Tag: Church and Community

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News & Announcements

A celebration of ministry, leadership and unconditional love

Rev Sealin Garlett celebrated his retirement to a packed room on Sunday afternoon 18 December, at Len Packham Hall in Coolbellup. Sealin officially retires on 31 December 2016.

Sealin trained at both the Perth Theological Hall and Nungalinga College, a ministry college for Australia’s First Peoples in Darwin. He was ordained in 1991 to serve at Coolbellup Uniting Church, now Maaman ‘O’ Miya Uniting Church.

Throughout his ministry, Sealin has served with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC), both nationally and in WA. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the UAICC WA’s Beananging Kwuurt Institute.

One of Sealin’s passions has been strengthening the covenantal relationship between the UAICC and the Uniting Church in Australia – a journey of working together to bring about reconciliation and forgiveness between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of Australia.

After a welcome to country from Nyungar elder Uncle Ben Taylor, Rev Dennis Doust introduced a range of speakers from many walks of Sealin’s journey in ministry.

Rev Dr Ian Tozer, acting general secretary of the Uniting Church WA, said that Sealin’s use of Indigenous stories and traditions has helped introduce many people to Jesus Christ.

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A campsite for the journey

On Saturday 10 December, the newly refurbished Uniting Church Campsite in Busselton was converged upon by people from near and far to celebrate the commissioning of the newly opened site.

This commissioning service has been a long time coming. Since falling into disrepair and closing its gates in 2012 the site has been sorely missed by many Uniting Church WA members. The Moderator, Rev Steve Francis, welcomed those gathered, including distinguished guests Busselton Mayor Grant Henley and Hon Barry house, MLC.

Rev Sealin Garlett, chairperson for the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) WA Regional Office, gave recognition of the land and our Indigenous brothers and sisters. He told a story of visiting the campsite with his family while he was studying at the Perth Theological Hall thirty years ago.

Sealin said that on returning to the site he could feel the spirit in the place and that it was a ‘Koort’ place, a heart place.

It isn’t hard to see that Sealin is right, throughout the time at the campsite, people told their own stories of visiting there in years past and how good it is to have the campsite back up and running.

Rev Hollis Wilson, former convener of the First Third Working Group, acknowledged the work of the Campsite Redevelopment Committee members and volunteers who contributed to the work of refurbishing the campsite.

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Swan View Uniting Church wins environmental award

Swan View Uniting Church was recognised for its community garden and environmental efforts on Sunday 30 October in a special service and celebration.

The church was recognised with a Five Leaf Eco-Awards Basic Certificate for their water saving native garden; solar hot water system and solar photovoltaic panels; community green waste collection, chipping and compost program; educating their church and community about gardening, compost and sustainability; and their community garden, which was established in partnership with the Swan View Community Association.

Five Leaf Eco-Awards founder Jessica Morthorpe visited Swan View Uniting Church to present the award to Neil Butcher and Rosemary Smith, who were representing the church and community garden, and to congratulate the congregation on their achievements. This presentation makes them the 9th church in Western Australia to achieve a Five Leaf Eco-Award and the 26th in Australia, with many more working towards completing the criteria.

“The Swan View Community Garden is truly impressive, and has previously been recognised with several grants and awards,” Jessica said.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Russia with love

In the last week of September a very special event took place in Moscow. For the very first time, a hundred scholars came together in Russia to focus on the New Testament and its meaning for faith.

The largest contingent came from Russia itself, predominantly from the mighty Russian Orthodox Church. Alongside them were Orthodox scholars from a range of Eastern European countries, including Greece, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Ukraine, as well as Catholic and Protestant scholars from Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Britain, USA, and Australia.

I made the journey from afar as secretary for International Initiatives of the Society for New Testament Studies, working with its Eastern European Liaison Committee. The Society was able to win the support of Metropolitan Hilarion for the event, who generously hosted us on behalf of the Russian church.

This was a major development in the opening up of the discussion of how New Testament scholarship relates to faith. Some whose faith is nurtured and sustained by the ancient Orthodox liturgical tradition have been reluctant to look beyond it to the world of New Testament scholarship; to ask questions about history and identify diversity, as well as unity among the New Testament writings might undermine faith. We know such fear also from western fundamentalism.

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Dolls to love and cherish

Pinjarra Uniting Church’s Adult Fellowship (UCAF) recently made use of their annual craft get together to create dolls for children in South Africa, through the Uthando Project.

The Uthando Project sends handcrafted, donated dolls to children living in orphanages in KwaZulu Natal, a province of South Africa, who have been affected by HIV AIDS. This area is currently suffering a  pandemic of the virus.

This WA based project works in partnership with non-government organisations in South Africa to deliver dolls to where they are best needed. Children can then use ‘play’ to enjoy life, but also to express the  emotions and grief of losing one or both parents. Uthando, a Zulu word, translates in English to ‘love.’ Gill Muir, from Pinjarra Uniting Church, said their UCAF group wanted to provide the children with  something they could cherish.

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Musical director wanted

Uniting Singers is a mixed voice group of singers who provide entertainment to residents of nursing homes and retirement centres. Concerts consist of songs by the whole group and items by individual members. They also include segments during which the audience is encouraged to singalong.

Most members are retirees and belong to a Uniting Church, coming from all around the metropolitan area. Uniting Singers practice at Floreat All Saints Uniting Church during early months of each year, putting  together a program of items which is then used throughout the year.

Their Acting Musical Director is currently seeking someone with more experience to take over this leadership role.

For more information please contact Ray Young on 9293 3228.

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Phyllis Popplewell remembered

Family, friends and members from five denominations came together at Moora Uniting Church to share a landmark event on Sunday 31 July: the dedication of three leadlight windows constructed with a bequest from Phyllis Popplewell whose ‘Wishes into Windows’ had finally been successful.

Formalities were conducted by Rev Ken Devereux, with Church Council chair, Jonathan Nelson, and I assisting. With Judy Barrett at the piano, Jillian Nelson led the chorus singing and later the congregation  lustily sang hymns that reflected the two short verse captions at the bottom of the two long windows: The Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 23) and God cares for You (1 Peter 5:7).

During the dedication ceremony, Ken called forth representatives from each of the churches present and asked them to tell everyone which parts of the windows appealed to them most. There are lots of small and larger defined subjects in lovely coloured glass from which to choose.

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Greenwood Girls’ Brigade celebrates 40th anniversary

This year is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Greenwood Girls’ Brigade, formerly known as 3rd Perth.

Captain of Greenwood Girls’ Brigade, Sarah Menaglio said, “Over many years, Greenwood Girls’ Brigade has contributed to the community by developing responsible young members of the community, providing a  safe environment for girls to develop a range of life skills and build lasting friendships, and building confidence in girls.

“There were no activities for children in the Greenwood area in 1976. Elizabeth Stokes had a background in Girls’ Brigade and was keen to establish a group in Greenwood.”

Beyond learning life skills, Sarah explained that the aim of Girls’ Brigade is, “To help girls become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through self-control, reverence and a sense of responsibility find true  enrichment of life. This has remained the same over time, though the way in which this is delivered to the girls has been adapted to changing times.”

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Hall restoration makes space for growing congregation

This year GKI Perth Uniting Church (Indonesian) has been undergoing a restoration of their church hall; the Mosman Park building had previously become dilapidated and had largely fallen out of use.

Leo Thamron, GKI Church Council secretary, said the church has seen such growth that the restoration was necessary to increase the space to accommodate the growth.

“GKI has been growing significantly over the last fifteen years or so and what happened was that we renovated the basement of the other building but that was still not enough,” he said.

“The short-term plan is to use the hall to accommodate the Sunday School children. Medium to longer term, the plans are for the building to host cultural events… not just for the Indonesian community but for the  Mosman Park community as well.”

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Uniting Church Campsite almost ready for campers

Community members are invited to the Uniting Church Campsite Commissioning Service, followed by a light lunch on Saturday 10 December from 12.30pm at 140 Caves Road Busselton to celebrate the  refurbishment of the site.

For the past four years, the Uniting Church Campsite in Busselton has not been used for its original purpose, having fallen out of compliance. This year, the site has been overhauled.

Rev Hollis Wilson, chair of the First Third Working Group and chaplain at Methodist Ladies’ College (MLC), said “Our Outdoor Ed person here at MLC, Gary Howlett came to me and said ‘What about that camp   site down there?’ and I looked at him and said ‘I don’t know.’

“But the beauty of being the convener of First Third [Working Group] is that it gave me an opening to find out what was going on.”

The conversation between Gary and Hollis led to the Uniting Church WA Resources Board requesting the establishment of the Camp Site Redevelopment Committee, operating under the auspices of the First Third  Working Group. First Third Ministry resources ministry for people in the first third of life. Works on the site began early this year and included refurbishing the meeting facility, building new ablutions buildings and bringing the water, electricity and fire services up to compliance. Work is expected to be completed in October.

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