Armadale-Kelmscott Uniting Church partnered with Good Samaritan Industries (GSI), a Uniting Church WA agency, to hold their very first Smarty Pants Swap Shop in early August.
The congregation invited members of their local community to drop in and donate good quality, clean clothes they no longer need. They were then invited to take what they would like from the already donated items.
Members of St Andrew’s Uniting Church have well and truly settled into their new home in East Perth, with new life blooming and exciting projects on the horizon.
A dedication service for their new Bennet St building was held in June, with a dedication also being made for the Rev James Reid Memorial Room. James Reid was a minister at St Andrew’s Uniting Church in Perth’s CBD from 1959 to 1971.
On Saturday 19 October, the congregation are holding their first major event, the East Perth Urban Village Festival, in Wellington Square. The festival will bring businesses and services in the community together with family friendly activities such as camel rides, a drumming circle, giant games, as well as food and information stalls.
At its 43rd Annual Meeting of the Synod of WA, held last Friday 13 to Sunday 15 September, the Uniting Church WA discussed its position on Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD).
Members held a lengthy and meaningful discussion that was marked by the sincere respect displayed between people of differing views. No formal position was taken on the matter with the Synod deciding to extend its deliberation period. The Synod did formally recognise that, “Within the Church there is a diversity of faithful Christian understandings and responses to dying and to voluntary assisted dying.”
During its 70th year celebrations, not-for-profit aged care provider Juniper with the Premier of Western Australia, Hon Mark McGowan MLA opened its latest residential aged care service, bringing a further 120 places for older people in need.
Opening the Juniper Chrystal Halliday residential aged care facility in Karrinyup, Chris Hall, Juniper CEO, said the organisation had invested more than $100 million in the past 18 months to meet demand for quality services across WA.
The 43rd Annual Meeting of the Uniting Church Synod of WA was held over the weekend, Friday 13 to Sunday 15 September, at Scotch College Perth.
Members of the meeting, including representatives from Uniting Church WA schools, agencies, congregations and faith communities, made a range of decisions, including to:
Friday 30 August promised to be stormy and yet, the evening was remarkably clear given a week of passing rainfalls.
After much activity in terms of advertising via radio, social media, the Uniting church WA website, posters in the windows at St Andrew’s Uniting Church, the Uniting Church WA Ministry Expo was set up and ready to go.
Some local congregation members arrived first, and slowly the building filled with 42 adults and 12 children.
Wesley College, a Uniting Church WA school, received the prestigious Australian Education Award for Boarding School of the Year on Friday 16 August in Sydney.
The Australian Education Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of the country’s top performing schools.
“It is often said, the health and heart of a school is measured by its boarding community. This award reflects the wonderful work that happens in our boarding house, but also acknowledges the innovative facilities of the College as a whole,” said Ross Barron, Headmaster of Wesley College.
“To be named as one of Australia’s best schools is a magnificent honour and a tribute to our staff and their commitment to every student.”
St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School (Brisbane) was co-winner of the Boarding School of the Year Award.
The award recognises the most outstanding boarding school in Australia based on a range of criteria including:
Rodney Steer, Head of Boarding at Wesley College, joined Wesley in January 2019 and said he was not surprised to see the college receive this award.
“Having worked for most of my adult life in boarding schools across the country, it is my view that Wesley boarding is the finest in Australia,” he said. “Our focus is not only academic excellence, but each boy’s personal growth and wellbeing, in a nurturing environment that understands the importance of community and relationships.”
Wesley College was also a finalist in the 2019 Australian Education Awards including Best School Strategic Plan, Department Head of the Year (Claire Leong) and Innovation in Learning Environment. And in 2018, Wesley College was named as an Innovative School by the Educator, the leading Australian resource for senior educational professionals.
A Dedication Service for the new premises of St Andrew’s Uniting Church was held on Monday 16 June.
The new building is located on Bennett St, East Perth, and will provide a space for the congregation to live out their vision of reaching the people of East Perth, and building their congregation as a company of God’s faithful people. Prior to moving into their new premises, St Andrew’s Uniting Church were holding worship services at St Bartholomew’s, following the sale of the church building on Pier St due to safety concerns.
After a long illness, Grant Adams died in the Kalamunda Hospice on the afternoon of 12 June 2019.
Grant made an enormous contribution to the life of the Uniting Church as General Manager of Good Samaritan Industries (GSI) and in leading seminars on ‘Church Renewal’ in many of our parishes.
Grant was appointed to GSI in the early 1980’s at a time when the company had a huge debt and was in danger of becoming bankrupt. His leadership enabled GSI to discharge that debt well before his retirement.
Plato advised: Leave it to the experts and Aristotle: Trust it to the wisdom of the people themselves.
The Progressive Christian Network WA conducted a very successful ‘Sustainability Now’ workshop at All Saints Floreat Uniting Church on 8 June. The inaugural event was dedicated to the First Peoples of Australia and the late Dr Bernard Bowen, a lifelong member of the Uniting Church, whose scientific legacy will benefit generations to come.
Over 70 people engaged with a range of eminent speakers.
Fr Rod Bower, activist and Rector of Gosford Anglican Church, set the religious theme with the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden as a sign that humankind was not to consume all that nature provides, to value the Sabbath for a sense of belonging to a wider community and the feeding of the five thousand; a story of creating abundance in the face of scarcity.