Tag: Youth

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Stories & Feature Articles

NYALC: Coming home

When I arrived at the National Young Adult Leaders’ Conference (NYALC) I knew one person… vaguely. We’d exchanged  one or two tired words on our 5.00am flight from Perth. In total, this was my 2nd Uniting Church event. I didn’t know what to expect and new social situations usually make me feel gross.

I hate ‘icebreakers’, but found myself feeling easier by proxy: there was an atmosphere that really did break the ice. I didn’t  want to come with reservations, but I was also excited because of where I’d come from and what I was looking to find. I’m  from a different denomination. My mate Richard Telfer, First Third specialist for the Uniting Church in WA, was at a Love  Makes a Way action and said I could go in his place. I had to call him and ask what ‘Presbytery’ and ‘Synod’ meant for the  application form as they are words we don’t have in my church.

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News & Announcements

Footprints Band: Seven great years

In 2007, Claire Maltby (saxophone), Alicja Maltby (flute), Emily Maltby (violin) and I, Doug Burtenshaw (piano), decided to hold a family dance in January 2008. We played at Byford Uniting Church, and thought that dances would help us be better  musicians at church and elsewhere, and it would also provide a community service.We were joined by other musicians; particularly school friends from the music programs at Kelmscott and Armadale Senior  High Schools.

The fifteen-piece band has played at Family Dances every month for the last seven years. Teaching of  instrumental music started in 2009. Over the last five years, seven of us have taught flute, saxophone, violin, guitar and  keyboard to 43 students for $5 per lesson. Students were lent instruments for six months and the teachers were not paid. 

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News & Announcements

Bridging the age gap

Rockingham Uniting Church has always welcomed and encouraged its youngest members. In our Kids of Uniting Church in Australia (KUCA) group on Sundays, children would learn and have fun, however there was always something missing.

With KUCA finishing after age twelve, those who finished had no next step along their faith journey other than to join adult worship and studies if they wished. To cater for this fast growing demographic, Rockingham has implemented two new groups to help the youth and young adults of the church to continue to grow in their faith and as people.

Our Youth Group, aimed at high school aged teens, has been running for more than three years now and continues to attract new members from both within and outside the church congregation. Mostly comprised of games and activities with elements of team building and prayer, the youth group offers a great setting for local teens to enjoy fellowship and have fun together whilst growing into well rounded young people.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Dreaming of adventure and growth

St Stephen’s School has celebrated the purchase of a new campsite with a community open day inviting students and families to tour the grounds and dream of its future possibilities.

Located in Dwellingup, close to Scotch College’s – another Uniting Church School – Moray campsite, Trinity College’s Camp Kelly and the Nanga Bush Camp, the site is 46 hectares of land with exciting developmental opportunities.

Tony George, Principal of St Stephen’s School, said they chose to purchase the property because of its natural features which will enhance the school’s already existing outdoor education program, including 800m of Murray River frontage, extensive native forest and its access to both the Munda Biddi Trail and Bibbulmun Track.

The camp’s location close to the historic town of Dwellingup will provide students with an opportunity to learn more about the land. Dr Phil Ridden, who has recently written a history of the school, is now writing a history of the site so that visitors might have a better understanding of the connection Australia’s Aboriginal people have with the land.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Kids are not the future of the church

What? Children and young people are our future, right? Well, if you simply mean that they’ll be on the Earth after we’re all dead, then yeah, the kids around now will be adults in the future.

But no, children are not the future of the church.

Why? Because children and young people are our present. They are here right now giving life and witness to the church.

Richard Telfer, First Third specialist for the Uniting Church in WA, recently returned from an Intergenerational Faith Formation Symposium led by John Roberto in Connecticut, USA. He believes this phrase is holding us back from being a truly intergenerational church.

A multi-generational church is one which has members from different age groups who mostly stick to themselves, not really interacting with others outside their own age group. A crossgenerational church is one where the dominant age group invites other age groups to participate in their activities.

An intergenerational church probably doesn’t know it’s intergenerational. It has members from different age groups who naturally learn from each other and grow together.

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Social Impact

Manea College a sea of purple

Students from Manea Senior College in Bunbury rallied together on Wear it Purple Day to support sexually diverse peers and raise money for UnitingCare West’s True Colours program. Wear it Purple Day  was held on Friday 29 August, building awareness around issues that many young sexually diverse people might face.

The College became a sea of purple as students were invited to dress up for the occasion. They also held a presentation at lunchtime including information on the concept behind the event, performances, a  best dressed competition and berry smoothies made by the college’s Health Committee throughout the day.

Lauren Baxter, youth worker at the college, said that the year 12 Student Executive Team wanted to be proactive on the issue and run the event to highlight to the community that they offer an inclusive  environment.

“It was student led and it just makes it more relevant to the students,” Lauren said. “We’re aware that there are going to be students that are sexually diverse and we want the students to know that we are  supportive and there are services in Bunbury that they can go to.”

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Education & Training

Faith formation in a digital age

The John Roberto Faith Formation conference was held from 22-23 August in Perth and was hosted by the Uniting Church in WA’s First Third team and the Commission for Education for Discipleship and Leadership (CEDAL) in association with Anglican Youth Ministry and Catholic Youth Ministry. John guided participants through a weekend of building faith formation in their communities – including  online. Here’s what some of the attendees thought.

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Stories & Feature Articles

The good soil

Carramar Uniting Church held a Kids’ Fun Day during the school holidays at St Stephen’s School, Carramar, where the congregation meet for worship. The event was a huge success with  many children turning up on the day for craft, music, games and worship. Centred on the theme of the Parable of the Sower, kids got to make their own potted plant for the garden while  also taking part in Godly Play and drama activities.

Cooper attended the day and said that he enjoyed planting the seeds and he learnt a lot from the parable. “It mean’s Jesus is good,” he said. “He’s the good soil, and we’re trying to be the  good soil,” he said.

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Stories & Feature Articles

U-Team competes and connects

This year, Nedlands Uniting Church, in partnership with Mt Pleasant and Billabong Uniting Churches, embarked on the 28th annual State Youth Games. State Youth Games is run by  Youth Vision (Churches of Christ WA) and is a sporting weekend for young adults aged 16-28. The Uniting Churches (known as ‘The U-Team’) took over 30 competitors to Bunbury for the annual June long weekend event. Tournaments are held in a range of sports including netball, soccer and basketball, as well as genuine sports such as Uno, chess, dodge ball and even  tenpin bowling.

The U-Team placed 9th out of 20 different churches and were among the smallest teams in the top ten. We placed first in four events and in the top five in a total of eight events. We  finished first in badminton and indoor soccer for the second time in our four years of attending, as well as first in tenpin bowling for the fourth consecutive year. We also won the inaugural orienteering competition.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Learning, leading and passing it on

The chamber is full of representatives from countries located all over the globe. They mingle about the room, negotiating amendments to Resolution 2155  of the United Nations (UN) Security Council: The question of the rules of war. A young man with a suit and pony tail announces it is time to sit back down for the debate, and a representative from China stands and puts forth her case.

I’m sitting in the Legislative Assembly at Parliament House of Western Australia where 15 teams from schools across WA, including three teams from Presbyterian Ladies’ College  (PLC) a Uniting Church in WA school, battle it out in the finals for UN Youth’s Evatt competition – a model UN debate. Sam Herriman, a 19-year-old media and communications  student from the University of Western Australia, strolls around the room making sure everything is running smoothly and occasionally collects notes from members of the Council.

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