Month: December 2019

Nature play adventures take over South Perth

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 28, 2019

After months of planning and preparation, the South Perth Early Childhood Centre, of South Perth Uniting Church, opened their new nature playground, on Wednesday 23 October.

Despite the short bursts of rain, kids and adults alike took joy in exploring the playground and enjoying new adventures.

A nature playground is a specially designed playground which encourages children to play in elements of nature, such as climbing trees, playing in gardens and even getting dirty in the mud. In August 2018, the South Perth Early Childhood Centre was granted $65 000 from Lotterywest to build theirs.

Tags Church and Community, feature, Youth

Stories & Feature Articles

Sharing the joy of Christmas: Why do we do it?

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 24, 2019

What does Christmas mean for Christians, or Christ’s ones? Is the celebration of Christ’s birth central to our faith or can we do without it?

Two of our four Gospels do not include the story of Jesus’ birth and Matthew and Luke – which do – tell the story from significantly different perspectives. It seems that the celebration of the birth of Christ in a special day or season only commenced two or three hundred years after the time of Christ and the earliest church.

Tags Christmas, feature

Stories & Feature Articles

Easy Date Slice

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 22, 2019

Uniting Churches in WA have some of the best morning teas and we want to share them!

Not just a time for enjoying each other’s company, church morning teas or spreads for special events are a tasty affair.

This Easy Date Slice recipe was sent in from Maureen Skeet, member of Rockingham Uniting Church. This slice has never failed her!

Bring along a plate to your Christmas function this year, your friends and family will love you for it. Just make sure it is kept in the fridge and eaten fresh, as it does contain raw egg.

Ingredients

1 Cup of Sugar
250g of chopped dates
250g of Butter
One egg
Half a packet of Arnotts Marie Biscuits
Desiccated coconut

Method

Melt the sugar, chopped dates and the butter in a saucepan on low heat until it is ‘gooey’.

Beat in the egg, and then crush the Marie Biscuits and stir in.

Line a 20cm lamington tray with baking paper, and spread the mixture evenly into the tray.

Refrigerate until it sets.

Once cooled, cut into slices and toss each slice in the desiccated coconut.

Have you got a favourite recipe? Send it in to revive@wa.uca.org.au or mail them to Revive magazine, GPO Box M952, Perth, 6843.

Tags Books, Films, Art, Awards and Recipes

Stories & Feature Articles

Caring Hands craft intergenerational connections

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 19, 2019

More than 80 people gathered at Beldon Uniting Church for an intergenerational Seniors’ Morning Tea in November. Organised by the Caring Hands group of the church, guests were invited from various aged care residential sites, and treated to a range of entertainment.

Children from the Beldon Early Learning Centre, an outreach of Beldon Uniting Church, performed a selection of nursery rhymes, and children from the local Beldon Primary School performed some drumming. The school is located across the road from the church and they share a relationship through the school chaplain. A local ukulele group also performed.

Tags Ageing and Community, Church and Community, feature, Youth

News & Announcements

Aged care sector warns of 2020 emergency risk

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 16, 2019

The national aged care sector, including UnitingCare Australia, warns that, with today’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) flagging no additional direct investment for residential and home care, the risk of aged care emergencies looms large in 2020.

The Government had already announced $537 million in response to the Aged Care Royal Commission, with an additional $87 million announced today mainly covering Government administration costs.

Tags Ageing and Community

Stories & Feature Articles

Does it make a difference?

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 16, 2019

Not so long ago, a woman bailed me up as I made my escape from a church where I’d been preaching.

“I’ve given to places like UnitingWorld all my life,” she said. Her voice shook a little as she spoke; I could see it had been a good and long life.

“But there’s still so much poverty and suffering in the world! Sometimes I really wonder if it makes any difference.”

Understandable.

Tags A Helping Hand, Faith In Action, feature, International

Stories & Feature Articles

Christmas with UnitingCare West

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 13, 2019

While Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, almost one third of West Australians feel the stress of disadvantage and isolation during the festive season.

Many people will seek help from charities for their basic needs such as food, or for assistance paying bills. Many more feel lonely and disconnected from family, friends and their community.

This Christmas, UnitingCare West expect to see more than 2 000 people at their hubs in Perth, Fremantle and Merriwa. For the first time, UnitingCare West’s Tranby Centre in Aberdeen Street will be open every day during the Christmas and New Year period, from 7.00am to 7.00pm.

Tags A Helping Hand, Christmas, feature, Schools

News & Announcements

Business Start-up Awards create career opportunities

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 10, 2019

As they Celebrated International Day of People with a Disability, on Tuesday 3 December, Good Sammy Enterprises (previously Good Samaritan Industries) awarded their inaugural Good Sammy Business Start-up Awards to young people living with a disability inspiring pathways to their working future.

With final exams over and the school year complete, and while thousands of Western Australia’s school leavers are considering their future career opportunities, Good Sammy’s Start-Up Award winners will be making use of their prize money to turn their passions into a business opportunity. These awards are kindly sponsored and supported by Santos.

Tags A Helping Hand, Inclusion

Stories & Feature Articles

SHARE and humanity thrives

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 9, 2019

Rev Roy Surjanegara is the Minister at GKI Perth Uniting Church, an Indonesian speaking congregation in Mosmon Park. This edition, he writes about this year’s Family and Culture Month at their church.

September is the month to celebrate family life and Indonesian culture for GKI Perth Uniting Church. We call it ‘Family and Culture Month’. Each Sunday, one ethnic group is highlighted in the service through the use of the local languages for the Bible readings, songs, and prayers. Musical instruments, clothing, decorations, and traditional food also play an important part in creating the atmosphere of being in Indonesia for a day. This year, we celebrated the Batak culture of Sumatera, the Sunda culture of West Java, the Dayak culture of Borneo, and the Tionghoa culture of Indonesian-Chinese descendants.

Tags Church and Community, feature, Multicultural

Stories & Feature Articles

Moderator’s column – A house and a garment: hope for the planet

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 8, 2019

Save the planet’, ‘care for creation’, ‘love the environment’ are some of the slogans we hear as the voice of concern gets louder for our beautiful, yet plundered and polluted planet.

Behind these concerns for our ecology there is a deeper question; is there a purpose, a plan or indeed a mind behind the solar system? Are we just the result of freak accidents of cosmic collisions or is there more?

Tags Environment