Tag: Church and Community

Experiencing Perth through the eyes of Mowanjum’s youth

Post author By revivewa
Post date April 5, 2017

The January school holidays were a special time for 16 students from Derby District High School who spent 11 glorious days in sunny Perth. The students were members of the remote, Indigenous community of Mowanjum.

This is the fourth time Derby students have travelled from the West Kimberly to Perth to experience a different way of life, away from the bush. Their journey to Perth is a long one – 4 500km on a bus with several stops, which included an overnight stay at Port Hedland Uniting Church and Karalundi School in Meekatharra, before reaching their destination: Ern Halliday campsite at Hillarys, Perth.

The excursion was hosted by the Boab Network based at All Saints Floreat Uniting Church, which have been running school holiday programs in Mowanjum for 10 years. There are many reasons why the trip is important for Mowanjum.

Tags Church and Community, First Peoples

Stories & Feature Articles

Making a Messy Church connection

Post author By revivewa
Post date February 28, 2017

The Messy Church congregation at Albany Uniting Church has been running for around three years, led by a group of retired members of the Sunday morning congregation. All aged between 65–85, these 13 leaders are dedicated to bridging a gap between the generations and sharing their faith with the community.

Each month, a Messy Church service is held in the Lockyer building of Albany Uniting Church. The service involves craft activities, stories, songs and discussion, followed by a shared meal.

Tags Church and Community, Youth

News & Announcements

Building on solid foundations

Post author By revivewa
Post date February 22, 2017

Rev Ivan Clark was inducted as a minister of the Word at Noranda Uniting Church on Sunday 19 February.

Prior to induction at Noranda, Ivan has been serving as a minister of the Word at Melville Uniting Church, and has been the chair of the Strategy Mission and Planning Committee. He had also been involved with Youth Council when it was operating.

Rev Margaret Tyrer preached at the service, opening with an anecdote about her grandparents and parents building houses, and describing the hard work they put into it. Tying into the reading of 1 Corinthians 3:10-23, Margaret said that the Apostle Paul used vocabulary around building, and he identified with the application to provide for the family.

“But Paul was not writing about anything physical,” she said. “He was using words about physical things to refer to something spiritual. He was using metaphor.

Tags Church and Community

News & Announcements

Wembley celebrates and gives thanks

Post author By revivewa
Post date February 15, 2017

This year marks the centenary of Wembley Uniting Church.

On Sunday 12 February 2017, the congregation celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service, celebrating the date which Miss Mildred Grigg started a Sunday School in her parents home in the local area just over 100 years ago.

Tags Church and Community, Uniting Church

News & Announcements

Harvest thanksgiving and centenary celebrations

Post author By revivewa
Post date February 6, 2017

On Sunday 11 February 1917, a young music teacher by the name of Mildred Grigg gathered four children together in the home where she lived with her parents for the first meeting of what was called the Pioneer Sunday School.

The house was in Pangbourne Street, Churchlands, in the western suburbs of Perth. In 1924 it became known as Wembley Park after the suburb of London which hosted the British Empire Exhibition in that year. By the end of 1917 there were 26 names on the Sunday School roll, regular worship services were being held in the Grigg home, and the Methodist Church had purchased land a few doors down at 35 Pangbourne Street, where the first church building was erected a few years later.

Tags Church and Community

News & Announcements

Faith amongst pirates

Post author By revivewa
Post date January 24, 2017

For the last few years, Paul ‘Werzel’ Montague, a candidate for ministry with the Uniting Church WA, and Rev Chris Bedding, rector at Darlington-Bellevue Anglican Church, have been known around town as Pirate Church. Since the comedy duo was created, many have caught the Pirate Church bug. The show has toured around the country, and in 2015 won Best WA Comedy at the FringeWorld Awards.

On the back of Yurora NCYC 2017, the Uniting Church in Australia’s National Christian Youth Convention, and in the lead-up to the Perth Fringe Festival, Paul and Chris sat with Heather Dowling, editor of Revive, to chat life, faith, comedy and pirates.

Tags Church and Community, Our People and Agencies

News & Announcements

Sit, chat and wander at Campfire

Post author By revivewa
Post date January 7, 2017

Over the September long weekend, 125 people from Uniting Churches around WA descended on the small, Wheatbelt town of Lake Yealering for Campfire 2016.

Campfire is run by the Pastoral Network of Evangelicals Uniting in Mission Action (PNEUMA) with the express aim of encouraging and resourcing people for mission. It is also a fantastic weekend of relaxing and hanging out with friends – old and new.

Andrew Hamilton, part-time retic guy and part-time pastor of Quinns Baptist Church, was guest speaker this year with his three sessions focusing on ‘The practices of sent people,’ ‘Living lives that are different’ and ‘Speaking of Jesus.’ Andrew’s sessions were engaging and practical with plenty of time for discussion.

Tags Church and Community, Youth

Education & Training

Inspiration to connect

Post author By revivewa
Post date January 3, 2017

Rev Dr John Squires and Rev Elizabeth Raine will be the keynote speakers at next year’s Summer Spirit. John is also the new director of education and formation for the Uniting Church WA, and will take up his role in February 2017.

John and Elizabeth have a passion for doing church in new ways, and have spent much of their recent ministry helping churches creatively connect with their communities. John is currently in a placement with Wauchope and District Uniting Church, NSW, and Elizabeth is serving an Intentional Ministry Placement in Canberra. They have also worked in shared placements, including as Presbytery ministers with the Mid North Coast Presbytery of the Uniting Church NSW/ACT, encouraging others in engaging and new ministry.

With the Summer Spirit theme of ‘Being church in new ways,’ John and Elizabeth will share their knowledge and experience of these ministries, much of which has been spent encouraging congregations to experiment with different ways of connecting with their communities. John said this has happened in various ways, such as community gardens, projects with local schools, Messy Church, community markets and a nonreligious youth group.

Tags Church and Community, Theology and Spiritual Reflections, Training

Stories & Feature Articles

The fundraising stamping ground of WA

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 29, 2016

Wednesday mornings at Bicton Uniting Church are a hive of activity. At the men’s shed there are men building things and upstairs in the main building there is a tap dance class. In the reception area there are three tables, around which are seated a group of industrious people sorting small squares into piles. This is the Uniting Church Mission Fellowship’s (WA) Stamp Team.

The Uniting Church WA has a long history of raising funds through stamp collecting and selling. While there has been a number of people working at it for a while, it has galvanised more recently into an organised offshoot of the Mission Fellowship. In the short 18 month life of this stamp collecting group they have raised a staggering $8 000 for Frontier Services’ Patrol Ministry in WA.

Bob and Kay Lockley, members at Bicton Uniting Church, took over the running of the group 18 months ago. The group that meets at Bicton every Wednesday (except for the third Wednesday of each month) are the sorting crew. They are responsible for sorting stamps according to their value and type before the stamps are sent off to a bulk stamp buying agency that arranges to sell them on to stamp collectors all over Australia.

Tags Church and Community