Tag: Church and Community

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News & Announcements

English classes for more opportunity

Throughout March and April this year, 11 students from West Papua immersed themselves in Australian culture as part of the Australian Papuan Cultural Exchange Program. Through this  program, the students, aged between 18–25, are able to build-up their English language skills, giving them more opportunities back home.

The idea originally sparked within All Saints Floreat Uniting Church after a visit to The Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua (GKI di TP), a partner church of the Uniting Church in  Australia. In its third season since 2010, this year the program was run with the assistance of many Uniting Church congregations across WA, including Scarborough, Trinity North, North  Midlands and Foothills St Martins. From teachers and conversation partners to host families and bus drivers, this program is no easy feat to pull off – but its rewards are immeasurable.

Whilst in Australia, the students lived with host families in Perth, spending their days learning English in a classroom held at the Floreat church. It’s not all hard work though, as they also spent  time exploring some of the city’s attractions, as well as heading south to Busselton and north to Coorow for some fun and time-out.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Messy Church Mix-Up

On Sunday 3 May, 10.00am, in Busselton, something really mixed-up was happening at Bryant Memorial Uniting Church. This was not normal.

The usual crowd for a Sunday morning service  were all there, but this was not what they were used to; it was not Sunday church as they knew it. For a start, the music was different – instead of the usual piano and organ, there was a band –  and look, are those our ministers with the guitars? Yes, Rev Brenton Prigge and Rev Andrew Broadbent are both up there in the band, and those  are Andy’s boys, Tom and Ned playing with them.

But that’s not all – there was no sermon; there was a Godly Play story instead. And then there were all these other wonderful young families who usually only go to church once a month on a Saturday for Messy Church. Maybe this service had been planned just for them? Maybe this was a typical Messy Church?

But no, the Messy Church people were also finding everything a bit  mixedup. There was no craft, for a start, and the whole thing was happening in the sanctuary instead of using the hall as well. And there were just pews; no tables and chairs. Not only that, but there was much more singing than at Messy Church and so many more wonderful ‘Granny and Grandpa’ type people… and after  the Godly Play story that was all about the ‘Table of the Good Shepherd,’ they had this wonderful thing where everybody was actually invited to gather around the table, just like in the  story. That never happens at our Messy Church!

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News & Announcements

100 years of history at Osborne Park

September is a big month for us at Osborne Park Uniting Church this year. One hundred years ago, on 5 September 1915, our little church opened its doors for worship for the first time. To  commemorate the occasion, the church is planning a number of events over the week beginning with an open day on the actual anniversary date, where there will be an opportunity for the  community to see some of the old photos and books from the early years, provided by church members and the City of Stirling.

Although all the plans are not finalised, we hope to have some events over the week from Saturday 5 to Sunday 13 September, when we will hold a Special Anniversary Service at our normal  time of 9.30am.

The decision to build the church was made with the help and encouragement of the local Member of Parliament, Mr John Veryard MLA. Those present at the meeting represent many families  whose association with the church continued through its history and to this day. The building, it was decided, would be erected on the ground given by the Osborne Park Company. We have a picture of the sales brochure, which is similar in style to the Grenville Church. Originally, an unlined weatherboard building on wooden stumps, with a corrugated iron roof made up of six foot sheets, as was the standard in those times, it had a small wooden spire at the  front pointing to heaven.

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News & Announcements

Emergency Hospitality – WA’s best kept secret

One of the best kept secrets of the Uniting Church in Australia is the Emergency Hospitality Project, a program of the WA Uniting Church Adult Fellowship. It started to help country folk  coming to the city, faced with fully-booked hotels and huge costs. Willing city hosts provide a bed and breakfast. As ‘kids from the bush’ living close to major hospitals and with good public  transport close by, we appreciated this chance to give a helping hand and it has been a gratifying experience.

We have met a wide range of country folk and enjoyed their company greatly. So much so, that we decided to set-up our studio as a granny flat with bathroom and kitchenette, to provide a  choice of company or complete privacy. This program is for anyone with an appointment in Perth needing a clean, comfortable bed at a reasonable cost in one of the world’s most expensive  cities – not just for medical emergencies.

Disappointingly, this service has not been used as much as expected. For more information call 0447 910 007 or email emergencyhospitality@wa.uca.org.au.

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News & Announcements

Filling a need in Gingin

There are many benefits in living in the country, but at Gingin Uniting Church, we have become aware of a looming major community problem: Alzheimer’s and a lack of services and carer  support. After some input from Rev Dr Bill Jenkins at our 5th Sunday combined churches service, we decided to take it further and offer a full-day free seminar run by Alzheimer’s Australia  WA, as a community service activity. Bill is a Uniting Church minister and a psychologist who has conducted research into dementia.

There was much interest and thanks before the event, and leading up to it we have discovered several community members who have both training and/or experience with Alzheimer’s care, as  well as families already struggling to cope.

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News & Announcements

Creating vision at the Crossroads

Wanneroo Crossways Uniting Church lies close to a major crossing of roads. The congregation has also been at something of a crossroads in its life over the last year. Quietly urged on by  members, it has now completed a planning process which has been suitably labelled ‘Towards a 2020 Vision’. The crux of the action was led by Rev David Kriel, mission planner at the Uniting  Church WA.

Members are now focussing on the set goals and are in the process of setting in place suitable actions and time-lines, as well as calling members to serve Christ and the gospel with the skills.

May the Holy Spirit grant Crossways the strength, guidance and wisdom to enable their reach to be bigger than our grasp.

Gemmel Sherwood

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Education & Training

Summer Spirit: Growing in discipleship

Craig Mitchell’s workshop at Summer Spirit in February was both inspirational and entertaining. Craig is the national director of Formation, Education and Discipleship for the Uniting Church  in Australia.

His two sessions looked at congregations as learning communities and mission-shaped discipleship. Effective ministry leadership was about building relationships both within the congregation  and in the larger community. Examples of how to do this were shown in video clips from a Formation, Education and Discipleship (FED) study: Creative thinking was necessary even when it  challenged people’s comfort zones. I liked the example given of a minister who shook up his Church Council meeting by hiring a bus and taking them all to dinner in a city restaurant. They had a  bird’s eye view of the casino carpark and the minister challenged them to think about how to get the church carpark just as full.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Editorial: TLC – Mission accomplished

I’ve previously written in Revive about my connection to Trinity Learning Centre (TLC) as a past student when my son was a baby. It was a sad day for many other past students, teachers,  classroom supervisors, crèche staff, congregation members, committee members and volunteers when TLC closed its doors on Saturday 28 February this year. TLC, a program of UnitingCare  West, originally began out of Trinity Uniting Church (now part of Uniting Church in the City) providing education and support to pregnant and parenting young mothers. I’ve written about the  impact TLC had on my life before, so I won’t get into that again. I have a better story to tell…

At the farewell, Sue Ash, CEO of UnitingCare West, spoke about the sadness and anger people felt at the news that this amazing program was ending. She then reminded us of the success of TLC  – not just for the women who graduated, but also for the church as it filled a need. When TLC began, almost 30 years ago, there was nothing like it in Perth. Dr Harry Cohen recognised a need  for young mothers to have an opportunity to finish high school, through his work at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, which has a dedicated adolescent maternity ward.

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News & Announcements

Building project supports the spirit of giving

A generous grant from Lotteries West has helped Pemberton Uniting Church expand their own generous spirit, as they built  an extension on their church. The extension will be used to store and pack food parcels for local families doing it tough.

Faye Backhouse, from Pemberton Uniting Church, said that while there is still some minor work to be done, the renovations  are a major improvement on what they have been using previously.

“We’ve still got a little bit of painting to do,” she said. “We’ll have a few more busy-bees to finish it off properly.

“All the food is in the new area, it’s out of sight and we’ve got a couple of freezers.”

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Congratulations Mary!

Mary volunteerAt a recent function for the Shire of Augusta and Margaret River, Mary Elton, a member of Margaret River Uniting Church, was named Volunteer of the Year for the Shire. Mary was nominated primarily for her work in running fire preparedness courses for the community, however, was also acknowledged for all the wonderful programs she is involved with through the church.

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