One of the great pleasures I have enjoyed in my first year as Moderator has been the opportunity to travel outside the metropolitan area into the wide expanses of this great state, and being able to meet with so many community leaders andcongregations. Often, I have been overwhelmed by the tenacity and improvisation evident in people’s lives. Even in the midst of flood, fire or cyclone, fatalism and defeat take a back seat to picking up the pieces and starting all over again.
Since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Uniting Church WA has responded to more than 100 claims of historical child sexual abuse within our former institutions, and colleges. For some this might be a hard thing to comprehend, but it is important to acknowledge if the church is to live out its faith of caring for the vulnerable and working towards justice.
This September marks Child Safe Week, Sunday 5 to Saturday 11.
Inspired by COVID and Inspired by Seniors By Phil Ridden, Edwest Publishing, 2020
I recently read two of the volumes from Dr Phil Ridden’s ‘Reflections on Faith’ series: Inspired by Covid and Inspired by Seniors. Phil is a retired Head Teacher and now works as a consultant and writer, based in Joondalup, Perth WA.
With Love to the World: A Daily Bible Reading Guide, first published in 1976, is now available as an app that includes access to the daily biblical texts and commentary in an easy-to-use format.
Many people seek meaning, encouragement, and hope for life. With Love to the World has been meeting these needs for the past 46 years with its daily commentaries on lectionary and associated Bible passages, prayer suggestions, and questions for individuals and groups.
Designed to help users prepare for Sunday worship, nurture their faith, and strengthen us to live faithfully amidst the hopes and hurts of everyday life, With Love to the World is a resource for individuals, as well as for leaders of worship and small groups. It is widely used in the Uniting Church across the country, and in other churches.
“With Love to the World is an inspiring Australian resource which supports the daily practice of prayer and reflection on Scripture and the light it shines on our daily lives,” said Dr Deidre Palmer, President of the Uniting Church in Australia.
“I commend this resource to local churches and individual members of the Uniting Church.”
To subscribe to the app visit the App Store or Google Play Store. The cost is $24 per year. For booklets, email wlwuca@bigpond.com or call (02) 9747 1369. Visit the website at withlovetotheworld.org.au or email the Editor, Dr Peter Butler, at editorwlw@bigpond.com.
We are saddened to hear of the death of Rev Chris Ridings in Sydney, NSW, on Tuesday 29 June.
Chris was born in South Australia, and lived for some time in WA.
This year, Kids Camp Out (KCO) was postponed in March due to significantly lower registrations. Unfortunately, this was not unexpected as the number of campers have been noticeably declining over the past five years due to Uniting Church WA children growing up and being in high school, with some now being young adults.
KCO has been a Presbytery wide event for primary school aged children in the Uniting Church WA for around 40 years.
On Sunday 18 April, the worshipping community of Uniting Church in the City, Wesley Perth celebrated a unique combination of achievements and milestones in a very moving ceremony, toward the end of our Sunday morning service.
India’s COVID-19 surge has overloaded its struggling heath system and is causing thousands of deaths per day.
Uniting Church partners, the Church of North India (CNI), are not immune. Battling to keep people fed as a second lockdown wreaks havoc, and spreading critical health information to help beat the spread of the disease, they’re on the front-line of the response in their communities.
In September 2005, the Uniting Church WA decided that eight of its community services agencies and parish missions would come together to form a new community services agency. UnitingCare West (now Uniting WA) commenced operations on 1 July 2006.
Now, on its 15th birthday, Uniting WA reflects on a history that goes back to the roots of the Uniting Church in WA, and the legacy of those pioneering visionaries.
The merger of Fremantle Wesley Mission, Mofflyn, Rainbow Project, Trinity Outreach Services, UCA Outreach Services, Uniting Community House Midland, UnitingCare Kwinana and Wesley Mission Perth into UnitingCare West provided a strong governance structure and more strength in adapting to the changing community services sector. However, many were worried that the unique and necessary programs provided by the smaller agencies would be lost in a bigger organisation.
Uniting team member Joanne Goodwin originally worked for Mofflyn, starting in 1996. “It was a very scary time when the organisation formed. There was lots of change. We went from being a tiny little program at Mofflyn to being part of a big organisation.”
All of the organisations that merged to form Uniting WA had begun in response to unmet needs in the community, and most had long histories of working to support vulnerable West Australians. The 2002 Marketing Plan for Wesley Mission Perth said, “Our programs of support focus on the gospel examples of empowerment. Empowerment is best achieved by identifying and working with people’s own natural strengths — working through the difficulties they are experiencing using these strengths to solve their problems.”
The Uniting Church also pledged in the 1977 Inaugural Statement to the Nation ‘to hope and work for a nation whose goals are not guided by self-interest alone, but by concern for the welfare of all persons everywhere.’
UnitingCare West was formed with these values at its core. And while it’s changed its look to become Uniting WA, it’s still the same at heart.
“There’s been so much change for the better since the organisation formed,” said Joanne, who’s still supporting vulnerable families after all these years. “We can definitely provide a better service for the people we support. We can link them to other services and give them wrap-around support.”
It’s exciting to be able to mark this next phase of Uniting WA with the recent relaunch of the Tranby Engagement Hub for people experiencing homelessness — still with the goal of bringing services together to support people, but now with an updated, co-designed, purpose-built space.
The Committee for the Mandorla Centre for Inner Peace is delighted to announce the much anticipated theme and venue for the 2022 Mandorla Art Award, Australia’s most significant thematic Christian art prize, held in Perth every two years.
The Award has attracted some of the country’s finest artists since its 1985 inception, including John Coburn (winner
1996); Brian McKay (winner 1986, 2002); and Julie Dowling (winner 2000) who was named the most collectible artist in
Australia shortly after her win.