Category: News & Announcements

Categories
News & Announcements

Celebrations to mark the faith, mission and ministry of Australia’s first Methodist minister

A special celebration marking the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Australia’s first Methodist minister the Rev Samuel Leigh will be held at Sydney’s Wesley Centre 220 Pitt Street on Sunday 30 August beginning at 2.30 pm.

In 2012 Wesley Mission celebrated 200 years since Sydney’s earliest Wesleyans wrote a letter to the Methodist Church in Britain pleading for a minister.

Three years ago almost 2000 congregation members, supporters, donors, volunteers and staff of Wesley Mission marched through the streets of Sydney and gave thanks to God at the State Theatre for 200 years of Methodism in Australia.

The landmark service at Wesley Mission on 30 August 2015 will celebrate its sequel.

Wesley Mission Superintendent the Rev Keith Garner said the arrival of Samuel Leigh in 1815 had realised the hopes of Sydney’s earliest Wesleyans, and in 2015 Wesley Mission will give thanks for the first minister’s faith, ministry and enduring legacy.

“As Australia’s first Methodist missionary, Samuel Leigh showed remarkable courage and perseverance in the face of great hardship and the gruelling task of ministry in the fledgling colony of Sydney,” he said.

Continue reading “Celebrations to mark the faith, mission and ministry of Australia’s first Methodist minister”
Categories
News & Announcements

14th Assembly: moments before God

The 14th Triennial Assembly Meeting was held from Sunday 12–Saturday 18 July. It brought together Uniting Church members from around Australia to discern the will of God and the direction of the church for the next three years. Nigel Tapp reports.

There are those within the Uniting Church who would deride the triennial Assembly gathering as a bit of talkfest. And yes, there is a lot of talking over the six days as the members deal with a  range of issues, both of a social nature and also how the church does church and how it engages with its congregations, synods, councils and one another. But, much is achieved and some of those truly special – or most powerful – moments actually come in silence before God.

Such was the story of the 14th Triennial Assembly in Perth last month. The gathering tackled weighty subjects such as same gender marriage, the role of elders within the Uniting  Church, church governance, Federal Government cuts to overseas aid, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the treatment of those seeking asylum and Federal and State  Government policies aimed at closing remote Aboriginal communities.

Continue reading “14th Assembly: moments before God”
Categories
News & Announcements

Innovative Juniper simulation centre best in WA

A state-of-the-art centre that connects advanced technology and training with the experience of older people has won a major award for innovation.

The Juniper Simulation Centre in Bentley is a pioneering project that is helping meet the growing needs of an ageing population by providing high quality clinical learning experiences for care and health professionals of the future. Juniper is a Uniting Church WA agency and a leading provider of retirement housing, home care support and residential care services in the aged care industry.

It received the prestigious Innovation in Clinical Supervision award at the WA Clinical Supervision Awards 2015 held at the State Reception Centre last night.

Created by Juniper in partnership with Curtin University the Juniper Simulation Centre is a highly functional recreation of an older person’s living spaces, where activities of daily living and care can be enacted and analysed in adjacent training rooms, in real time.

“By bringing together experienced care professionals, educators and students, the Juniper Simulation Centre is facilitating excellence in clinical care, development of new models of care and shared learnings that will translate into great benefits for residents and clients,” Juniper chief operating officer, David Fisher, said.

“Our clinicians gain valuable skills for the workplace and hundreds of health sciences students experience the c

Continue reading “Innovative Juniper simulation centre best in WA”
Categories
News & Announcements

Uniting against racism in sport

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) stand as one with AFL player and former Australian of the Year Adam Goodes, who has been subjected to unacceptable racist booing at AFL games.

The Uniting Church and the Congress are two of 150 organisations calling today for renewed efforts to stamp out racism in sport and everyday life.

UCA President, Stuart McMillan, says Australians need to come to terms with the reality of racism in our country.

“People should be cheering Adam Goodes not booing him. He is a magnificent ambassador of the First Peoples of this nation,” said Stuart.

“We applaud his many achievements as an athlete and as a role model for all young Australians.

Continue reading “Uniting against racism in sport”
Categories
News & Announcements

Papuan students experience WA’s wheatbelt

Eleven students who took part in the Australian Papuan Cultural Exchange Program, hosted at All Saints Floreat Uniting Church, took a weekend away from their studies to travel up to the northern wheatbelt town of Coorow in March and experience some of Australia’s rural lifestyle. The program hosts students from West Papua in Perth while they build up their English skills.

Inez Davies, a member of Coorow All Saints Uniting Church, learnt about the program whilst attending a Summer Spirit event years ago in Perth. The Coorow congregation, a joint Anglican and  Uniting Church, have followed its progress and offered support – this year by hosting the group in their home town for some time out from their busy schedule. The students arrived for  lunch on Saturday 29 March at Inez’s farm, followed by a drive around the property to see some of their crops. Dinner was provided in town by the congregation before an evening of music and  joy.

“We were all just sitting around talking and they all burst into song,” said Inez. “My son took his guitar and he yodelled for them and they were absolutely ecstatic.”

Continue reading “Papuan students experience WA’s wheatbelt”
Categories
News & Announcements

Royal Commission: Uniting Church tasks and responsibilities

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is well and truly underway. Since it was established on 11 January 2013, the Royal Commission has used a number of  means to access the information it requires to carry out its tasks.

These include:

  • Releasing issues papers on topics of interest to its work and recommendations, to allow organisations and individuals an opportunity to provide their opinions and expertise.
  • Holding private sessions that allow survivors to speak directly with a Commissioner about their experiences.
  • Holding formal public hearings to hear evidence about child sexual abuse within institutions. These hearings do not focus on individual cases, but instead focus on case studies of how institutions have responded to allegations and proven instances of child sexual abuse.
  • Holding roundtables to consider what institutions and governments should do to better protect children against child sexual abuse.

The Uniting Church in Australia issued a Values Statement, which said, “…we will not hide from the truth, however painful that may be, and will seek, with compassion and humility, to address  whatever issues and challenges may emerge for us. We will say sorry to anyone who was sexually abused when in our care and, in consultation with those so affected, actively seek ways to make  amends for what happened in the past and identify how we can best offer support into the future.”

Continue reading “Royal Commission: Uniting Church tasks and responsibilities”
Categories
News & Announcements

14th Triennial Assembly almost here

The 14th Triennial Meeting of the Assembly is creeping closer and closer and lots of work is being done to prepare for this important event. The theme of this year’s Assembly, as set by the  president-elect, Stuart McMillan, is ‘Hearts on Fire.’

The Assembly meeting will bring together over 300 members of the Uniting Church in Australia for a week of discerning the business and direction of the church for the next three years. This year it will be held in Perth, with the bulk of the meeting to be held at Winthrop Hall, University of Western Australia (UWA) with accommodation and meals to be held at the Uniting Church in  WA’s Trinity Residential College.

While not everyone can be a member, there are some events that everyone is invited to, including the official Opening Service and Installation of the new president of the Uniting Church in  Australia and the Cato Lecture, an Assembly tradition. A children’s choir will provide a fun and exciting way for kids in the Uniting Church to be involved in the Opening Service. More  information on this can be found here.

Continue reading “14th Triennial Assembly almost here”
Categories
News & Announcements

Students grapple the big issues

Now in its fourth year, the One World WonTok Youth Conference uses a series of hands-on activities to engage students from Uniting Church and Anglican schools in complex issues of poverty  and development.

This year, students created solar cookers from South Sudan, played an interactive computer game on farming in developing countries, lived a precarious existence in the fictitious Tie Islands, brainstormed a sanitation project in rural Papua New Guinea and grappled with the complexities of universal education. The students also met with Gideon Bustamante, a project officer from  the Anglican Board of Mission’s church partner in the Philippines; and young volunteer, Alex Baker, who shared his recent UnitingWorld volunteering experiences in the Solomon Islands and North India.

The One World Wontok Conference is a unique collaboration between the Anglican Board of Mission and UnitingWorld. The conference ran from 28 April–8 May, visiting Anglican and Uniting Church schools in the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

For more information visit http://www.unitingworld.org.au/one-world-wontok/.

Categories
News & Announcements

Nepal earthquake: churches respond

Churches have responded with a number of appeals after a devastating earthquake hit Nepal, followed by a second earthquake weeks later. Over 8000 people have died in the disaster, and  many thousands more left injured, homeless and vulnerable.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) issued a joint statement calling on churches around the world to pray for the families of those who have died,  and for those who have been injured or been affected by property loss and damage.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the people of Nepal and northern India who lost loved ones in their families and among friends in this powerful earthquake and its aftershocks. Our  thoughts and prayers are with all those who are affected by this disaster,” said the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC.

Continue reading “Nepal earthquake: churches respond”
Categories
News & Announcements

Justice McClellan to address 14th Assembly

The Chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Justice Peter McClellan AM will address the Uniting Church in Australia’s 14th Assembly meeting in Perth next month.

Justice McClellan will address the meeting on Wednesday 15 July at the University of Western Australia.

President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Prof Andrew Dutney has welcomed Justice McClellan’s agreement to address the Assembly and thanked him for the Commission’s important work to date.

“Justice McClellan has graciously agreed to speak to our Assembly meeting and we will listen very closely to what he has to say,” said Andrew.

“The Uniting Church acknowledges the pain and suffering of all those who have experienced sexual abuse at the hands of our institutions. Nothing excuses what they have experienced.

Continue reading “Justice McClellan to address 14th Assembly”