Tag: Multi-Cultural

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News & Announcements

Harmony and diversity: transforming the church

Australia is celebrated as a multicultural country, with around a quarter of Australians born overseas, according to the latest Census data (2011). This Census also confirmed that WA is the most culturally diverse state in Australia, with 31% of Western Australians originally hailing from other countries.

In WA, Harmony Week runs from Tuesday 15 to Monday 21 March. It’s an opportunity to celebrate multiculturalism and for cultural groups to learn and grow from each other. Inspired by the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Harmony Day and Harmony Week aims to end discrimination by celebrating difference and getting to know each other. While Harmony Week shines a spotlight on our diversity, its aim is that we carry those stories and relationships throughout the year.

Rebecca Ball is the executive director for the Government of Western Australia’s Office of Multicultural Interests. She said that there is a range of benefits to living in such a diverse community.

“There’s a multitude of benefits. It’s realising that where you think there might be difference, in fact we’re all the same,” she said. “To have a society that’s diverse really can only improve ones understanding of other people; it can broaden our minds, accept difference. You don’t have to agree with one another on every point, but at least you can understand one another’s viewpoints. And that is absolutely essential to a peaceful and tolerant society.

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Second generation Tongans let their light shine

If you want to be inspired about the work of the Uniting Church, go to the Tongan National Conference (TNC) and meet the Second Generation.

Every June more than 1000 Tongan members of the Uniting Church in Australia gather at the foothills of the Blue Mountains in Sydney for three days of fellowship and sharing.

A standout feature of the weekend is the contribution of the young people, the “second gen”, to every aspect of the conference.

From the rousing opening worship the second gen have a hand in everything, from the music and technical operations on stage, to leading faith discussions and providing input into decision-making.

This year more than 400 Tongan young people from 20 congregations all over Australia attended the TNC from 5-8 June.

The annual gathering is clearly a much-anticipated highlight for Tongan youth each year. Youth groups spend many months rehearsing choir and cultural performances for the different parts of the TNC program. This year there was even a video countdown to the conference on the TNC Facebook page.

Rev Charissa Suli heads up the Second Gen Leadership Team which includes representatives from every state and the ACT. Her role is to mentor and grow emerging leaders.

“TNC is a fun-spirit filled weekend that inspires young Tongan people to keep finding Christ in their lives,” said Charissa.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Living life and faith cross-culturally

Rev Dr Apwee Ting found wonder in diversity from an early age.

“Growing up in Indonesia was such a happy time for me,” recalls the Uniting Church in Australia’s (UCA) newest national director.

“I remember playing outside from morning to night – flying kites, playing soccer, badminton and marbles. We had many friends of different ethnicities and everyone always left their doors open.”

Half a century later Apwee will be looking to share that same sense of wonder across the Uniting Church in the area of Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry (MCCM).

While Apwee’s national role commenced in July, his preparation for the role has been a lifetime in the making, and begins with his own migrant journey.

The Ting family settled in Solo in Central Java in the 1950s.

“My parents were farmers who migrated from Fujian Province in China looking for a better life,” he explains. “For them the diversity of Indonesia meant opportunity.”

There was hardship too. By 1962 when Apwee was born, Java was gripped by severe poverty and increasing political tension ahead of Suharto becoming Indonesia’s President. The chief concern of Apwee’s family was day-to-day survival.

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News & Announcements

Cool Burn: sharing in diversity

This September, the Cool Burn Intercultural Youth Camp will engage youth from around the church with an inspiring and relationship-building experience. This is the second time the camp has  run; with last year’s event a successful and engaging time for those involved.

A joint initiative of Uniting Church in WA’s Multicultural Ministries and First Third, the camp invites young people aged 13 and over to come and share time with God and with people from different cultures within the diversity of the Uniting Church in WA. Running over the weekend of 19–20 September it will be a fun and reflective time including loads of activities, worship and  sharing between cultures.

Rev Dr Emanuel Audisho, multicultural ministry co-ordinator said that the camp will create lasting relationships between different cultures within the church.

“We have in our vision to encourage the youth to come together from different cultures and backgrounds, to sit together, share with each other and to have fun,” he said. “We want to let them  know that we are many people, one body of Jesus Christ and that the Uniting Church is a multicultural church, the church for all God’s people.”

The camp will be held at the Alfred Hynes Seaside Camp in Rockingham and to register, or for more information, contact Alice Boomer at alice.boomer@wa.uca.org.au or call 9260 9800.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Partner church guests take in the sights of Perth

International guests to the 14th Triennial Assembly a tour of local Indigenous sites, visited local enterprises, and enjoyed some local multicultural hospitality on day four of the meeting.

UnitingWorld guests and other ecumenical partners found themselves warmly welcomed at St Aidan’s Claremont Uniting Church as guests of the congregation and the Western Australia  Multicultural Committee at an Assembly Multicultural Dinner.

“The most lovely food and the most lovely people!” enthused Pacific partners in particular as they tucked into traditional taro and other delicacies from their homelands. Domino’s Pizza also put in  a special appearance, as did a youth choir singing grace and Rev Steve Francis, moderator of the Uniting Church in WA.

UnitingWorld guests continued to be impressed with Western  Australian innovation and commitment on a morning tour of the Good Samaritan Industries warehouse in Canningvale. Donning bright fluorescent vests – some of which they were reluctant to hand back later – the team toured the floor of the factory which provides employment for people with disabilities, who sort and prepare donated goods for sale in iconic ‘Good Sammy’ stores throughout WA.

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News & Announcements

Welcome Rev Dr Apwee Ting

The Assembly Standing Committee has approved the appointment of Rev Dr Apwee Ting as the new National Director of Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry.

Rev Dr Ting is a Minister of the Word at Dandenong Uniting Church in Victoria, in one of Australia’s most culturally diverse and multifaith communities. He is a former Chairperson of the UCA’s Indonesian National Conference, as well as a former Chair (2006-2009) and current member of the Assembly’s National Reference Committee for Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry, with the specified role of liaison with the Assembly’s Relations with other Faiths Working Group.

Rev Dr Ting completed his PhD in 2005 at STTIP Jakarta (Sekolah Tinggi Teologi International Philadelphia) with an examination of the topic ‘Cross Cultural Ministry is the fulfilment of missional mandate in the areas of Church Unity and Growth’ from theological and ministerial perspectives.

“I strongly feel the hands of God, friends and communities supporting and encouraging me to take this important role. I feel so grateful and humbled by this opportunity and will give myself as a servant to all,” said Rev Dr Ting. 

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Education & Training

Diaconal ministry: Faith at work in the everyday

While kangaroo tails are cooked and smoke billows above an inner city church courtyard on a balmy summer’s evening, stories are told by indigenous people. During morning worship, chairs are stacked in a haphazard pile to express sorrow over injustices experienced by the marginalized. Encouragement is given through Biblical stories of women and men who show their faith in Christ by listening, serving and forming new worshipping communities.

These are a few examples of the diverse and enriching experiences of the Deacon Intensive (for candidates) and the national DUCA (Diakonia in the Uniting Church in Australia) Conference that was held in February in Adelaide over two weeks.

The candidates were a diverse group, including two indigenous leaders, an Irish pastor, a Filipino journalist and an African-American woman, as well as several Australians, all with long experience of diaconal ministry. The candidates in the first week participated in worship, Bible studies, discussions, and immersion visits to a prison, refugee place of welcome and a community garden. Evening sessions, facilitated by Rev Dr Steve Taylor, Principal of Uniting College and Senior Lecturer at Flinders University, further extended their engagement with mission and community service.

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GKI on the move

One of the outcomes of our recent Annual Meeting of the Presbytery and Synod of the Uniting Church in WA was the commitment to continue our partnership with the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI).

The partnership began over two decades ago and has led to the growth of the GKI Perth Uniting Church congregation in Mosman Park and a special Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that points to various ways we can co-operate and learn from each other.

IMG_0043Rosemary Hudson-Miller, acting general Secretary of the Uniting Church in WA, and I, moderator of the Uniting Church in WA, were very privileged to be able to visit Indonesia in September to  attend the GKI West Java Synod and sign the MOU. This was a tremendous privilege and richly rewarding for us. We were able to witness a church that is growing and dynamic in many areas of its life.

We stayed in the climatically cool Zuri Resort and Convention Center, owned by GKI, about three hours out of Jakarta, near Bogor in the mountains. It was very special being part of their synod  meetings. About 270 members attended from eight presbyteries across West Java.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Celebrating diversity while learning for life

North Balga‘s Devanya Strickland and Makayla White with Scotch College’s Will Lewis and Cooper Van Rooyen. Photo courtesy of The Community Newspaper Group.
North Balga‘s Devanya Strickland and Makayla White with Scotch College’s Will Lewis and Cooper Van Rooyen. Photo courtesy of The Community Newspaper Group.

As neighbours from across the city, year five students from Scotch College enjoyed a day out last year celebrating  with students of North Balga Primary School (NBPS) in their Multicultural Day. North Balga Primary School is a vibrant, multicultural school, with many students speaking English as their second language, from many different cultures.

Students from the school performed a range of dances and displays to celebrate their different cultures with the students from Scotch College, a Uniting Church school in Perth’s  Western Suburbs.

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