Tag: Our People and Agencies

More than a job: Celebrating 60 years of GSI

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 2, 2018

John Knowles, CEO of Good Samaritan Industries (GSI), welcomed me into his office with a big smile and an even bigger heart before announcing we needed to step out for a minute to sing happy birthday to a staff member.

Out in the foyer, staff (and me) gathered for cake and well wishes, while a group of high school kids wandered in to one of the meeting rooms for job training. In the warehouse, employees sort and pack all sorts of donations, from clothes to bedding to shoes and accessories. And in the canteen staff are busy preparing food.

The place is a hive of activity where people genuinely seem to love their jobs.

Tags feature, Our People and Agencies

News & Announcements

Rev Bruce Prewer: Australia’s theological mongrel

Post author By revivewa
Post date November 2, 2018

Rev Bruce Prewer is remembered as a nationally recognised poet and liturgist who gave Christianity a distinctly Australian voice.

Following a protracted illness, Bruce passed away surrounded by family in Victoria on 11 September.

Tags Our People and Agencies

News & Announcements

Ministry with a fresh perspective

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 30, 2018

Rev Alison Gilchrist was Inducted as Presbytery Minister Mission for the Uniting Church WA on Friday night 26 October at Maylands Mt Lawley Uniting Church.

Tags Our People and Agencies

News & Announcements

Rev Dr Alan Stubbs: a lifetime of ministry

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 30, 2018

Rev Dr Alan Stubbs migrated to Australia in 1947 from England with his parents, Jack and Frances. He served within the Methodist and the Uniting Church for nearly 60 years.

His engagement with the church commenced in the late 1950s in youth activities at Bagot Road, Subiaco. During this time, he met and married Dorothy McKay and together they have travelled Australia at the call of God through the Methodist and Uniting Churches.

Tags Our People and Agencies

News & Announcements

Tongan thank you

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 23, 2018

Two years ago Scarborough Uniting Church welcomed into its church family Sione and Ana Lea’aetoa and their three children, Silesa, Susana and Lemoto.

The April 2018 issue of Revive told the story of Sione’s journey towards ordained ministry. Ana is also going through a Period of Discernment this year.

Ana’s father, Rev Beni Lalahi, is a minister in Tonga. The ministry he is undertaking focuses on vulnerable families, elderly people and prison ministry. Scarborough Uniting Church, through Ana, is supporting the children in his church with prayers and gifts.

Tags Multi-Cultural, Our People and Agencies

Stories & Feature Articles

All we have in common

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 23, 2018

Doesn’t matter where you are in the world, there’s something about Swedish blondes in flares. The moment I find ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ in my playlist, smiles light the faces of my four young companions and for a brief moment during the chorus, we’re in perfect sync. At the other end of the clinic, our photographer and videographer bust a few moves in between the serious business of filming the testimony of clinic manager Albert, who has limited English and dreams of a blood pressure machine for his patients.

Tags International, Multi-Cultural, Our People and Agencies

Stories & Feature Articles

Moderator’s column: When God seems silent

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 12, 2018

Some years ago I received several prank calls, the ones where the phone rings and there is no one on the other end.

It was rather unsettling to answer and find silence, when I expected a voice. For some of us, there are times when God appears silent. Maybe we have made an emergency call to God in the form of a desperate prayer and God didn’t seem to answer: we didn’t get the job we hoped for; the health of a loved one did not improve; or the conflict we faced got worse, not better.

In wrestling with God in prayer, we must recognise that God is not a divine Santa Klaus whose main job is to favourably answer all our requests. God is not at our beck and call. Disciples of Christ are invited to serve God and others, rather than behave like religious consumers who think that God should always be serving me.

Sometimes, I think that prayer is paradoxical; God answers prayer and God does not answer prayer. Jesus taught us to have a faith that will move mountains, not just smile at them. In the garden of Gethsemane, perhaps Jesus’ darkest moment before the cross, he agonised about doing God’s will. His trust in God is amazing, he cries out, “Abba Father, all things are possible for you”.

Tags Our People and Agencies, Theology and Spiritual Reflections