The spirit of Pentecost is alive and well at Deepdene Uniting Church.
The Deepdene church is working closely across languages and cultures, in the spirit described by the Pentecost story.
The church has worshipped bilingually and worked together as one congregation, with English-speaking and Korean-speaking members, for the last seven years.
Cooking up a storm: Deepdene congregation members making Korean dumplings
The images above show church members from both language groups working together making Korean dumplings and doing some much-needed maintenance.
The church council recently voted to hold alternate meetings this year in Korean, (with all meetings translated).
To support this change, church council elected office bearers who speak the two languages – co-chairpersons Joan Cooper and Sue Yang, and co-secretaries Mijung Konakov and Anthony Cooper.
“This change reflects our belief that the future of the church depends upon welcoming people from overseas into its life,” Ms Cooper said.
Co-chair Sue Yang added, “We will be able to work together to make decisions that are best for our church and all its people.”
Up to this time, council meetings have been conducted in English, with translation into Korean. It is expected that the Korean-speaking council members will benefit from having a more confident voice within meetings.
In this way the council will be able to better use the talents of all members.
The former long-serving secretary Joan Taylor is now the congregation’s Treasurer, with her new assistant Nigel Tsai.
Ms Taylor recorded the meeting’s “delight” at the changes.
“The smiles and applause at the time of the vote showed that we are growing closer together,” she said.
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