Tag: Remote and rural communities

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Northcliffe celebrates 70 years of township

Over the long weekend in September last year, Northcliffe celebrated its 90th birthday. Northcliffe was founded solely for the  ‘Group Settlement Scheme’ and is believed to be the only one still alive today.

Saturday’s celebrations included an afternoon of catching up with pioneer descendants and past residents followed by a Celebratory Ball. Sunday started with an ecumenical church service at 9.00am led by the Uniting Church’s Rev Peter Harvey and the Anglican Church’s Rev Cassandra Nixon. This saw the Uniting Church building seating capacity stretched to the limit  with not only visitors, but also the support of nearby worshipping communities, especially Pemberton. Before a word  was spoken or song sung, one could really feel Gods love.

In the earlý years Northcliffe was deemed a mission field. Church or Sunday School happened whenever a priest or missionary – be it Salvation Army, Methodist, Presbyterian or other – was visiting, word would go around and meetings would  be held, often in the group school or even in the bush during the week or weekends. In the mid 1980’s there were  four Christian churches meeting independently in a community of around 500 people and three church buildings not being  used every Sunday.

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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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Ministry to fire affected communities

The Uniting Church community in South Australia has banded together to support those experiencing hardship and loss  from the bushfires across the Adelaide Hills. With 32 homes destroyed, the physical impact is clear. The emotional hardship  is not so visible, and the recovery process for those who have lost their homes will be long and difficult.

Relief and outreach centres have been opened around the fire zone to assist the recovery by providing practical help  through chaplaincy and pastoral support. Local residents are coming together in their time of need at the Golden Grove  Relief Centre and the One Tree Hill Institute, where chaplains are on the ground.

National Disaster Recovery Officer of the Uniting Church, Rev Dr Stephen Robinson, emphasised the need for support long   after the bushfires have been put out.

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Perth Hills fire response: Small congregations act big

On Sunday morning 12 January 2014, a devastating bushfire sparked by a private power pole in Parkerville resulted in the destruction of 57 homes. Many properties were damaged and 386 hectares burnt   in the affected areas of Parkerville, Stoneville and Mount Helena. A meeting was arranged with the Uniting Church Emergency Response Team and members of the three local hills Uniting Churches,  Mundaring, Glen Forrest and Gidgegannup. Representatives from these congregations formed The UCA Hills Fire Disaster Committee, supported by Synod/Presbytery representative, Rev Gordon  Scantlebury, and Metro East regional pastor, Rev Alan Stubbs.

Contact was made with the local schools and the chaplains to let them know of the assistance that we could give. Other local churches, the Mundaring Shire Towards Recovery Centre and, of course, word of  mouth in the community gave us many starting contacts. Vouchers were distributed directly by committee members and through the school chaplains. Cash gifts have also been given and we were  especially keen to help children continue with their extra-curricular activities, some requiring sporting fees and uniform expenses.

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Pilgrimage to Living Waters

On Friday 15 August, nine intrepid ‘pilgrims’ set out from the Dongara Uniting Church to follow a trail around the Irwin River and estuary. The weather was glorious and the setting magnificent. Our planned route included trekking across the bar, but this was adjusted as the river mouth was open. Having the Shire bus to help transport those not able to walk the full distance meant the whole group could instead move together from the lookout on Church Street to the boardwalk in Ocean Drive. We were delighted to have Jess Rowe and her daughter Sue with us and our friend Viv, who had walked with us last year, as well as several first-time pilgrims.

‘Water For Life’ was the theme of the event this year, celebrating the wonderful and amazing qualities of the gift of water for this water-dependent planet. A pilgrimage booklet was available for every person, with text extracted from the book Downstream From Eden by David L Knight. This booklet also contained portions of some of the psalms and wisdom writings from the Bible. Further reflections came from a book of modern Psalms written by a New Zealand woman. At each of seven ‘stations’ along the way the group stopped and shared in readings from the pilgrimage booklet which opened insights into the complex nature of water. Here we expanded our understanding of how amazing this substance is, how chameleon-like it can be, changing in appearance and quality according to characteristics of surrounding air and earth.

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An open space to share passion

Port Hedland picEvery church in community has its unique challenges and the Uniting Church in Port Hedland is no different. Port Hedland is an industrial town. The majority of people who come to  live here come to work and they work hard, long hours, odd shifts with little time to engage the community outside of  their working environment and for a comparably short length of  stay.

The average turnover of stayers at the last count was 13 months. Some of the social issues that reflect the harshness of this environment include the high incidence of  aggressive working environments, resulting in workers experiencing bullying and intimidating managerial tendencies; high incidence of hidden and exposed domestic violence, broken and struggling relationships, sexual assault, unwanted pregnancies, depression, isolation, and suicide. We have found ourselves being drawn to the quiet, meditative, and  reflective space for worshipping together.

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Carnarvon in community

This last Sunday I was driving back to the church building with a congregation member I normally pick up for our services and someone shouted out from a verandah, “I’ll be coming  to church!” I did not recognise him but did know the person he was sitting with, so I called back “see you there” and gave him the thumbs up.

Ten minutes later he arrived at our service, asked if he could share in our time of prayer for others when the time came, and introduced himself after the service. He was visiting Carnarvon for a relative’s funeral held  the previous day. He explained he had been telling the relatives he was staying with that he wanted to attend church that day. Soon after, I had driven past and his relative had said to him “That’s a pastor, he’ll be back shortly with the lady he picks up for church”.

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Ongoing care for Perth hills

Bushfire blazeBushfires in Perth’s hills around Parkerville, Stoneville and Mt Helena this January have devastated the area, with reports that 55 homes have been destroyed.

Rev Ron Larkin, moderator of the Uniting Church in WA has responded, extending prayers and care for those who have been affected and giving thanks for the courage and  dedication to people who helped fight the fires and who are caring for those who have lost so much.

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Bushfire appeal easing the loss

A car burnt out by recent bushfires in the Blue Mountains.

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Prof Andrew Dutney, has launched a national appeal to support those facing loss and hardship from bushfires that devastated parts of New South Wales in late October.

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