A celebration service last month offered a chance for St Luke’s Uniting Church congregation members in Morwell, and the wider community, to recognise an important milestone.
The July 12 service and ribbon cutting celebrated the completion of a major refurbishment of the Zoe Flats, a 50-year-old building with a long connection to the Morwell community and the Uniting Church.
By Meg Hocking
Right now, as you read this, one in five Australians are skipping meals or whole days of eating just to get by. This is what a national food security crisis looks like. With living costs climbing, wages stalled, and housing and energy bills out of control, food is often the first thing to give.
By Marina Williams
St Paul’s Uniting Church in Ballan is marking 160 years with a renewed sense of purpose as a place of worship, welcome and community connection.
At its April anniversary celebration, the milestone carried more than historical significance. Less than three years earlier, the stone church, with its arched windows, red door and tall spire, had faced the ...
By Marina Williams
At Sophia’s Spring, the shape of worship reflects the shape of the community.
There is no pulpit, raised platform or single voice set apart. Each Sunday at CERES in Brunswick, chairs are arranged in a circle around a central table carrying symbols connected to the gathering’s theme, season and natural world outside. At a recent Pentecost service, ...
By Rev Associate Professor Robyn Whitaker
My first ministry placement as a newly ordained 24-year-old was in a Victorian rural town. I was one of only two female clergy for quite some distance and something strange started to happen a year or so into that placement.
Women started seeking me out, coming to speak to me about things they weren’t comfortable sharing with ...
By Marina Williams
When winter settles in, a church hall can become more than a place of worship. For someone sleeping rough, it can mean a warm bed, a hot meal, a shower, conversation and a night without having to search for somewhere safe to sleep.
North Ringwood Uniting Church and St Andrew’s Uniting Church in Sunbury are just two ...
A week in the life of Paola Rojas
Program Officer, Faithful Futures and schools engagement
Monday
The week begins with an early touch base with the Faithful Futures Project Lead Karen Roberts to review key milestones and finalise preparations for the Secretariat SMO meeting, where Faithful Futures was invited to present a brief update to all the Secretariat team.
The Faithful Futures Project is a collaboration across Victoria and Tasmania’s Synod, presbyteries and congregations to discern priorities, direct resources and ensure the Church is equipped for the challenges and opportunities ahead.
The project is guided by five shared goals: Respecting Country, Coordinated Ministries, Intercultural Leadership, All-age Growth and New Communities of Faith. Each goal has a corresponding Goal Group that will help to shape the implementation of the goal ...
Initially, Brendan Byrne didn’t think he had what it took to be a university chaplain. But ministering to younger adults in congregations eventually prompted a move toward chaplaincy – and a whole new perspective.
“It’s been transformative, reshaping my ministerial identity in ways I never previously imagined,” he says. “I now have a new understanding of what it means to ...
By Andrew Humphries
St Mark’s Uniting Church (Mornington) member Dr Theo Read fulfilled a long-time dream earlier this year with the publication of three important secondary school Earth Science textbooks.
It was a project he began almost 35 years ago and one which faced more than a few setbacks along the way.
Theo is convinced, though, that divine inspiration, when it was most needed, smoothed his path towards the project’s eventual success.
What has been your journey with, and connection to, the Uniting Church?
I wasn’t born into the Uniting Church. Indirectly, my first connection would be through youth group in Port Augusta, the remote town in South Australia where I grew up. Youth group was an ecumenical affair, and I remember running around the Aboriginal Christian Congress as a nupirti yakarti (‘naughty child’ in ...
By Andrew Humphries
When Younger Generations Education and Strategy Coordinator Rev Sandy Brodine kicked off a new podcast at the end of June, it was easy to settle on a name for it.
With the aim of encouraging growth within Uniting Church congregations, the title of ‘Thriving’ seemed most appropriate.
“The purpose of the podcast is to showcase ways in which we can grow ...