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.
There was far too much news from Assembly to cover in this publication, but you can read up on all the stories at http://assembly2015.uca.org.au.
The edition is not all about Assembly though, as we’ve featured an exciting story on the youth involvement at the recent Tongan National Conference; and Jessica Morthorpe, First Third specialist for the Metro West Region shares her experience on a recent trip to Rome to thank the Pope for his encyclical, Laudato Si, calling for global action on climate change.
Here at Revive we’ve heard loads of stories from around the church recently, and we hope you enjoy reading up on some of them
Heather Dowling