Tag: Our People and Agencies

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The tale of a kingdom

Rev Mark Illingworth has recently concluded his placement at The Billabong Uniting Church, after 15 years of service. Rev  Luke Williams will continue ministry with the congregation. Christine Iacobellis reflects on this journey.

Once upon a time, there was a green pool of water with minnows, frogs and turtles in a kingdom called Canning Vale. The  land around was wild where rabbits roamed and snakes slithered. God had plans for this land and sent a family to begin  carrying them out. This family could see a glimpse of what God saw. They imagined what beauty the land held and saw how  it could be a real hub in the kingdom of Canning Vale and even other kingdoms beyond.

The Illingworth family from left: Anneliis, Rebekah, Deborah, Mark and Zachary.
The Illingworth family from left: Anneliis, Rebekah, Deborah, Mark and Zachary.

This family saw past the littered car bodies and burnt out shed and saw a meeting place for people who wanted to worship God. With twinkly eyes and big ideas, this family thanked God for a chance to transform and use the gift of the land. The  family gathered with others to see the land.

“Look”, they said, “can you see what it will be like when the community comes here and gets to see God in what we do?”

Some said “No, not really, are you mad?” but others said “Yes, I can kind of see what you mean.”

And so together they set about cleaning up, constructing, landscaping and transforming. For many years, the family changed the lives of other subjects and even in other kingdoms further away. They held feasts, celebrations and erected  great tents, encouraging others to look to God and live like the great King Jesus. They lent a hand, prayed regularly and  took time to know those around them. They did this always with willing hearts and big smiles.

Like all good adventures, things didn’t always run smoothly. There were times of despair and hardship, but through all the  years, the family clung to God. Eventually, the pool of water changed and is today no longer on the land because another,  bigger house for God is being built.

God has now chosen a new little family just starting out to continue to do God’s work in the kingdom of Canning Vale.

We at The Billabong and under our Heavenly King, thank the twinkly eyed family for their faithfulness. Mark, Deb, Anneliis,  Bek and Zac; we thank you for shining the light of God outwards to us in all that you do. We thank you for being steadfast  and standing alongside us as we wait for our happily ever after.

Christine Iacobellis

Image: The site of the Billabong Church in Canning Vale.

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Alan celebrates

Rev Alan Matthews will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of his ordination, in March. Throughout his ministry, Alan has held placements in Birmingham, England; Victoria, Australia; Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory; and Nedlands, Swan View and Cockburn in Western Australia. He has also had an active involvement with Uniting Church in WA Presbytery and Synod, including in the areas of social justice, Christian unity and world mission.

He retired from ministry in 1992, but since then has kept active in the Uniting Church including taking services in various congregations and representing Frontier Services.

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Conclusion of placement for pastor Elaine Ledgerwood

It was a warm, pleasant Sunday afternoon on 11 January 2015 when Rowthorpe Uniting Church gathered in the Sutton Community Centre to recognise the conclusion of three years of the part-time ministry provided by Dr Elaine Ledgerwood  and to hand over pastoral responsibility for the congregation to Rev Dr Alison Longworth.

The service was led by Elaine who preached on the Baptism of Jesus. Elaine identified baptism as a symbol of God’s grace  and of new beginnings. Elaine shared that for her the day was a time of looking for new ways to live out her calling while Alison  has emerged from her recent retirement to this new experience of parttime supply ministry.

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New leadership for the UAICC

The National Conference of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress has made two new leadership appointments.

Rev Dennis Corowa is the new National UAICC Chairperson. Dennis is also currently Chairperson of the Queensland UAICC Regional Committee (Calvary Presbytery), Dennis has been involved with Congress since 1985, working in congregational ministry and school and prison chaplaincy. He is one of the authors of Rainbow Spirit Theology. He has a vision for First Peoples to claim their strength and dignity, and life in all its fullness, and to struggle against all that stops people claiming that life.

A new Deputy Chairperson was also appointed – Rev Garry Dronfield of NSW-ACT Congress. Garry is a Bundjalung man, presently ministering at Sylvania Uniting Church.

Tributes were paid to outgoing Chairperson Rev Rronang Garrawurra of the Northern Regional Council of Congress whose work in the last three years has been widely acknowledged across the Uniting Church.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Tragedy brings forth passion

Can you identify an event or a time in your childhood that impacted so hugely it defined your life from then on?

Alison Xamon links her passion for mental health and its effect on family members, especially children, to the suicide of her father when she was 11 years old. Alison’s father, Rev Alan Miller,  was the minster at Duncraig Uniting Church at the time of his death. His illness and death rocked, and continues to define, Alison’s life – emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.

Today Alison is a lawyer, happily married with three children, and a member of the Star Street congregation. A former  member (2009 -2013) of the State Parliament Upper House for the  Greens, Alison’s focus is now on advocacy for mental health and suicide prevention. She is president of the WA Association for Mental Health, the peak body for mental health services in this  state, and vice-chair of Community Mental Health Australia, a national body. She is also on the board of Mental Health Australia, the peak body nationally, and sits on the Ministerial Council  for Suicide Prevention. She is excited to be a co-leader of the newly established Mental Health Network under the auspices of the Department of Health. This network brings together mental health clinicians, NGO’s, carers and mental health consumers and aims to address cultural change and drive the need for mental health reforms.

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80 years of ministry

A quiet lunch for four in country Victoria was the recent setting for the celebration of eighty years of ministry in the church between Rev Dr John Smith and Rev Peter Batchelor.

John and Peter were both born in the Wagin district and went on to service through the Methodist and the Uniting Church. Both were ordained at Wesley Church Perth (now Uniting Church in the City, Wesley Perth) on 13 of October, 1974. On this fortieth anniversary they met with their loved ones around a table to celebrate the occasion.

John was born in Wagin, and after a stint at the Eastern Goldfields Methodist Mission at Boulder as a Home Missionary in 1968, he studied at the Methodist Barclay Theological Hall and the  University of Western Australia. Commencing in 1974 John served in five Parishes in Western Australia and worked for the Uniting Church Synod as the Division of Mission and Nurture Co-ordinator. In 2000 He moved to Hotham Parish Mission in North Melbourne where he pastored to a varied flock including many notable academic and community leaders. John retired in  2013 and continues his reading, writing and occasional teaching on his interests and – always a country boy – commutes between his city home and his country retreat in Castlemaine.

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New principal for the Hall

In October, Rev Emeritus Prof Bill Loader was appointed as the new Principal of Perth Theological Hall. His term will run till the end of 2015. For Bill, this is a return to the Hall where he taught from 1978-2005.

Bill sees his return as coming at an exciting time of change and renewal in the church concerning theological education both for lay people and for those preparing for ordained ministry.

“We are beginning to see new forms of being church and a key role will be to support and resource these so that they continue to be rooted in the faith of the church and its traditions as they seek to bring them to fresh expression,” Bill said.

At the national level talks are underway to transform the way theological education is coordinated and resourced across the synods with new and promising possibilities of much closer collaboration, especially in professional formation. In WA there has been an important review process looking to the future shape especially of formation for ordained ministry. It is likely to lead to new ways of doing things at a number of levels: from ways of assessment, deployment of staff resources, engagement of local UCA expertise, to development of a wider range of methods of delivery including intensives.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Where is our belief, our hope, and our faith?

By the end of this year – twelve months since I retired – I will have taken at least 26 services – probably the most since I stopped being a parish minister in 1978. I have loved it as it has given me a different experience of the church. And it has also alerted me to an alarming emerging challenge for the Uniting Church in WA and I think the wider church community here.

Most of the congregations, in my opinion, run the risk of simply becoming ‘retiring villages’.

I was North Metro Regional Pastor for 3 or 4 years. In that time I visited all the congregations and worshipping communities in the region at least once. I have also been a member of the Pastoral elations and Placements Committee (PR&PC) twice in the last 10 years. One of the things I did as regional pastor was to arrange for a bus tour of the northern regional development.

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Going further together

The Eastern Wheatbelt Uniting Churches welcomed their new minister, as Rev John McKane was inducted into the region on Sunday 24 August at Mukinbudin Uniting Church. John is now the new minister at Muckinbudin, Merredin, Bruce Rock and Southern Cross Uniting Churches.

John has come to the region fresh from Johannesburg, South Africa, where he had been serving as a minister to the Linden Presbyterian Church. He said that he considers the local church to be the hope of the world.

“If you want to go fast, you go alone,” John said. “If you want to go far, go together.”

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Zak shares ministry and mission with Bicton

Rev Zak Cronje was inducted into Bicton Uniting Church on Sunday 10 August. Zak moved to Australia from South Africa in 2001 and has previously served in ministry with the Eastern Wheatbelt and Maylands/Mt Lawley Uniting Churches. He has also been involved with various councils within the church including in ecumenical and community settings. He was ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa in 1979.

Rosemary Hudson Miller, acting general secretary of the Uniting Church in WA said at the induction “Zak comes to Bicton today with a great sense of passion for Jesus as his Lord. He knows well the power of God at work in people’s lives and enjoys sharing in the ministry and mission of God with others and together seeing positive change take place.

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