Kerry Povey is the Chair of the Uniting Church WA International Partnerships and Development Commission, and a member at Trinity North Uniting Church. She takes 5 minutes to share some of her passions with Revive.
Author: revivewa
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16th Assembly goes online
The Uniting Church’s triennial Assembly meeting will take place online for the first time, due to continuing risk factors around the COVID-19 pandemic.
Members of the Assembly Standing Committee (ASC) took the historic decision at an extraordinary meeting on Saturday 30 January 2021.
“Putting the safety and wellbeing of members of the 16th Assembly first was the key driver in this decision,” said Assembly General Secretary Colleen Geyer.
“ASC members believed that a face-to-face meeting simply could not be planned with sufficient certainty.”
“Despite a drop in community transmissions, the emergence of new, more contagious strains of the virus in Australia is concerning. There are also many other risks to consider that are out of our control.
“So less than six months out from the triennial meeting, we are putting the safety of Assembly members and staff first.”
A shortened 16th Assembly will take place online from 17-18 July 2021 with a view to reconvening the Assembly meeting in 2022 when a face-to-face meeting is possible.
“More details will be provided in the coming weeks in a timely and transparent manner, in particular to Assembly members,” said Colleen.
“Work is already well advanced to ensure that the 16th Assembly meeting will be an accessible, joyful and hope-filled event that addresses the necessary church business and governance requirements.”
The 16th Assembly meeting was originally scheduled to take place at the Queensland Synod’s Alexandra Park Conference Centre on the Sunshine Coast from 15-19 July 2021.
”The Queensland Synod has been very supportive in our initial planning, even as we have lived in this time of uncertainty,” said Colleen.
Assembly President, Dr Deidre Palmer reflected on the loss some Assembly members may feel at not meeting in person.
“It will be different not being in the same room together. We will miss the community that grows when we worship and pray together in person . We will miss those wonderful conversations that happen informally. I think many will feel a sense of loss,” said Deidre.
“As the church, we have all been adapting to the impacts of the global pandemic, and guided by the Spirit we have responded with creativity and care. Our online Assembly meeting in July will gather in worship, give thanks for God’s blessings, build community and discern the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in guiding our life and mission.”
Assembly General Secretary Colleen Geyer reassured Uniting Church members that the 16th Assembly meeting would still be a high point in the life of the Uniting Church.
“We will still be incorporating program elements that showcase the breadth of our achievement as a church deeply engaged in transforming lives and the communities we live in.”
“Most of us are a lot more familiar with video conferencing than we were at the start of the pandemic, to the point that a number of UCA Church Synods have moved their meetings online.”
“As a pilgrim people on the way we will be resilient and make the best of the current circumstances.
“Please keep us in your prayers as we work through the remaining planning and preparations,” said Colleen.
More details on the 16th Assembly meeting arrangements will be published on the Assembly website as they become available.
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
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The road to Badjaling
Rev Dr Alison Longworth, retired Uniting Church WA Minister, shares her experience of revisiting Badjaling, while traveling from Perth to Quairading to lead worship.
After the easing of restrictions due to COVID-19, Western Australians were being encouraged to ‘Wander out Yonder’ and I was preparing to travel into the wheatbelt. On the Sunday morning I was committed to lead worship with the Quairading Uniting Church and in the afternoon I had arranged a visit to the Ballardong Noongar community at Badjaling, a few kilometres east of the town.
My connection to Badjaling began in 1987 when I visited the former Mission site with my family. The recently erected memorial plaque acknowledged two missionaries, and the thirty-nine Noongar families who lived on the Reserve near the railway siding from 1930 to 1954. My Great Aunt Mary Belshaw was the founding missionary, hence my initial interest.
When the Uniting Church WA gathers, we often share in a Welcome to Country or an Acknowledgment of Country. Both are significant ways the church can acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, but there are some important differences.
A Welcome to Country is only led by Traditional Custodians; whereas an Acknowledgment of Country can be led by anyone, and acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of that place. A Smoking Ceremony is a process of cleansing and healing, which can also take place with a Welcome.
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Day of Mourning 2021
On the Sunday before Australia Day, Uniting Church congregations across the country hold worship services to reflect upon and lament the effect of the invasion and colonisation of this nation upon First Peoples.
The observance of a Day of Mourning was endorsed by the 15th Assembly arising from a request of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC). All Uniting Church in Australia congregations are invited to hold worship services that reflect on the effects of invasion and colonisation on Australia’s First Peoples and our identity as a nation.
Wesley College Year 12 student, Luke de Laeter, has been awarded the prestigious 2020 Beazley Medal: Vocational Education and Training (VET). Wesley College is a Uniting Church WA school in South Perth.
Luke also graduated as the inaugural VET Dux of College in 2020. His Vocational Education Training (VET) pathway included a Certificate III in Beekeeping, Certificate III in Business and a Certificate II in Design and Technology.
On December 13, Dongara Uniting Church celebrated 136 years of the church building.
The Methodist congregation of the 1880s had acted to construct the church on land that was donated in the town centre. The building has been maintained, renovated and repaired at regular intervals in that 136 years, however, the basic structure remains intact, and is a cool and welcoming space in which we gather to worship and celebrate.
Christine Nicholas, member of Uniting Church in the City, shares two exciting projects the congregation has been passionately involved in, despite the challenges of 2020.
The good news of Jesus Christ calls us to be a missional people – to be caught up in God’s mission in the world.
For the past two years, Margaret River Uniting Church has run an annual Deep Listening Festival. The festival invites people to step outside their normal busy schedule to engage, connect and listen. Through a diverse range of speakers, workshop presenters, musicians and artists, the festival is an opportunity to hear wonderful stories, to inspire and enrich people’s understanding of themselves and the community around them.
Rev Dr Christine Sorensen, Uniting Church WA Presbytery Minister – Formation and Discipleship, asks what does the ‘spirituality of Christmas’ have in common with ‘the spirit of Christmas’?
Spirituality is a word that has gained such currency in our modern world it means everything and nothing. One of the ways we can give parameters to spirituality is to think of spirituality as being a capacity for self-transcendence, and then more narrowly define human, religious and Christian spirituality.