Month: October 2015

Rick Morrell: honoured to be part of the journey

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 22, 2015

Rick Morrell, after 23 years in ministry leadership working with young people in the Uniting Church WA, will be leaving his role as co-ordinator of the First Third team to begin a position with UnitingCare NSW and ACT.

Rick gave up a promising career in civil engineering to answer a call to candidate for the Order of St Stephen as a youth worker in 1981. Since that time, he has mentored and journeyed alongside hundreds of young people as they meandered their way through faith and life. In 2009, Rick started a process of transition from youth worker towards ordained ministry. While he never intended to leave WA, having been born and bred here, the call to ministry is one which can’t be ignored.

“If I’m going to be true to becoming ordained then I also need to be true to the notion of call,” he said. “And when the call comes, the call comes.”

Rev Hollis Wilson, convener of the First Third Working Group, said that Rick has been on a lifelong journey with ministry.

“His sense of call to ministry has been woven throughout much of his life’s journey,” Hollis said. “Rick’s impending ordination in October has really involved 23 years of ‘formation’ that has equipped him to skilfully fulfil a wide range of roles within the Uniting Church.

“In November, Rick will take up the position of director of mission for UnitingCare NSW and ACT. This appointment is an affirmation of the varied gifts and skills that Rick has exercised here in Western Australia and it is with sadness for us and elation for NSW and ACT that we congratulate Rick and send him on his way.”

Rick has been involved in all aspects of ministry with young people in the Uniting Church WA, including camps, retreats, National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC), workshops, training and more. His proudest moments include the formation of First Third Ministry in 2008.

“The decision of the Synod and Presbytery to commit to a ten-year window of First Third ministry was a great point of leadership, and somewhat prophetic, because it has enabled us to think outside the traditional models and to explore with substantial freedom new approaches, and thinking in new ways, about ministry – particularly to people under 30-years-of-age,” he said. “The key to that has emerged, that First Third is really an intergenerational strategy which cannot be ignored in any model or paradigm that we choose to follow.

“Arriving at that point has been one thing that I would take away as a significant achievement.”

While he is sad to leave the role and ministry which he has shaped and moulded for years, he is confident that the First Third Team will carry the light and continue to share the concept of First Third ministry with the church.

“There’s now a team of people who can really articulate the First Third concept,” he said. “I’m really confident in that and really proud that they’ve been able to pick that up – and it will only grow because it’s a developing theory and a developing theology.

“I’ve always delighted in seeing young people grow in themselves and in their faith journey and it has been an honour for me to have been part of those journeys.”

Rick’s ordination service was held on Saturday 24 October, 11.00am, at the Cottesloe Civic Centre, overlooking the ocean.

Top image: Rick Morrell was presented with a silver bullet at the 2015 Synod meeting. He has always said that he didn’t have one.

Heather Dowling

Tags Our People and Agencies

Stories & Feature Articles

Editorial: Where there is hope

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 20, 2015

The devastating image of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy washed ashore in Turkey, inundated my Facebook and Twitter feed in September.

I hate seeing the exploitation of such an image; an image which exposed a beautiful boy in his most vulnerable moment. But, I hope that it moved the world to think differently about refugees, asylum seekers and the crisis in Syria. There are real people, with families and children, who are suffering.

On 7 September, at Get Up!’s Light the Dark event, more than a thousand people crowded the Perth Cultural Centre to light a candle to remember Aylan and others who are seeking protection – many who have died doing so. Similar events were held all over the country.

Jarrod McKenna, founder of the First Home Project and pastor at Westcity Church, spoke at the event.

Tags Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Stories & Feature Articles

Moderator’s column: Hope for the future through Jesus

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 18, 2015

There are plenty of people who are willing to write off the Christian church, believing that we have no future; that we are without hope. In a recent article, one journalist argued that with the worldwide spread of education, technology and science, the need for religion would evaporate. Our world would become at last religion-less, a bit like John Lennon’s song, Imagine – the dream of a world free of religion.

Rather than ask, ‘has the church a future?’ I first want to ask, ‘has the human race a future?’

Ideas of the future exercise a great hold over us. Indeed, we need some idea of the future if we are to achieve anything in the present. The trainee soldier, athlete, politician and student are often motivated by a sense of what may lie ahead. In our diverse society, different hopes about the future are emerging.

The humanist looks for a society where human reason and mutual consideration will flourish. The environmentalist hopes for a sustainable world where pollution is minimised and the earth flourishes again. Many dream of higher standards of living, full employment, a fairer distribution of wealth, an end to poverty, injustice, violence and greater prosperity. Christians, while sharing these hopes, have a distinctive contribution to make when thinking about the future.

Tags Theology and Spiritual Reflections

News & Announcements

Forging a new way on asylum seekers

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 15, 2015

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, has joined faith representatives and members of Parliament in Canberra today to support renewed efforts to restore some compassion to Australia’s asylum seeker policies.

At a cross-party forum at Parliament House Stuart described the continued abuse of asylum seekers in offshore detention centres as “inexcusable”.

“In increasing numbers, courageous citizens are expressing their concerns about the inhumane and illegal treatment of people seeking asylum, especially children.

“I applaud the actions of staff at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital in refusing to return children in detention to places where they are at risk of further abuse and trauma. Concerned citizens including many of deep religious faith continue to make their voices heard on this issue in public rallies and other peaceful protests.

“It’s vital that we harness growing goodwill in the community to improve the plight of these most vulnerable people.

“I congratulate MPs of principle and good faith who are not letting this matter rest in their party rooms or in public.

Tags Refugees and Asylum Seekers

News & Announcements

National Day of Unity

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 14, 2015

President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan has joined civic and religious leaders across the country in supporting this year’s National Day of Unity.

“As Christians we are called to love our neighbour, welcome the stranger, and offer refuge and care to those who are marginalised,” said Stuart.

“The National Day of Unity is a timely reminder of the values we share across our faiths – dignity and respect for all people.”

“We call on all Australians to embrace a spirit of generosity in the way we approach each other, welcome each other and offer hospitality to one another,” said Stuart.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Greens Leader Richard Di Natale and leaders of different faiths officially launched the 2015 National Day of Unity program at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday.

The Prime Minister said the tragic killing of Curtis Cheng in Parramatta a little over a week ago was a reminder of the importance Australians must place on the values of mutual respect and harmony.

“Those who oppose us, those who seek to do us harm want to divide us. We answer them best by being strong and resolute in our unity,” Malcolm Turnbull said.

Tags Harmony, interfaith

Stories & Feature Articles

Family violence: change the conversation

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 12, 2015

When Rosie Batty bravely spoke to news cameras outside her home on 13 February 2014, the day after her son, Luke, was murdered by his father, she spoke up for women and children all over Australia.

Filled with grief from losing her 11-year-old son, her moving address to the nation shone light on family violence across Australia.

“No one loved Luke more than Greg, his father. No one loved Luke more than me. Family violence happens to everybody, no matter how nice your house is, how intelligent you are. It happens to anyone and everyone,” she said.

From that moment on, Rosie has dedicated her life to changing conversations around family violence, giving the issue the recognition it needs. It was for this reason she was awarded the Australian of the Year accolade in 2015. Her campaigning has paid off, as on 24 September, the Federal Government announced a $100m package to tackle domestic violence. Rosie welcomed this announcement, while acknowledging there is still a long way to go.

Speaking to the WA Department of Health this year, Rosie highlighted some of Australia’s grave statistics.

“It’s a huge issue because its two women a week on average being murdered right now, one in three women affected by violence, one in four children,” she said. “It means that you know somebody who has family violence in their lives, or has experienced family violence.”

Dr Deidre Palmer, moderator of the Uniting Church in South Australia and president-elect of the Uniting Church in Australia, has also been involved in speaking up on the issue. Last year she launched the Beyond Violence campaign, a Christian response to dealing with domestic violence in our communities. With a background in social work, Deidre knows all too well that abuse comes in many forms. While physical abuse often leaves visible marks, emotional, financial and spiritual abuse are also debilitating.

Tags non-violence, Social Justice

Stories & Feature Articles

Great things, great love: a refugee story

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 6, 2015

There’s an old saying: “We cannot do great things, only small things with great love.”

Sometimes, perhaps we can do both.

Kakuma refugee camp is a sprawling mass of humanity on the border between Kenya and South Sudan. Under canvas and tin supplied by the UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and the Kenyan government, more than 150,000 people make their homes, many separated from brothers, sisters and parents by fighting across the border in South Sudan and Somalia. Into this maelstrom, another little life emerged last month. Her name is Deborah. She might never have been.

It was an ordinary morning for young South Sudanese midwives completing their prac in the Kakuma Mission hospital. Many in their early twenties, they’ve been relocated with the help of the Uniting Church in Australia from the South Sudanese town of Leer due to heavy fighting. Their training facility was torched. Some of the women don’t know where their families are – many fled into the surrounding bush as rebels stormed the area. Husbands are missing. Children.

The young women carry on with their studies, supported by UnitingWorld partner, the Presbyterian Relief and Development Agency of South Sudan. They’re determined to finish their midwifery courses and when stability returns, go back to their country and serve their sisters. In the meantime, they study at Kakuma and serve their fellow refugees.

Tags A Helping Hand, International