Tag: Faith In Action

Categories
Stories & Feature Articles

Papuan students on learning, living and language

The 2017 Australian-Papuan Cultural Exchange Program (APCEP) cohort are on a mission to make their world a better place.

A group of students from from Papua and West Papua, where English is a valuable skill, have recently spent 12 weeks in Perth learning about Australian culture whilst studying English language.

“Learning English and being able to converse in English will open many doors for the students. They get to bring back their knowledge and share it with their community,” said APCEP program co-ordinator and host family volunteer, Lee-Anne Burnett.

APCEP began in 2010 and is managed by volunteers from the Black Pearl Network (BPN), a sub-group of the Creative Living Centre, part of Trinity North and Floreat Uniting Churches. The  program is in partnership with the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua.

Continue reading “Papuan students on learning, living and language”
Categories
Stories & Feature Articles

How good is your gift?

everything-in-common-catalogue001Australians give a lot of gifts – about $8.9 billion worth last year.

But how good were they? A jawdropping $500 million worth ended up back on e-Bay within a month and quite a few of them are probably nestled somewhere in landfill because really, who needs a Star Wars  themed toilet roll holder?

As people of faith, giving and generosity is central to our identity. We Christians are not only good at donating, but at reliably providing mince-based meals in a crisis and giving our time for the school fete. I have a  hunch, though, that the early church saw giving as being about much more than ‘one off’ acts of charity. In Acts, ‘everyone was together and shared everything in common, so that no one would have need’ (Acts 2:  42).

This was about choosing to live beside others as brothers and sisters, fully invested in their lives and wellbeing. Life in Christ is not just about good giving. It’s about building long-term relationships that care for  people.

Continue reading “How good is your gift?”
Categories
News & Announcements

Bringing people together at Christmas

UnitingCare West officially launched the annual Target UnitingCare Christmas Appeal in WA on Friday 18 November, in Perth’s CBD, at 100 St George’s Terrace Perth. Students from Tranby College helped create a festive environment, singing Christmas carols to those present.

One in eight Australians are currently living in poverty. Many of these people turn to UnitingCare to put food on the table, buy gifts for their children and provide temporary accommodation over Christmas. The  annual Christmas Appeal helps to support people through their hard times.

This year, Target and UnitingCare are hoping to raise $1.5 million, which will go towards running many of UnitingCare’s community services. Leave an unwrapped gift underneath the Christmas tree at  participating Target stores, and you could be helping women and children fleeing domestic violence, people seeking emergency relief or children in foster care.

At the launch, Sue Ash, CEO of UnitingCare West, explained what the Target UnitingCare Christmas Appeal means for UnitingCare West.

Continue reading “Bringing people together at Christmas”
Categories
Stories & Feature Articles

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.

Continue reading “Dolls to love and cherish”
Categories
News & Announcements

Mission for vision

Members of Rockingham Uniting Church have a proud outward looking tradition of supporting causes well beyond the local church.

Over the last 12 months we have risen to the challenge of no less than four special appeals. Our latest venture was in support of the Lions Eye Institute (LEI) in memory of my wife, the late Kaye Hogg for research  into blinding Inherited Retinal Diseases and Macular Degeneration. Our efforts resulted in a donation of $3 000 going to the work of Associate Professor Fred Chen at LEI.

Kaye was a loved member of our congregation who inherited Retinitis Pigmentosa which eventually took her sight. Legally blind by the age of 50, it was her long held desire to donate her eyes to medical science  upon death.

When diagnosed with a non responsive high-grade lymphoma and given 12 months to live, Kaye and I approached Associate Professor Fred Chen at LEI concerning her desire. Fred’s immediate response was, “Kaye, this is a unique opportunity to advance the research into Retinitis Pigmentosa that I am doing.”

He went on to explain that to be an organ donor, it is necessary to die in hospital, where organs and tissue can be harvested and preserved within one hour of death. When Kaye died in Hollywood Hospital in April  2015, Professor Chen came immediately and collected the eyes, and some skin. He already had her DNA.

Continue reading “Mission for vision”
Categories
News & Announcements

Uniting Aid celebrates 35 years of caring

In 1981, the churches of the Uniting Church Yokine Region Parish conducted a community study to assess how they could serve their community and, recognising the physical needs of the struggling members of  their community, they established Uniting Aid at Dianella Uniting Church.

This year is Uniting Aid’s 35th Anniversary and it really is an organisation worth celebrating.

At its inception, Uniting Aid was aphone-in service for co-ordinating community assistance. The services provided then were broad: lifts for people to essential appointments, grocery shopping assistance, moving goods by trailer, and providing occasional respite for in-home carers. These days, Uniting Aid looks different in service, but is similar in spirit. Now operating out of a building in Nollamara, the use of which is  donated by the Uniting Church WA, Uniting Aid is made-up of 65 volunteers who undertake a variety of tasks across the week.

Margaret Waller, chairperson of Uniting Aid, said the volunteers are fantastic.

Continue reading “Uniting Aid celebrates 35 years of caring”
Categories
Stories & Feature Articles

Honoured for many years of service

In April, Anne Steed, from Kalamunda Uniting Church, was honoured with life membership of The Leprosy Mission Australia in recognition of her work supporting and serving people living with leprosy. The award was presented by The Leprosy Mission Australia CEO, Sheldon Rankin, who was the keynote speaker for an information afternoon tea.

Anne’s passion for helping leprosy sufferers began more than four decades ago when in 1968 she pursued a Methodist federal youth project placement to Papua New Guinea (PNG). Her placement was at Gemo Island, an isolation hospital for sufferers of leprosy and of tuberculosis. Anne’s initial placement was for one year, but she was so moved by her experience that she applied for a six-month extension.

“I had only just finished my training as a laboratory technologist and we’d had two lines on leprosy in our lecture notes. The little hospital really didn’t have a laboratory, so I had to set-up a simple laboratory when I got there,” Anne explained.

The first cure for leprosy was made available in the 1950’s, since which time millions of patients have been cured. However, in countries without suitable healthcare infrastructure many leprosy sufferers did not receive the medication that would have cured them and prevented further complications.

“We were actually doing a lot of surgery at that time too, and I assumed that this was just part and parcel of leprosy work. It had been continuing for a number of years until I discovered, quite some years later, that surgery hadn’t come into PNG until about 1965. So they were trying to catch up with the backlog of the many people who need surgery,” Anne said.

Continue reading “Honoured for many years of service”
Categories
Stories & Feature Articles

Students serve in South Africa

A group of St Stephen’s School students have brought smiles to the faces of hundreds of underprivileged children in South Africa, following their recent service learning trip during the April school holidays.

The tour, co-ordinated by St Stephen’s School secondary teacher Dale Kelly, saw the Year 10 students cart bricks, paint and perform manual labour to upgrade sporting and other facilities at the Jehovah Jireh Haven (JJ Haven) orphanage on South Africa’s Sunshine Coast.

They also visited homeless shelters and townships to gain insight into the living conditions of disadvantaged South Africans; played soccer games against local teams; and delivered 250 pairs of soccer boots donated by the St Stephen’s School community.

“It was an amazing experience for all of us,” Dale said. “To be able to give something to the children who have so little was a huge reward. Our students showed great maturity and compassion throughout the trip and learned an appreciation of how privileged we truly are in Australia.”

Continue reading “Students serve in South Africa”
Categories
Stories & Feature Articles

Black Pearls shine brightly in dark times

The Uniting Church WA Black Pearl Network has just returned from another fascinating trip to the land of Papua, a place of both hopeful and troubling developments. Geoff Bice, justice and mission consultant at the Uniting Church WA recently traveled to West Papua with the Black Pearl Network. He reflects on his journey.

Whenever we say we are going to West Papua, people often think we mean Papua New Guinea (PNG), but we don’t. It’s close in a number of ways, but an entirely different place. It’s on the same landmass, its people are of a shared ethnicity, and it’s roughly equivalent in size to PNG; but it lies within the borders of Indonesia.

Whenever we go we do so at the invitation of our partner church – Gereja Kristen Injili Indonesia (GKI) di Tanah Papua – an amazingly courageous and gentle collection of Christians who are always wonderfully friendly and hospitable to us.

Whenever we come back we are always a little bit different. In a good way.

As always, it was a delight to meet with previous students from the Australia Papua Cultural Exchange Program (APCEP). We are always sure to take up a selection of children’s English books for them to use in running their own English classes with other young Papuans. It is so encouraging to see our small contribution multiplied by the students as they pass on their knowledge to others in their community.

Continue reading “Black Pearls shine brightly in dark times”
Categories
News & Announcements

Walks to inspire, challenge and equip

The Walk to Emmaus was originally established by the Upper Room in the United States and is sponsored in Australia by the Uniting Church. It is a lay ecumenical organisation, run with input by clergy members from various protestant denominations.

Its mission is to inspire, challenge and equip church members for Christian action in their own churches, homes, places of work and communities. An
Emmaus Walk is a three day retreat for 12 to 25 pilgrims. The Pilgrims are led and supported by team members of the Emmaus community who aim to provide a total caring experience both spiritually and physically, during their walk of faith.

The Emmaus experience does not finish at the conclusion of a pilgrim’s walk. Pilgrims are encouraged to attend monthly gatherings of the Emmaus Community, to join an Emmaus Reunion Group, as well as having the opportunity to serve as part of the team on future walks. It is through this service that community members grow spiritually and gain skills in a supportive Christian environment, which enhance their service in their own church community.

Continue reading “Walks to inspire, challenge and equip”