to the conference on the TNC Facebook page.

Rev Charissa Suli heads up the Second Gen Leadership Team which includes representatives from every state and the ACT. Her role is to mentor and grow emerging leaders.

“TNC is a fun-spirit filled weekend that inspires young Tongan people to keep finding Christ in their lives,” said Charissa.

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Ecumenical highlights of the Uniting Church

One of our defining qualities in the Uniting Church is that we are very ecumenical. Our commitment was in evidence at the recent 14th Assembly when more than 30 ecumenical guests joined us from partner churches in Asia, the Pacific and Africa and from other churches in Australia in our week of prayerful discernment. There was a special dinner on the Wednesday night for ecumenical guests. On the Thursday night, Rev Dr Lin Manhong, Dean of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary and the China Christian Council gave this year’s Cato lecture on the nature and growth of the church in China.

There was much more too. The Assembly considered and endorsed an Anglican-Uniting Church statement, ‘Weaving a New Cloth‘ giving guidelines for local church partnering. It also discussed and endorsed the World Council of Church’s (WCC) convergence text The Church: Towards a Common Vision. There was an act of ecumenical solidarity through the formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Why is the Uniting Church (UCA) so interested in relating to other churches? The explanation is in Paragraph Two of the Basis of Union, in which we recognise that we are ‘related to other churches in ways which give expression, however partially to the unity and faith in mission’ of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Further, that ‘Christians in Australia are called to bear witness to a unity of faith and life in Christ which transcends cultural and economic, national and racial boundaries’. These are powerful words indeed.

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Remembering the future

Rev Dr Ian Tozer was inducted into the historic Fremantle Wesley Mission, which includes Fremantle Wesley and Spearwood Uniting Churches, on Sunday 23 August.

Ian was ordained as a minister of the word in the Uniting Church in 1982. He has served in congregational ministry with Wongan Hills, Goomalling, Claremont, Perth Wesley and Pilgrim Uniting Churches. He has also served as an associate chaplain at Methodist Ladies’ College. In the last decade, with the Presbytery of Western Australia, he has been joint associate general secretary (pastoral) and, most recently, associate general secretary (education).

Rev Geoff Blyth preached during the service on Mark 1:14-18; 16:1-7. Geoff and Ian shared in ministry together at Perth Wesley Uniting Church, now Uniting Church in the City.

Quoting from the Bible, Geoff said, “’The kingdom of God has come near.’ With these words Jesus commences his ministry. With these words, Jesus points away from himself and toward God.

“The announcement of the kingdom is followed by the call to discipleship and the immediate response of Simon and Andrew, James and John,” Geoff continued. “The call today is not just your calling alone, Ian. It is a call to the congregation to enter into a new phase of shared ministry in the new thing that God is doing here.”

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News farmers’ market builds community

SCFM Logo3After months of preparation, the St Stephen’s Community Farmer’s Market, an initiative of Carramar Uniting Church, will be up and running with its first market to be held on Saturday 5  September. The congregation meets weekly on Sunday mornings at St Stephen’s School Carramar, a Uniting Church in WA school.

Responding to a need for local people to gather in a relaxed and informal environment, the market will make use of many local market gardens which exist in the northern suburbs, providing  shoppers with a direct link to local growers and producers. As well as fruit and vegetables, Rev Narelle Collas, minister at Carramar Uniting Church and chair of the St Stephen’s Community Farmer’s Market Board, said that the market will showcase the best produce in the local area, including meat, eggs, bread and local artisans.

Business students from St Stephen’s School are also in the process of developing stalls. Buskers and food vans providing meals and snacks will also be a highlight.

Narelle said that the Community Market hopes to promote a healthy lifestyle – physically, socially and spiritually – and that it will help to build a strong sense of community in the local area.

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Emerging faith leaders calling for action on climate change

Jessica Morethorpe, First Third specialist for the Metro West Region of the Uniting Church in WA, recently travelled to Rome to join hundreds of other faith leaders in thanking Pope Francis for  his encyclical, Laudato Si’. She shares her experience with Revive.

We came from all over the world, from many faiths and many countries, but with one cause and one message: we need to act on climate change. We came to thank Pope Francis for taking leadership in this area by releasing Laudato Si’ (his teaching letter on care for our common home – the Earth), and to ask world leaders to prepare to take action at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s supreme decision-making body, COP climate negotiations to be held in Paris in December. We brought our stories of the effects of climate change we are already experiencing in our countries, and our hopes and dreams for a better future for ourselves and our children than currently seems possible.

We had come to Rome for the Emerging Leaders Multi-Faith Climate Convergence (ELMCC), a meeting of about 100 delegates chosen from over 400 applications worldwide to discuss the climate  crisis and what we can do together to create change. To launch the convergence, on 28 June we joined about 5000 people to march from Piazza Farnese to St Peter’s Square, with a range of signs  and artistic symbols telling a story of what needs to happen. We also handed out large leaves with quotes from major faith leaders about climate change on them. They were so popular the whole  square turned green for the Pope’s weekly message.

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Alive @ Assembly

With a touch of jet lag, great hopes and a few anxieties I checked in on Sunday lunchtime at Trinity Residential College for the beginning of the Uniting Church’s 14th Triennial Assembly. This  Assembly was on our home turf; Trinity, the Assembly accommodation, is a Uniting Church WA college, and just across the road from the beautiful Winthrop Hall where we had our daytime  sessions.

Our collective task was the same as whenever people of the Uniting Church meet in church councils, presbyteries and synods; we gather in the presence of God to discern the will of God. For the  next six days that was our core purpose. The smoking ceremony right at the beginning reminded us of the welcome of Nyungar people and our covenant with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander  Christian Congress (UAICC).

The evening installation of our new president, Stuart McMillan, was a powerful and creative celebration of the rich diversity of God’s people in the movement we call Uniting Church. Sadly,  sometimes worship is bland, but the worship experience was rich and varied and honoured the one who brings sparkle and new life to us. Rev Cathie Lambert, worship coordinator for the week,  and her team did an amazing job. Each morning we began with worship that was simple, reflective and celebratory; this set the tone for the rest of the day. I also believe that the faithful band of  prayer warriors who prayed and fasted for 40 days and gathered each morning to pray on a 24-hour basis during Assembly, significantly contributed to the texture and spirituality of our  gatherings.

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Living life and faith cross-culturally

Rev Dr Apwee Ting found wonder in diversity from an early age.

“Growing up in Indonesia was such a happy time for me,” recalls the Uniting Church in Australia’s (UCA) newest national director.

“I remember playing outside from morning to night – flying kites, playing soccer, badminton and marbles. We had many friends of different ethnicities and everyone always left their doors open.”

Half a century later Apwee will be looking to share that same sense of wonder across the Uniting Church in the area of Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry (MCCM).

While Apwee’s national role commenced in July, his preparation for the role has been a lifetime in the making, and begins with his own migrant journey.

The Ting family settled in Solo in Central Java in the 1950s.

“My parents were farmers who migrated from Fujian Province in China looking for a better life,” he explains. “For them the diversity of Indonesia meant opportunity.”

There was hardship too. By 1962 when Apwee was born, Java was gripped by severe poverty and increasing political tension ahead of Suharto becoming Indonesia’s President. The chief concern of Apwee’s family was day-to-day survival.

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New Fremantle Service Centre to help build a stronger community

UnitingCare West (UCW) launched its new Fremantle Service Centre this week over two events on Sunday 16 and Monday 17 August. The new centre will provide vital support services to those who need it most and help to develop a stronger community in Fremantle.

 

There will be a range of services operating out of the Fremantle Service Centre including parenting and family support services, highly specialised children and young people counselling  services, specialist drug and alcohol support services, transitional accommodation services, Indigenous family violence support, and housing services. The operations of the Fremantle Service  Centre will also be supported by regular deliveries of food from UnitingCare West’s Food Rescue service which aims to alleviate hunger by rescuing perishable food and delivering it to not-for-profit  organisations supporting people who are hungry.

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