Month: August 2016

In support of a national summit on refugee policy

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 18, 2016

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, has added his voice to the growing number of advocates calling for a national summit on alternatives to Australia’s refugee policies.

“The Federal Government should hold a summit to explore alternatives to the current policies which include the mandatory detention and offshore processing of people seeking asylum,” said Stuart.

“The recent accounts of abuse and mistreatment on Nauru are just the latest in a mountain of evidence of cruelty and abuse.

“People are not safe there and the only way to ensure their safety is to bring them to Australia. We must offer them the best available care while their claims for protection are processed.”

Faith leaders, academics and community groups across Australia have also called for an emergency summit to discuss alternative refugee policies.

Tags Refugees and Asylum Seekers

News & Announcements

Street appeal gives back

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 16, 2016

Forty-four UnitingCare West volunteers and staff took to the streets on Friday for the second annual street appeal, raising money and awareness for UnitingCare West’s homelessness services.

Volunteers, including Uniting Church members and students from Penrhos College and St Stephen’s School Carramar, held cardboard signs with slogans such as “I have a home, I have food. I’m collecting for someone who doesn’t.”

Volunteers placed themselves all over the Perth CBD from 7.00am–6.00pm, raising $3 592 for the Winter Appeal. Students from Wesley College also held a collection at their school on the day.

There are currently around 10 000 people in Perth who are experiencing homelessness, with around 61% of those being women.

Michael Patchell, chief financial officer for the Uniting Church WA spent time volunteering during the street appeal as a way to give back.

Tags Ageing and Community

News & Announcements

A Safe Church welcome

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 15, 2016

The Uniting Church in Australia is often praised by its members and the wider community for its diversity.

With diversity comes a range of different opinions and viewpoints, and with all those differing opinions, people can be left vulnerable, abused, and out in the cold.

Safe Church training has been developed by the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) to help churches create a welcoming and safe environment for all people who come into contact with it. While the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has increased the need for awareness, the training is not just about children; different cultural groups, the elderly, people living with a disability, people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer (LGBTIQ), people with differing theological opinions and those suffering from mental illness are all vulnerable to abuse.

The work of the church is to share the teachings and love of God in word and action. While sometimes that can be harder than we want it to be, it’s still our purpose.

Cindy Gorton is the Safe Church/Royal Commission officer for the Uniting Church WA. She’s been busy this year running Safe Church workshops all over the state.

She said that a safe church is one where people feel able to express themselves and be who they are. This happens when a range of things are put into place; vulnerable people need to be protected, leaders need to be aware of safe practices, and church programs need to be planned and run inclusively.

Tags Social Justice

News & Announcements

Messy gifts of the spirit

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 13, 2016

Rev Greg Ross, minister with the Wellington Regional Mission, has recently returned from the Mission Shaped Ministry Intensive and the International Messy Church Conference in England, UK. While there, Greg, with travel companion Rev David Kriel, mission planner for the Uniting Church WA, spent time with Dave Male, national adviser for pioneer development for the Church of England and also a member of the Fresh Expressions team, and Lucy Moore, founder of Messy Church.

Both conferences were run by Fresh Expressions, an ecumenical organisation resourcing new ways of being church.

Bunbury St Augustine Uniting Church, part of the Wellington Regional Mission, has been running a vibrant and popular Messy Church congregation for the last seven years.

Messy Church is a welcoming gathering for people of all ages inviting people to explore Bible stories, create craft, join in meaningful conversation and share a meal together. It’s a Fresh Expression of church which is reaching out to people across the world.

In Bunbury, the congregation started with about 25 people attending, and has now grown to about 50–70 attendees at each monthly gathering. Many of those had either never previously attended church, or had left the church for a significant period of time and have started attending again.

Tags Church and Community, Youth

Stories & Feature Articles

NYALC: a space for young people

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 9, 2016

Three years ago, the Uniting Church in Australia, in conjunction with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC), established a conference for young adults. The National Young Adult Leaders’ Conference (NYALC) is run each year to provide an opportunity for young people in the church to meet, network, be refreshed and to learn and develop their leadership skills.

This year, NYALC was held from Friday 8 to Wednesday 13 July in Burleigh Heads, Queensland. A cohort of eleven young people from Uniting Church Western Australia and UAICC Western Australia congregations attended the conference.

Jack van der Pal, from Rockingham Uniting Church, was one of the young people who attended.

Jack is in his final year of a double degree in Geology and Geophysics at Curtin University. He serves his congregation in music, audiovisual, and helps to run the young adult ministry.

On why he chose to go to NYALC Jack said, “At first, I was a bit unsure and then I started speaking to people [who had attended previously] and they said that it’s amazing when you get so many young people together. So I wanted to go and discover what it was like for myself.”

Tags First Peoples, Youth

News & Announcements

Ordination into ministry with the outsider

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 9, 2016

Rev Judy Sanderson was ordained as a deacon and inducted into St Stephens Applecross Uniting Church on Sunday 7 August.

After a welcome to country from Rev Sam Dinah, minister with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC), Rev Bev Fabb, deacon and Interim Director of Education and Formation, preached on Micah 6:6-8.

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8.

Bev reminded those gathered that to be called into the ministry of a deacon, is to be called into ministry with the outsider, the broken, the hurting, poor, desperate and rejected.

“Deacons are called to notice desperate people reaching out to touch them,” Bev said.

Tags Our People and Agencies

News & Announcements

Emily Evans elected to WCC Executive Committee

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 7, 2016

The Uniting Church will be represented by a youthful voice at the World Council of Churches (WCC) with the election of Emily Evans to the WCC Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee is the top governance body of the WCC and implements strategic objectives set by the Central Committee. It meets twice a year and oversees council finances, monitors ongoing program work and appoints leadership staff.

Emily was one of 11 new members elected to the Executive Committee at a meeting in Trondheim, Norway in June. She has worked with the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania’s Justice and International Mission unit and has been a member of the WCC gender advisory group. She was elected to the Central Committee in 2013 and is on the WCC’s ECHOS Commission, which consists of 20 young Christians involved in the ecumenical movement.

During the week-long meeting, the Central Committee approved a range of reports and decisions. These included statements on the global refugee crisis, the human rights situation in West Papua and a call for prayer following the recent Brexit vote. As a relative newcomer to the international ecumenical movement, Emily hopes to achieve greater understanding of the role and responsibility of the WCC.

“This includes learning about the lives and lived experience of other member churches, gaining a deeper understanding of what true Christian unity means in the world today and bringing back to the UCA new learnings and insights,” she explained.

Tags Youth

News & Announcements

Course engages the covenant

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 5, 2016

Perth Theological Hall (PTH) and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress WA (UAICC) are holding a course on Covenanting and Building Relationships with First Peoples.

While part of a requirement for ministers seeking admission to the Uniting Church, it is open for everyone to attend and will provide a sound introduction to the Uniting Church’s covenantal relationship with the First Peoples of Australia.

Held over two days, from Tuesday 30 to Wednesday 31 August, the course will strengthen and build relationships between members of the wider church and the UAICC. Stories around the campfire will enhance the experience.

The first day will be an immersion experience, engaging with Aboriginal spirituality, laws and customs, as well as sharing experiences of being Aboriginal in today’s Australia.

The second day will focus on history, including Australia’s treatment of Indigenous people, the Stolen Generations and the formation of the UAICC in the Uniting Church.

Rev Emeritus Prof Bill Loader, principal of Perth Theological Hall, said that the course is an opportunity for Uniting Church members to remember our past and look forward along our covenanting journey into the future.

Tags First Peoples