The Commission for Education for Discipleship and Leadership (CEDAL) held their End of Year Celebration last week at South Perth Uniting Church.
Rev Dr Anne Wright, Director of Education and Formation for the Uniting Church WA, said that due to an increase in students and candidates for ministry in the Presbytery of WA, this year’s celebration service was held a little differently to usual, with a café style worship.
Summer Spirit is back in 2021, with a focus on Creative Worship.
Summer Spirit is a two-day formation event for members and leaders of the Uniting Church WA, organised by the Commission for Education for Discipleship and Leadership (CEDAL).
Next year’s event will be held from Friday 19 to Saturday 20 February at All Saints Floreat Uniting Church.
Rev Dr Christine Sorensen began as the Uniting Church WA Presbytery Minister (Formation and Discipleship) back in February this year. This edition she shares some of her passions for theological education with us.
Alpha in the CBD, facilitated by Uniting Church in the City (UCIC), is starting up again in 2020, with a new round of courses beginning in February. This follows successful courses in 2019, including an Alpha Parenting Teenagers course and an Alpha Prayer course.
Alpha courses are designed for anyone interested in finding out more about Christianity. They provide opportunities for people to ask any questions they might have about the faith in a welcoming and safe space.
Friday 30 August promised to be stormy and yet, the evening was remarkably clear given a week of passing rainfalls.
After much activity in terms of advertising via radio, social media, the Uniting church WA website, posters in the windows at St Andrew’s Uniting Church, the Uniting Church WA Ministry Expo was set up and ready to go.
Some local congregation members arrived first, and slowly the building filled with 42 adults and 12 children.
After their successful Alpha Course, Uniting Church in the City (UCIC) is now turning its focus to parenting. The Perth congregation is running two new parenting courses, Parenting Children and Parenting Teenagers. The ten week courses are free for anyone who is seeking advice on this popular topic.
The Parenting Children course is aimed at parents or carers with children up to ten years old and will focus on a range of topics such as building a strong family, meeting children’s needs, setting boundaries, healthy relationships and long term aims.
Stories for the Soul was offered as an additional training day to Godly Play WA’s full core training opportunity over the Australia Day long weekend. Trainer Judyth Roberts was invited by Rev Jeni Goring, Acting Senior Chaplain at Amana Living, and Godly Play WA’s Rev Chris Bedding, to present an introduction to this adaptation of Godly Play at St Mary’s Anglican Church, South Perth.
Godly Play is a Montessori method of Bible storytelling. Research studies in the United Kingdom (UK) into where Godly Play was being used, discovered that there was significant growth in its use in aged care as it was supporting the spiritual wellbeing of elderly and frail people who are often living with dementia.
‘Stories for the Soul’ describe ‘spiritual wellbeing’ as “belonging to a community in which we can be ourselves and our story is valued – where our feelings and emotions, our search for meaning and purpose, our sense of awe and wonder, our creativity, our beliefs and our relationships are supported.”
A service celebrating the Commencement of the year for Education and Formation within the Perth Theological Hall, as well as the Induction of Rev Dr Anne Wright as Director of Education for the Uniting Church WA, was held on Friday night, 8 February, at Maylands Mt Lawley Uniting Church.
Passing the Baton, an annual training day and expo for people involved in children and family ministry, is coming up soon on Saturday 23 February, 9.00am to 4.00pm, at Mt Pleasant Baptist Church.
Passing the Baton is an ecumenical event organised by the Children’s Ministry Network (CMN), of which the Uniting Church in Australia is a member.
Uniting Church in the City (UCIC) is starting a new Alpha Course this February for people interested in exploring the Christian faith.
Anyone and everyone is invited to join UCIC in their lunchbreaks once-a-week to begin a journey together.
Kim Stanfield, the new Alpha Co-ordinator at UCIC, is running three courses over ten weeks: Tuesdays 12noon to 1.00pm at Wesley, Wednesdays 12noon to 1.00pm at Ross Memorial, and as part of the Trinity School for Seniors’ program.