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UnitingforGood A sustainable future is in your hands
Leaving a bequest Bequest_Ad.indd 1
Bequests are important to the work of The Uniting Church, educating, transforming unjust social structures, safeguarding our vital community support, looking after the next generation and helping to continue our faith and mission. After providing for your family, a bequest is a special way of ensuring
that the mission of the Church is sustained. Find out how your bequest will allow God’s work to continue at www.nswact.uca.org. au or please call 02 8267 4303 or email contactus@nswact.uca.org.au
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Welcome from the Moderator
An empty tomb, a gateway to the resurrection life!
T
wo thousand years ago, a Galilean man — a miracle worker, a powerful preacher, a compassionate healer, a kind-hearted man — went through the ordeal of a trial. This man Jesus was rejected by elders, priests and teachers, who were the authorities of his time. Then, he was condemned to the most shameful death penalty possible at that time. He died on the Cross. On Good Friday, we remember this saddest day.
Rev. Myung Hwa Park Moderator
The Moderator is elected to give general and pastoral leadership to the Synod, assisting and encouraging expression and fulfilment of faith, and the witness of the Church.
According to John’s gospel, Mary Magdalene, a faithful follower of Jesus, found the empty tomb on the third day after his death. Jesus was no longer with the dead. This empty tomb has become one of the most vivid signs of the central message of Easter! The empty tomb, the absence of Jesus’ body and the sheer nothingness, frightened Mary Magdalene and the other disciples. Despite Jesus’ own words, they did not expect to find the empty tomb. Even today, many Christians live as though they expect to find the body of Jesus in the tomb — rather than going out to find the risen Christ. Sometimes, we all need to remind ourselves we are invited to move forward into a new life with the risen Christ, which death and human despair cannot overrule. During the past two months I have been busy joining in various occasions and attending many meetings in our Synod. In some places, I was with people sighing over declining Church membership, feeling frightened and weak like those who found the empty tomb. In many other places, people were excited and motivated to move out of the empty tomb and live the resurrection life with the risen Lord! In January, I went to a small suburban church in the Newcastle area for a ‘Girls Night Out’. This program was started by one lady, about five years ago, to
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provide a women’s get-together for sharing friendship and encouraging each other with amazing Bible quotations. They women in this gettogether also are ‘good Samaritans’, for people in need near and far. This program connects past and present members of the Church, women from other denominations and others recently moved to the area. They are united by a renewing experience and a shared sense of new life, stemming from the Risen Lord! When I went to Dubbo for a Rural Presbyteries meeting, I took a quick side visit to Wellington. In stark contrast to Dubbo, the main regional city, Wellington is a declining country town where the community facilities and services are shutting down and the township is visibly diminishing. But one place was resisting that general negative trend. It was one of Uniting Aboriginal Island Christian Congress’ Churches! Although the main Church building was condemned long ago as unsafe, the Congregation’s members and minister have begun a clean-up. They hope to be able to reopen the Church for worship! The door of the building has been locked for years but the Spirit of the Risen Christ has opened the hearts of that UAICC Congregation, calling them to witness to the glory of resurrection life! Hallelujah! Beloved friends in Christ, the Easter story calls us to rejoice again in the declaration of God’s offer of redemption for the whole of creation. The empty tomb was a symbol of the ongoing presence of Christ for Mary Magdalene and the other disciples. For us, it is a godly reminder of His transforming Spirit, which enables us to move on beyond death and despair. May the Risen Christ’s spirit be with you this Easter season. Insights April/May 2015 3
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Contents
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12 Cover story Research has showed the Uniting Church has a low percentage of members from the generations born before World War II. This presents the Church with a number of challenges, not least of which is how to offer styles of worship and ministry which are appropriate to different generational values. To better understand these pressures and what it takes to be a Church that nurtures emerging generations, Bradon French and Duncan Macleod sat down with Phil Swain and Katelyn Stevenson to talk about death, life and resurrection for an intergenerational Church.
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Regulars 3 f rom the Moderator 5 letters 8 news
11 from the general secretary’s desk 38 lectionary reflections
43 fellowship news 44 belief matters 45 culture watch 46 entertain me
Editor Adrian Drayton SUB-EDITING/PRoduction/ DESIGN Belle&Co Editorial/advertising/ DISTRIBUTION inquiries Phone 02 8267 4304 Fax 02 9264 4487 ADDRESS Insights, PO Box A2178, Sydney South, NSW, 1235 email insights@nsw.uca.org.au web www.insights.uca.org.au
Insights is published by the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of New South Wales and the ACT. Articles and advertising content do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or of the Uniting Church. Subscriptions: Australia $38.50 (incl. GST); overseas $50. © 2014. Contents copyright. No material from this publication
may be copied, photocopied or transmitted by any means without the permission of the Editor. Circulation: 18,000. ISSN: 1036-7322 Commonwealth of Australia 2015
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32 The Uniting Church in Australia is one of the country’s largest denominations. Our vision is that it will be a fellowship of reconciliation, living God's love, following Jesus Christ and acting for the common good to build a just and compassionate community of faith.
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Your Say A diversit y of approaches
What diversity of approaches characterised the February/March issue of Insights! Allan Gibson’s excellent contribution to Your Say acknowledged the ‘thousands of people across the length and breadth of this Great South Land [who] give of their time and talents, to enable the worship and service of the Church to be made known.’
Let it go!
I was amazed at the ‘Letter to a dying congregation’ (Soapbox, Insights, February/March). Not that I was appalled by it but, rather, I laughed out loud as my thoughts have actually been echoed by someone else! I hope we all realise that if we do not do something, the ‘death rattles’ of many Churches are going to create a noise that will not be pleasant. Is it any wonder that we have more age groups missing than attending, when we will not change our spaces, methods, practises, language, or theology? Why would anyone want to spend their time regurgitating the same old same old with no new outcomes? I don't and I am not young and I am trying to hang in there (at Church, I mean) by the skin of my teeth. I think there is a rumour that a ‘dying church’ is better than ‘no church’. I disagree! The resources, money, time and effort it takes to maintain these buildings is not good stewardship. You may have helped build it to God's glory but we do not worship a building... Let it go. Join up with some other like-minded people and use the resources to create new ministries and keep supporting those shining lights who are bringing ‘love and hope’ to a sad world. We are not all looking constantly at the Old Testament for our inspiration. We look to the new and to the man who changed everything, for our inspiration. Susan Turner, Warners Bay insights.uca.org.au
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Our General Secretary, Rev. Dr Andrew Williams, wisely counselled the need to look after these people, especially ‘the very people on whom a church relies for lay leadership, service and financial support.’ And our Moderator reported the impact her visit to an ecumenical men’s breakfast in the Riverina had had on her, encountering this same breed of stalwart Christians living out their faith. In sharp contrast was the arrant rudeness of Rev. Jason John (Soapbox)! These same congregations of Christian witnesses mentioned so positively by the other writers have become, for Rev. John, 'a ‘perfect’ Sunday club for like-minded senior citizens', a 'lifeless corpse' on life support only because 'nobody wants to be the one to pull the plug.' I deeply regret that Rev. John’s experience of the Church has been so negative. Like all people who stand on soapboxes, metaphorical or literal, Rev. John’s diatribe contains a kernel of truth. Yes many congregations are dying, and many do comprise, disproportionately, upper middle-class 70-year-olds. The fact is that many of them are the very same hard-working volunteers lauded by Mr Gibson; the very same workers acknowledged by Rev. Dr Williams, and the very same people who so inspired the Moderator. I wonder what strategy for the Church’s survival Rev. John has in mind by hurling such abuse at them. His approach is the antithesis of that recommended by the General Secretary. Problems are usually best addressed through diplomacy which respects who people are and what they do, and allows them to preserve
their self-respect. Insulting vitriol tends to be less efficacious. Or is that just my sexagenarian conservatism speaking? Alan Harper OAM, Eastwood Editor’s Note: The Rev. Jason John’s Soapbox article was originally offered as part of a collection of responses to the topic "Letters to a dying church" — reframing the Church’s narrative in seeing dying as an opportunity for renewal. Rev. John’s piece was the only response and, so, was run in Soapbox. Buy what do you think? Is the Church dying? Or can our current situation be an opportunity for renewal and thinking about Church differently? What is your experience of being in a Uniting Church? Please feel free to send us letters on this topic.
Thanksgiving at Wingham
Each May, for the past ten years, the Wingham community (led by the Manning Valley Historical Society) has conducted a festival commemorating the settlement of the area by refugees from 'The Highland Clearances' in Scotland and Northern Ireland. A feature of the Festival is the lay-led Ecumenical Thanksgiving service held on the banks of the Manning River in Wingham, where the families of the original settlers landed. Most of the arrivals were marked with thanksgiving services kneeling on the gravel bed on the riverbank. These were the forerunners and foundations of our Uniting and Presbyterian communities that continue to this day. They brought their belief in our Saviour to this valley. They brought their belief in children's education, using their Bibles and their hymn books as the reading mediums. Our remembrance services are layled to replicate those held 160 years ago and also to involve locals and visitors in the services. The service is for everyone and is held at 7:30am on a Sunday morning, accompanied musically by a bagpiper and our minister, Rev. Darrell McKeough, on a piano accordion. Eric Richardson, Wingham Insights April/May 2015 5
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Your Say Unbroken’s omissions don’t satisfy
The article, ‘Behind the scenes of Unbroken with Angelina Jolie’ (Insights, December) paints a picture of what could be expected to be an excellent film. That’s why I went to see it, even though other reviews painted a very different picture. The excessive time spent on the survival in the life boats, and the unending personal violence against Louis Zamperini at the prison camps, were very poor choices by the producer. Even if what is portrayed is reasonably correct. To get a better idea of Louis’ life, it would obviously be much smarter to read the book on which the film is based. The most disappointing aspects of this film are the omissions of Louis’ suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, and his return to Japan as a missionary with the hope that he would be able to forgive his captors. Especially his main tormenter, ‘The Bird’, who had been pardoned as a war criminal by the USA, as part of a post-war reconciliation package. The Bird refused to see him. This gets a very brief comment as part of the credits at the end. The movie would have been much more complete and satisfying if, instead of those unnecessarily long scenes mentioned above, half an hour or more was spent on the final thirty or forty years of his life. The couple of seconds showing Louis carrying the Olympic Torch hardly does justice to that period of his life. Your review quite correctly mentions Louis’ change of heart, which elicits a genuine desire to see the film, especially from a Christian perspective. It is a pity the film does not include this significant part of Louis’ life, which could have turned a mediocre film into an excellent one. Michael Poulton, Yass
My Uncle Douglas
It is widely known that many families sacrificed much during the First World War. One such family was 6 Insights April/May 2015
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that of the Rev. Dr John and Mrs. Jeannie Burgess. Rev. Dr Burgess was the Clerk of the NSW Presbyterian Assembly from 1906 until 1929 while he was also minister at Marrickville. The Burgesses had seven sons and two daughters. Five sons served in the First World War and Stewart, a theological student, was killed in action near Villers-Bretonneux, France. One of the five sons who returned from the war was my Uncle Douglas. He and his wife Margaret had no children and I was the only nephew on my side of the family. I knew that my Uncle Douglas had been to the First World War. In the box of ‘treasures’ given to me by my Auntie, I found that he was at the Gallipoli landing on April 25, 1915. Douglas had responded to Prime Minister Hughes’ ‘Call to Arms’ and enlisted in the 3rd Battalion, A.I.F, on November 11, 1914. His his rank was that of Private. Douglas embarked on HMAT A48 ‘Seang Bee’ on February 11, 1915. He landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula at Gaba Tepe on April 25, 1915, where he spent five weeks in the trenches. Douglas contracted pleurisy and pneumonia on Gallipoli and was transported by hospital ship back to the Heliopolis Hospital near Cairo from where he was repatriated to Australia. Douglas served overseas for 201 days and received the Silver War Medal. My uncle Douglas died of cancer in 1954. The most interesting and important of his letters was written in pencil from his hospital bed in Egypt, to his brother Stewart (who was on his way to fight at Gallipoli). Here is an excerpt of that letter*: I landed on Gallipoli Peninsula about 6am on April 25 and was at it all the time till coming away. So I got in a month and missed all the shots and shells although several came quite close enough I can tell you. I did not take part in a bayonet charge but fired several hundred rounds in defence of trenches and worked on trenches and dug-outs night and day.
Douglas ever mentioning Gallipoli or the War to me. I guess, like most soldiers, it was part of the burden carried through life. The visit to the Egyptian artefacts in the University of Sydney was as near as we got to that, and it was very much in my mind as I graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree in the Great Hall of Sydney University in 1991. My wife, Lynette, and I named our second son, Douglas in fond memory of a wonderful uncle. Rev. Dr Les Hewitt, Koonawarra *To read the letter in full, visit: http://www.insights.uca.org.au/ opinion/my-uncle-douglas
Reason for enormous optimism
As the Uniting Church frets over budgets and property, there are actually some reasons for enormous optimism. I was baptised in the then Epping Methodist Church, which sits on a large block of land in Sydney’s northwest that now has potential massive value. The Church could be kept, and the rest of the block and adjacent units and St Albans Anglican Church grounds built into an extremely big new high rise office and commercial complex. The Uniting Church could keep ownership of this major property asset through astute financial advice, to invest our abundant talents for the greater glory of God. Robert Tulip, Fraser
Be rewarded for having Your Say Every contributor to Your Say gets The Lunchbox on DVD, courtesy of Madman Home Entertainment. Your Say letters should be sent to insights@nswact.uca.org.au or posted to Insights, PO Box A2178, Sydney South NSW 1235. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.
I cannot remember my Uncle insights.uca.org.au
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News Church had been operating a bread ministry for many years – with volunteers collecting bread thrice weekly from a local baker and making it available to needy clients. A long-time member of Wesley Uniting Church, Phil says the foodbank has been operating for about four years. There is a team of about 10 regular volunteers running the service, which opens Tuesday and Thursday mornings, with up to 50 clients. The foodbank receives groceries from the Foodbank NSW Sydney depot, as well as donations from local Coles and Aldi supermarkets and Brumby’s Bakery. It has also developed a close relationship with Wagga’s Mount Austin High School, which supplies a range of fresh vegetables through its agriculture program.
Centenary of Coffs Harbour Uniting Church After a number of years of much prayer, preparation and planning, the Coffs Harbour Methodist Church was opened on Sunday, October 10, 1915. One hundred years ago, when the early church members saw the opening of the new church with its beautiful sloping timber ceiling, they couldn’t imagine this building being part of the larger complex it is today. The location was a small block in the once small seaside town. Today the church is ‘The Church in the Market Place’ of the Uniting Church, located in the central business district in the thriving city of Coffs Harbour. Coffs Harbour Congregation is celebrating this milestone during October. On Saturday October 3, memorabilia displays and a luncheon will be held. On October 4, a special Thanksgiving Service will be followed by a sausage sizzle. A centenary book about the history of the life and witness of the Coffs Harbour Methodist/Uniting Church insights.uca.org.au
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will be available. Former members, ministers, and anyone with any interest or connection with Coffs Church is invited to join with us in a weekend of celebration and thanksgiving. For further information, please contact Nancye Duroux (6652 2531; nanceric1@optusnet.com.au) or Pat Faggotter (rfaggotter@ozemail. com.au)
Poverty statistics gave Wagga volunteers food for thought Statistics about poverty in Australia released about five years ago were the catalyst for a group of mainly male retirees to start a foodbank in Wagga Wagga. Phil Sheather, one of the founders of the service, recalls being shocked when the figures revealed that one in eight Australian families were living in poverty. “We thought there is a fair population in Wagga, so there must be quite a few people here who are affected by poverty,” he said. At that time, Wagga’s Wesley Uniting
Typical clients are needy single parents, homeless people and families who are struggling to balance their budget. Many use the service just a few times to help them through a rough patch. Once they are back on their feet, some clients return to thank the volunteers and make a donation to the service. A grant of $7,000 last year from the Norman and Florence Price Memorial Trust was used to buy two large fridges. These have increased the service’s cold storage capacity and its ability to handle perishable food items. They have also made the service more cost-effective and sustainable. The volunteers also run a breakfast in schools ministry three mornings a week during school terms. Phil says as well as offering a valuable service to the local community, the foodbank also serves as a ‘men’s shed’. It provides an outlet for the volunteers to stay connected and help support each other. “The volunteers are all retired. They all come along for a chat,” he said. “But we all get a lot of satisfaction out of being able to help someone. "We all enjoy it.” To read more about foodbanks in other areas, turn to page 32. Insights April/May 2015 7
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News
Rev. Veitinia Waqabaca Shining Christ’s light
the placement in Canterbury opened up for me.”
The first Fijian woman to be ordained in the Uniting Church, Rev. Veitinia Waqabaca, has retired. Rev. Waqabaca’s ministry has been a rich blessing to many. A great pastoral carer, she has been a a forerunner in multicultural and cross cultural ministry, as well as a role model to the next generation of leaders.
In 2002, she took up a placement at Parramatta Mission. Her ministry flourished during the next 12 years, as she served with immense energy, dedication and compassion. She also made a significant contribution as Deputy Chairperson of the Fijian National Conference for 10 years.
Rev. Waqabaca first felt the call to ministry when she was 16. At the time, she knew this was not possible as the Methodist Church of Fiji did not ordain women. “I was not a very forceful person,” Rev. Waqabaca recalls. "I waited around wondering what this call was. I didn’t know I would get married, have eight children and move to Australia before it would happen.” In 1998, Rev. Waqabaca became the first Fijian woman to be trained and ordained in the Uniting Church in Australia. It was a milestone for the Church and a personal one for Rev. Waqabaca, finally fulfilling God’s call on her life to serve Christ and her Fijian community in Australia. “It was difficult at first to be a Fijian woman minister – all Fijian ministers are male. I was not even sure if I would get a placement, but 8 Insights April/May 2015
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On January 24, hundreds gathered at Parramatta Mission to give Rev. Waqabaca a traditional Fijian farewell. This included the exchange of the tabua (whale’s tooth) and meke (Fijian dance) followed by a huge feast. National Director of Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry Rev. Dr Tony Floyd paid tribute to her: “ (Rev.) Waqabaca was and is a role model and mentor for women in leadership and has been a strong encourager for the next generation of leaders," he said. “She has played a guiding role as leader and pastor to people of Fijian background who are journeying within and into the Uniting Church. We are thankful that she both heard God’s call on her life and found a place in the UCA where that call could become reality.” Chairperson of the FNC Jone Lotu commended Rev. Waqabaca for her leadership. “She brings so much
experience on the issues that Fijians within the Uniting Church face each day and that is reflected in the pastoral care she has rendered to the Parramatta Fijian congregation.” Rev. Waqabaca laments the shortage of locally trained indigenous Fijians. There are only four ordained ministers nationally who speak the Fijian language. Another two have almost completed their studies. Rev. Waqabaca set her mind to encouraging new leaders to go to college. To help motivate them, she completed her Master of Theology in 2012 at the age of 69. She also has been dedicated to preserving Fijian culture and history. She has written books and resources about the Fijian Church in Australia. Her biography on one of the elders of the Parramatta congregation, Adriu Rogoimuri, is in its second edition. “Fijians are basically oral people. We need to encourage people to write down their stories. Adriu is a role model in our Church. Younger people no longer listen to older people in meetings. Not so in Parramatta! We take pride in attending Church, as Adriu is there.” Rev. Waqabaca has retired from fulltime ministry but will remain a strong support and role model to the Fijian community in Parramatta and beyond. insights.uca.org.au
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You can download your copy at: http://www.unitingcarenswact. org.au/what_we_do/partnershipswith-congregations/communitydevelopment-program
Raising Hope for women facing homelessness According to The Big Issue, 46,000 Australian women are homeless every day. Of all people experiencing homelessness, 44 per cent are female.Parramatta Mission is working to raise hope for women facing homelessness.
Two million kilometres of volunteer assistance The UnitingCare Casino Transport Team (UCCTT) has 45 volunteer drivers who provide medical transport to the disadvantaged of Casino, Lismore, Kyogle, Coraki and surrounding areas. In total, UCCTT’s driver team has covered a staggering 2,000,000kms — and donated almost 60,000 hours of their time. During the past year alone, these volunteer drivers have completed more than 3,750 trips. They covered a combined distance of about 300,000kms and racked up 7,750 hours of volunteer time. Backed by six volunteer office workers and five volunteers who ensure the phone will be answered 24 hours per day, UCCTT is meeting an ever-increasing demand for medical transport. The volunteer drivers use their own cars and donate their time. They are reimbursed for car expenses at a cents/kilometre rate and UCCTT must find about $10,000 per month for this. The clients are asked to donate about one-third of the cost of their trips. But due to no government funding, there is a constant need to source other funds. insights.uca.org.au
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UCCTT’s support group dedicates itself to fundraising, seeking funds through funding submissions to philanthropic organisations, and donations. The Team’s volunteer coordinator of the past three years will be retiring later this year. UCCTT is seeking someone who fill this vital role. If you are interested, or would like to find out more, please contact (02) 6662 7940.
'Our Stories Our Mission' 2014 booklet is now available The major 'Our Stories Our Mission 2014' conference was held at the Wesley Uniting Church in Castle Hill in August. Uniting Church representatives from Sydney’s Hawkesbury and Hills zones took part, along with various service providers. The focus was upon community service or mission activities taking place within each Church and, in particular, on sharing stories about these activities. Participants were encouraged and inspired, as they increased their knowledge and understanding of community service and mission opportunities. The OSOM14 Booklet captures the stories that were shared at this event.
Parramatta Mission’s inaugural 'Raising Hope Gala' was held in June last year. This event helped to launch a project to raise awareness and funds to establish crisis accommodation for women facing homelessness in Western Sydney. Since the initial gala, Parramatta Mission has taken modest steps towards the development and implementation of accommodation and support for women facing homelessness. A foundation has been established to sustain the project over the long term, as it works towards its goal of developing pathways for women to transition out of homelessness. While social housing is a temporary fix for women with complex needs, for many women it can be seen only as that — a temporary fix. A holistic approach toward meeting women’s individual needs is a necessary requirement in reaching a more permanent solution. You can partner with Parramatta Mission, as it does something about this. A great first step is attending the 2015 'Raising Hope for Women Facing Homelessness Gala'. The gala will be held on Friday May 29, 7pm–11pm, at Waterview in Bicentennial Park, Sydney. For ticket enquiries or for more information, contact Donna Kelly (9891 2277; donna.kelly@ parramattamission.org.au).
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News Breaking New Ground: The Newpin Social Innovation Conference To celebrate the first 18 months of Australia’s inaugural pilot program involving social benefit bonds, UnitingCare Burnside is hosting 'Breaking New Ground': The Newpin Social Innovation Conference on April 22. The conference will focus on the development of social benefit bonds and social investment, as a means to supporting innovative practice and harnessing new funding within Australia’s social services sector. There also will be workshops that explore good practice in restoration and in achieving outcomes in the mental health arena. Premier of New South Wales Mike Baird will open the conference. Facilitator and MC will be Jenny Brockie, Australian awardwinning journalist, documentarymaker and host of SBS forumdiscussion program Insight. Keynote speakers include: • Cheryl Kernot, Social Business Fellow at the Centre for Social Impact. She will tackle critical questions around social investment.
Workshopping the future Planning for the future is never an easy undertaking, especially when it involves the likes of a diverse and complex organisation such as the Uniting Church. But it was a challenge undertaken recently by Rev. Peter Worland, executive director of UnitingCare NSW/ACT. Over two days, Rev. Worland, Rev. Lindsay Cullen, Rev. Warwick Cadenhead and Michael Potter engaged an external consulting team to help them run a workshop on mapping the future of the Church. The objective of the workshop was to get participants to work with a range of methods and tools, to then present their vision of a “preferred future” (as 10 Insights April/May 2015
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if they were in the year 2030). They had to explain the steps they took to arrive at their “preferred future”. Specifically, participants were asked to forecast what they would need to do today, during the next three months, the next three years, and so on, to achieve their goals. In other words: using the 2030 “preferred future” outcome, to inform the actions required to achieve that goal.
• Emeritus Professor Dorothy Scott OAM, patron of Newpin. She will address the underlying issues which face vulnerable families with complex needs, as well as the crucial role played by innovation and good, evidence-based practice. For more information about the conference or to register, visit www.newpinconference.org.au
“We are trying to get people out of their Church thinking, to broaden our thinking out to the future — where we would like to be in 15 years — and working towards making this future happen”, explains Rev. Worland.
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From the General Secretary’s desk It’s time to start telling a new story
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n my November column, I spoke about beginning to ‘change the narrative’ of how we talk about the state of the Church – to move from negative to positive. I have been reflecting on that more and more, as well as our need to ‘choose life’ (Deuteronomy 30). People have been discussing the decline of the Church for quite a few years. We’ve become used to the dire warnings and predictions of the end. It is part of our collective story and I know that, at times, I too have bought into that story.
Rev. Dr Andrew Williams General Secretary The General Secretary is appointed by the Synod to provide leadership to the Church by actively engaging in strategic thinking about the life, direction, vision and mission of the Church.
But despite the fact that fewer people attend Church regularly, or feel the need to attend at all, many Congregations keep plodding forward without much change. ‘Those young people will come back eventually; we did! Besides, the problem really isn’t us. It’s the world that changed.’ This denial is in part because gloom and doom predictions don’t generally motivate positive changes in behaviour. Fear is one of the worst motivators there is, especially when the object of one’s fear is a vaguely, or poorly, defined set of future predictions. Every missed indicator becomes another reason to discount the entirety of the said theory, and also an excuse to return to — or stay with — one’s past form of behaviour. This tendency is also evidenced in how quickly we can forget that there is a problem when we see a small resurgence in Sunday morning worship attendance. Somehow, suddenly, our individual faith community is now impervious to those larger cultural issues and internal discipleship issues. We alone will persevere against the Goliath of the mainline church malaise.
scare people into doing the right thing. But we can tell our story in a way that demands a future without neglecting the present. Catholic priest and cultural analyst Ivan Illich said it this way: ‘Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step… If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.’ While the Church is committed to changing the world, let me suggest that we need to start by changing our story. A future with hope is one we can build together intentionally, while a future of fear is one from which we can only run haphazardly. The difference is the story we decide to tell. So you want those young people to start attending your Church? Great! A funeral in progress may not be the strongest story we can tell. So let’s stop telling the tale about the death of the Church and start writing the story about the future of the Church. Our rewrite cannot ignore current realities, but it must refuse to be limited by them.
People will refuse to accept a reality when the story in which it is packaged is too bleak, dire, or boring. We can’t insights.uca.org.au
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Our Church is aging. Results from the five-yearly National Churches Life Survey taken in New Zealand and Australia from 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2011 reveal that Uniting Church Congregations have a low percentage of members who were born after World War II. This presents us with a number of challenges, not least of which is how to offer styles of worship and ministry appropriate to different generational values. What motivates and inspires baby boomers (born 1945–1960) is a far cry from what excites Gen X (born 1960–1980). Those things are virtually irrelevant to Gen Y (born 1980–1995). Trying to make "one size fit all" can lead to conflict and frustration. Such an approach also can lead to an exodus of capable leaders, to more hospitable environments — or from the Church. Many have been trying to better understand these pressures and what it takes to be a Church that nurtures emerging generations. Among them
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are Uniting Mission and Education's Bradon French (Next Gen consultant) and Duncan Macleod (Uniting Learning Network director). Recently, they sat down with two others who share their passion for sustainable development of intergenerational Congregations — North Rocks Community Church's Minister of the Word Phil Swain and youth worker Katelyn Stevenson. This quartet talked through human development common to all generations, and the challenges and quests associated with life cycles. They also explored the opportunities for empowering a new generation that has unique experiences and perspectives on life. Also covered in their far-reaching conversation was death, life and resurrection for an intergenerational Church. Some of their thoughts, critiques, encouragements and provocative suggestions are shared over the following pages. To get us all thinking about how we might move forward, together.
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he Uniting Church in Australia was formed in the 1970s by people whose faith was formed in the 1940s and 1950s. Those who were 30 to 40 years of age in 1970 are now 75 to 85 years of age. While Adult Fellowship, a primary institution of the Uniting Church, is centered on the value of meeting for the sake of belonging and commitment, it’s at risk of disappearing as the founding generation passes. Baby boomers tend to be looking for an environment that will provide a sense of intimacy and transcendent experience associated with transformation. Retiring baby boomers moving to new locations may check out the local Church, only once to be reminded that indeed the local Church is irrelevant to their generational values. Compared with the pre-war generations, few Gen X and Gen Y people in Australia consider themselves to be formally associated with the Christian faith or community of faith. Intergenerational Congregations can be marked by leaders and members with self-awareness, reflexivity (capacity to read and shape culture) and an ability to recognise and nurture models of ministry appropriate for emerging generations. Bradon French and Duncan Macleod are part of a network focused on supporting Uniting Church leaders as they develop intergenerational communities. They realise that, as tempting as it might be to try to attract young people by merely employing a youth worker, or to attract families by appointing a young minister, such moves are not viable long-term "solutions" for Congregational health — without doing the hard work of adjusting Congregational life
Bradon I’m currently writing an essay on Jeremiah 29. Rev. Dr Michael Frost, vice principal and the director of the Tinsley Institute, asks, 'What if today we have greater affinity with the exiles than with anyone else in the Biblical narrative?' The letter to the exiles speaks to us in a very real way. We’re challenged to get used to the world being different, and address our call to nurture a new generation in the context we’re living in now. 14 Insights April/May 2015
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Duncan Gerald Arbuckle, another Australian theologian, talks about our need to grieve before we can effectively change our orientation towards the place God has placed in. I've also been reflecting on William Worden’s work on the tasks of grieving and how that applies to Churches addressing generational change. We’re not the Church we were in the 1950s, and we’re not the Church we thought we were going to be when the Uniting Church was formed in the 1970s. To work that through we need to face the loss honestly. We’re not going back there any time soon.
Our Church communities play an important role in providing an environment of trust, nurture, support for growing, responsibility and leadership Leaders of Congregations have the challenge of helping people express the pain of loss in ways that are life-giving and not destructive. Anger and sadness, when not worked through, end up in chronic depression. We have to give ourselves permission to live through times of emptiness and uncertainty, often the places where creative approaches to the future are nurtured. Then, we can start adjusting to a future that looks quite different. Minister of the Word Phil Swain also has been thinking about moving forward.
Phil Growing our capacity to be an intergenerational Church is one of the ways we’ve been coming to terms with a new future for North Rocks Community Church. We’re learning to take seriously the needs of current members alongside those of younger members.
North Rocks Community Church youth worker Katelyn has studied human development. Her perspective on what’s going on for children and young people as they grow up, can speak to our increased understanding of responding to intergenerational issues.
Katelyn Human development starts the day we’re born. What we need as we develop, changes quite radically every eighteen months or so. Young kids learn a lot about life through play, through familiarity with their family and friends. They learn that they’re loved and there’s a place for them. As kids move through primary school years, they need to know that they belong. That there’s a place for them — whether it be in the classroom, in their peer group or in the community. It’s a time when they learn to take responsibility, to provide leadership in their own way. Young people in older primary and secondary years, have to work out how to deal with conflict. They also learn agency, how to be individuals, how to act and be themselves, and how to lead other people. Our Church communities play an important role, in providing them with an environment of trust, nurture, as well as support for growing, responsibility and leadership.
Bradon The trick comes when you transfer that personal story [of human development] into different contexts. Those contexts can be linked to geography or culture. Even the time of life or the era in which you’re growing up. How your personal story interacts with that context, as you seek to socialise yourself with family and friends and organisations. Then as you continue to grow through young adulthood, it’s often a time when your context is transplanted. Maybe you leave school, enter uni or the workforce. When you leave your family home, your needs for personal capital change. You seek to identify who you are, to develop strong relationships that help you define that as you grow older. You seek to develop a sense of community and deep connection. It’s about relationships, and a metanarrative that shapes how you move forward.
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Phil I find this development doesn’t stop. As adults work through life, they deal with challenges associated with what’s happening for them. For me it’s been associated with marriage, having kids and everything associated with being a new parent. Having our kids grow up and move towards independence. I find that what’s important to me, what I value, continues to change. Just before Christmas I was talking with my wife about valuing deep relationships, getting together with people we can have significant conversations with.
Duncan Stages of life can be for anyone. Things can go round in cycles. You could be getting married at 21, 41 or 61. You could be going through a crisis about what you’re going to do for the rest of your life at 16, 46 or 66. What’s interesting is the influence of our critical years; moving beyond our childhood and teenage time, starting to differentiate ourselves from our parents and other significant adults. It’s a time when we say, 'This is who I am.' I have found that people carry their young adult experience with them through life. Have you noticed that people’s taste in music is often based on the point at which they chose what to listen to for themselves? We form many of our core values in life in those young adult years. You see people saying “'’m not going to be like my parents. I’m going to be like this instead.' Forty-year-olds in 1975 are not the same as 40-year-olds in 1995 or 2015. We actually have different values based on our experiences of life. Baby boomers coming to retirement have values they’ve carried with them all through their lives; connected with their experiences of young adulthood in the 1960s. And now we have Gen X and Gen Y coming through as leaders in the Church, offering to take a role in shaping the way we operate. In many cases, they just leave saying, 'There’s nothing for me here.' One of our challenges is helping people from different generations be in conversation with one another. The first step is being aware of our own experiences and how they’ve shaped us, being aware of the people who helped to form our values, and the people who insights.uca.org.au
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became our peers and who will continue to be our peers. We need to know who we are before we can help nurture an emerging generation.
Bradon When we take these things seriously and bring people together, we’re going to find points at which people disagree. Or put another way, we discover opportunities for learn from each other — about the way we make decisions, the way we plan the budget, or the activities of the Church.
We can be enriched by the perspectives of all generations, rather than just the ones who have gone before us or those who have organisational power. How do we teach? How do we learn the faith? And what is the faith? What is the Good News for all generations? What is it that binds us together? In my role as Next Gens Consultant I find myself in meetings a lot. The constant request is “How do we get more young people to [these] meetings?” My gut response is “We don’t want to bring young people into this place when it’s not a life-giving space; when it’s not showing us at our best, or when it’s not good news to young people. We need to ask big questions about the way we make decisions. I would argue that the way we make decisions is just as important as the decision we make. What are the emerging models of decision making? How do we hear all voices in the room and still have a flow where we make a decision? I like to see a meeting be a learning experience that binds and unites people rather than one that ostracises or disconnects them because of experience or the way we’ve always done it (or the pre-knowledge required).
Phil I remember as a 19-year-old sitting in my first Church council meeting having an epiphany. I realised that these people loved this — a 3-hour-long meeting with a supper in the middle. It was part of what they did. And yet, as a young person, I didn’t know how to engage with the format. How do you resolve that tension: when one generation is very comfortable with a pre-set meeting structure, in which decisions are worked through methodically to a clear decision, while another generation is more comfortable throwing things around and seeing what emerges? How do you find those balances? At North Rocks we’ve been struggling with how to find that balance. Do we form committees to do stuff or do we just get in and do stuff?
Bradon I think we need to reimagine ourselves. We are the people of God gathered. We have more in common than what divides us. If we’re clear about our task at any given point, whether it be management, governance or just celebrating and learning together, we would do better as a community. We can be enriched by the perspectives of all generations, rather than just the ones who have gone before us or those who have organisational power.
Katelyn I was teaching a Sunday school group where I asked them to put together a list of things that frustrated them about the Church. They quickly named the issue of 'Jan’s office'. A year earlier, our Church had agreed to renovate her office but we’d struggled to find someone to do the painting, to pull up the carpet. [The Sunday school group] said if they send one more notice about it, they would cancel Sunday school and just go and do it themselves.
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Bradon What would happen if a Church community for a whole year acted with youthful exuberance and, out of childlike naiveté, responded to needs, with creativity and imagination, and allowed themselves to follow through on their instincts? Exciting and terrifying.
Katelyn I was wondering about this at our last Church council meeting. If we took [Bradon's suggestion] to our young people, would they say we needed to consult with three committees — and form a new committee? Or would they recommend just getting on with it?
The Easter story includes the reminder that God is with us in times of endings and new beginnings A good example of that is 'Weird at Nite Rocks'. A young person came to me and said 'I appreciate the sermons and I appreciate the teaching. My learning style is not to be spoken at. I need discussion, to hear other people’s ideas. I am fascinated to hear what other people have to say on a topic. I’d like to run an interview or a discussion on an interesting or controversial topic every second week at Church.' And so we’ve done just that, looking at how we pray, how we reflect on poor decisions, looking at how the Church relates to actions around the world. Running this has created such a welcoming space where we’ve acknowledged that we each have different ideas and perspectives.
Bradon We’re touching on important issues for the Church. We’re discovering new ways of applying innovative learning styles, with children, teenagers and adults. We need to keep exploring. Across the Church, for example, we’ve been learning from the experiences of ethnic communities as they draw together first, second, third and fourth generations. 18 Insights April/May 2015
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Katelyn Stevenson, Youth Pastor North Rocks Community Church
Phil Swain, Minister, North Rocks Community Church
Katelyn works with various teams to organise the Sunday evening "youth" services, high school Bible study and youth groups.This can involve everything from buying milkshakes and listening to stories, to preaching and playing high-energy games. She considers it an absolute privilege to be able to journey with these young people.
Phil has been part of the ministry team at North Rocks for nearly 11 years — preaching, teaching, leading, serving, playing, praying, encouraging and coming up with crazy ideas for ministry, mission and worship. He is passionate about taking the message of Jesus and communicating that in a way which connects with people. Some of his other “passions” are creative worship.
Bradon French, Next Generation Consultant, Uniting Mission & Education Bradon has spent eight years working in congregational youth and children’s ministry, as well as training as a Special Needs Primary Teacher with the DET. He believes effective ministry with young people cannot assume a one-sizefits-all approach – it allows for and encourages diversity in involvement and expression. He is passionate about exploring faith and ministry within your context, crossing cultural and geographic boundaries.
Duncan It’s exciting to have people bring a new perspective to the questions we’re asking. At the heart of what it means to be an intergenerational Church is having different generations reflecting on what it means to follow Jesus, and helping each other out with that. There is incredible insight to be gained from listening to others as they explore and experience the story of Jesus. What makes sense for them? I'm seeing a growing number of people in their 20s, for example, wanting to make connections between the gospel and the way we live in our environment. What does it mean to be in a relationship with the land and with indigenous people? The whole Church is enriched by those questions. You don’t need to look far to see a strong surge of young adults inspired
Duncan McLeod, Uniting Learning Network, Uniting mission & education Duncan joined UME in January 2014, as director of the newly established Uniting Learning Network. Duncan has worked for the Uniting Church in Australia as Minister of Youth an Families (Robina), mission consultant and Vision for Mission advocate (Queensland Synod), and Presbytery Minister Mission/Education (Canberra). He also was a minister in Tokoroa, New Zealand, and National Youth Ministry Coordinator for Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, NZ. by the Christian gospel to courageously stand up for justice. You just need to be open to seeing it and embracing it. Together we’re asking how God’s vision for humanity is equipping us to live differently. Being an intergenerational Church is challenging. It requires hard work, huge amounts of diplomacy and patience. It requires courage to name what needs to be named. But it’s worth it. It’s an incredible privilege to be part of that. The Easter story includes the reminder that God is with us in times of endings and new beginnings. God is with us as we are confronted with the fragility of many of our expressions of Church. God is with us as we learn to live again with a new set of companions. Send your thoughts on the issues of intergenerational Church to insights@nswact.uca.org.au insights.uca.org.au
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Where do we find our resurrection hope?
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Who is your favourite Jesus?
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ho is your favourite Jesus – Christmas Jesus or Easter Jesus? Of course, that is a silly question because they are one and the same person. But if we drill down into our thinking, maybe the question does have some relevance.
Do we like more the idea of Immanuel, God with us, or the Crucified Christ who died to save us from our sins? Maybe some of us reject either and just focus on the Rabbi Jesus, the wise teacher. Or, perhaps, it’s miracle worker Jesus, who can heal us of our ills? Or, maybe, the deeper question we all should be asking ourselves is the one that Jesus asked his disciples: ‘Who do you say that I am?’ It is an all-important question that is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (Matthew 16:15, Mark 8:29 and Luke 9:20). As we think about Easter, we are called to think upon its meaning for us. At the core of our thinking is the question of who Jesus is for us. At least, it is a core question if we seek to be disciples of the Christ and follow in his way. Because we need to understand who he is and what he is calling us to, in order to follow him. 22 Insights April/May 2015
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Who is the Christ that we seek to follow? Do we have a favourite Easter Jesus – ‘Dying on the Cross’ Jesus or Resurrected Jesus? Again, it is a silly question, but we can often place a different emphasis in our own faith on what part of Jesus’ story holds more meaning for us. Some of us focus on his death and how it sets us free from sin, following texts such as Romans 3:23-24, which speak of Jesus ‘paying the price’. Others of us see the cross to be about the love and compassion of God in our suffering, ‘having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.’ (John 13:1-16) All of these things we think and say about Jesus are important, but we need to remember that Jesus didn’t just come to die. Jesus came to live and teach us God’s will and way through word and example, as well. Faith in Christ and in his death and resurrection are essential elements of our discipleship, but they are nothing if we only get hung up on the happenings of the Cross (excuse the pun). We need to remember that there is more to life than death and what comes after death — as important as that is.
There is more to Jesus than his birth, death and resurrection. Believing in Jesus is about more than believing in who he was. Faith is powerful and good, but without works of loving service, it is useless (James 2: 26). Belief in Jesus is just as much about compassion and justice and working for the common good. This Easter, as we remember how Christ died and rose again, let us remember the journey that led him to that point. Let us remember that our call to Christian discipleship does not solely entail belief in the Christ, but also believing in him enough to follow in his way of peace, redemption, justice, mercy, grace, sacrifice and compassion. Let us not just look upon the Cross and the empty tomb, but let us listen for the echoes of his voice, which sends us out to feed the hungry, clothe the destitute, work for the release of those wrongly imprisoned, and act for justice, especially in the eradication of poverty. Let us help people encounter the living Christ, whose love and grace have the power to transform life. Whose way of living has meaning, purpose and the power to give us deep peace. Jon Humphries insights.uca.org.au
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Raising Hope Gala 29 May 2015 WatervieW in Bicentennial Park Parramatta Mission is hosting its annual Raising Hope Gala to raise funds to establish crisis accommodation for women facing homelessness. The evening will be hosted by Mark Taylor, Parramatta Mission's patron of 18 years, and will include an exciting guest speaker panel, live entertainment, canapĂŠs, 3 course food and beverages, raffle and auctions. With your help we can provide women with support on the journey to a safer, more independent future. For further information visit www.parramattamission.org.au or email donna.kelly@parramattamission.org.au
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Easter must connect us with the plight of life on Earth H
ave we become preoccupied with our own survival, while the web of life unravels? If you think that the Uniting Church is in trouble, then have a care for Creation. During the past 40 years, the size of the world’s total animal population (except for humans) has halved. Over the same period, we humans have doubled our numbers, and increased our per capita consumption (real GDP) by 70 per cent (100 per cent in Australia). More than half of the world’s rainforests have been cleared. Some 80 per cent of fish stocks are overfished, fully exploited or depleted. Freshwater and wetland ecosystems are among the most overe-xploited, degraded and polluted ecosystems in the world. We are either at or close to global peak oil — that moment when extraction of petroleum tips over into irreversible decline. Other resources, such as phosphorus, will also peak in the coming decades. And then all of this is exacerbated by climate change. Its effects are already manifest through greater weather extremes and sea level rises. These effects already have proved catastrophic for those who are least responsible. If the world’s known fossil fuel reserves are burned in their entirety, they will cook us all several times over. Scientists suggest we are in the early stages of a sixth mass extinction event. The previous five wiped out 70 to 90 per cent of all species. But this time, living beings – humans – are responsible. It would be unfair and dangerous, though, to blame this apocalyptic scenario on humanity as an undifferentiated mass, or on something irredeemable that is inherent in us. Some societies and cultures have lived respectfully and well — yet not without impact. In the words of poet, farmer and activist Wendell Berry, “to live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation”.
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Many more sustainable cultures have paid dearly when others have come to take the land and its resources. The fault does not primarily lie with individuals nor with our species as a whole, but with structures and systems in which many of us are complicit. Systems which we have capacity to perpetuate, as well as to change. In our era, the 2009 Assembly Statement titled “An Economy of Life” named the values of the neoliberal (or neoclassical) economic system: materialism; individualism; greed for money and power; competition and unlimited growth. It also listed the mechanisms that perpetuate these values, such as the military-industrial complex and escalating consumerism. In his Easter message several years ago, then Moderator Rev. Niall Reid said climate change was “the inevitable outcome of unsustainable, unfettered and unthinking addiction to economic growth. This in a world where the powers that be are no more willing to contemplate a different way than when, for expediency’s sake, they sent Jesus to the cross and did everything in their power to cajole, scare off and divide his supporters.” So, the crucifixion of Jesus is echoed in the consumerist culture’s ongoing crucifixion of Creation. Jesus came proclaiming a kingdom of love of neighbour and even enemies, a kingdom which was gained by losing everything, especially wealth and power over others. In response, “The Powers” — and the mob — crucified him. That message continues to be rejected today, and the cosmic Christ continues to suffer through what we are doing to the “least of these”: the poor and, indeed, all Creation. The writers of the Uniting Church’s founding document, the Basis of Union, were convinced that the significance of Easter extends beyond humanity: “Jesus himself, in his life and death, made the response of humility, obedience and trust which God had long sought in vain.
In raising him to live and reign, God confirmed and completed the witness which Jesus bore to God on earth. [This also] reasserted His claim over the whole of Creation, pardoned sinners and made, in Jesus, a representative beginning of a new order of righteousness and love.” Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Church serves “that coming reconciliation and renewal which is the end in view for the whole Creation” (Basis of Union, 3). Across the decades, this understanding has been central to our Church’s work for ecological justice: “God’s will for the Earth is not destruction by human beings, but reconciliation and renewal.” (“For the Sake of the Planet and all its People”, 2006) Climate change activists are repeatedly told that focusing on the scale of environmental destruction is counterproductive. Fear is elicited by the threat to our way of life, the lives of our children and even our very species. In turn, such fear leads to the maladaptive responses of denial, inertia and inaction. Every society is faced with the task of finding meaning in the face of disappointment, disaster and death. It is not a task that the modern world does well – we largely respond to death by holding it at bay. Death is a fact of life, yet our culture is largely silent on it – until happenings like bushfires, violence, or the death of a young cricketer force their way into our public consciousness. We are chronically unable to talk about death, even with those closest to us. A recent survey by Palliative Care Australia found the majority of Australians haven’t talked with their loved ones about dying, including half of those aged over 65. Consumerism is part of our denial of death and limits. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W Bush famously responded by telling Americans to go out shopping. Fascinatingly, experimental studies have showed that increasing people’s awareness of their mortality tends to increase their materialistic tendencies. insights.uca.org.au
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Horrifyingly, it does seems that we are crucifying the Earth, partly through the deep denial of our own death. It was devastating, and dangerous, to stay with Jesus at his crucifixion. Only a few faced up to that terrifying turn of events. Similarly, most of us Christians who enjoy historically unparalleled comforts, also can find it difficult to behold the cross of Creation. It is not surprising. Insulated by our technologies, how are we to truly grasp the destruction wreaked by our way of life? Yet, psychologists and others open to their insights insist that we must deeply enter into and work through our fear, grief and anger, if we are to sustain a meaningful response to the ecocide. Unless we have confronted death, we cannot understand resurrection. The gospels give us four accounts of The Resurrection, and Paul gives us a further metaphor: the body of Jesus the Christ has become the “body of Christ”, the resurrection community continuing God’s mission on Earth. If Creation also is being crucified, what might its resurrection look like: where are the signs of new community and life?
We do continue to see the prophets, those who tear down and turn over tables. For example, the Christians who have joined the Maules Creek Mine blockade in the Leard Forest. They have been speaking the love of neighbour and disrupting the worship of the God of Mammon (see Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13), while facing the consequences. We also see the pastors, those who nurture and restore. Landcare, permaculture, community supported agriculture, community gardens and transition towns. Australians’ embrace of rooftop solar. Advances in regulations that protect the environment. Transformation of ecosystems through rewilding. Is this the resurrection of Creation? A swelling movement of reform, of reconciliation and renewal with repentant humans at its head? The body of Christ coming together to work for the whole Creation - which came into being through and for him (according to John 1:2-3 and Colossians 1:15-17)? Or will the resurrection be even more radical? Is there only the hopelessness of apocalypse before us? Must Creation groan until this sixth extinction event is complete, and humanity has wiped itself
out — paving the way for the resurrection of completely new life forms (as resulted from previous mass extinctions)? As our President reminded us years ago, the Basis of Union does not hold to a “scorched earth” vision of the future. We know scientifically that life would go on without us, if we choose to embrace Mammon and accelerate our own extinction. Staring this very real possibility in the face, however, frees all of us to “live life out of genuine hope, believing that transformation is possible. This is not a wild or shallow optimism that is satisfied to rest on the idea that all will be OK in the end, but a commitment to engage as active participants in the reconciliation of the world with God” (“An Economy of Life”, 2009). To truly confront our own inevitable death — as opposed to distracting ourselves from it, through our endless consumerism — and to stay with Creation at its cross will perhaps enable us to rise to the challenge of living its resurrection: transforming our society and way of life to embody Christ’s love, generosity and compassion for all Creation. Miriam Pepper and Jason Johns Uniting Earth Ministry is a project of Uniting Mission and Education, the Mid North Presbytery and the Uniting Eco Group. Uniting Earth Ministry works across our Church to explore how we all might “confess the Lord in fresh words and deeds” (Basis of Union, 11) — in light of our changing awareness of the place that humans occupy in Creation. We invite you to join us. Visit our website to access resources. These include: worship materials; stories of hope from Churches and community groups taking action; our coal and gas mining discussion guide for Congregations; community gardens resources; and more. Please contact us to connect in with our courses and events. You alco can sign up to our e-bulletin, or join our new pastoral peer support network. www.unitingearthweb.org.au
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A Conference all about championing the cause of the local church everywhere.
He’s Speaking. In 1 Samuel 3:10 is says, “The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, Samuel! Samuel! Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening’”. SPEAK, WE’RE LISTENING – is a declaration that we are indeed, listening.
Special Guests Joseph Prince
Judah Smith
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Rick Warren
Martin Smith
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We are trusting God’s Spirit to enable us to create the most perfect gathering in 2015. As always we will labor to bring the finest Bible teachers, Kingdom-inspirers and creative- innovators to the Hillsong Conference, in order that you, your family and your team are blessed. Our prayer is that the Church, local and global, will continue to rise in her full stature and that the Harvest He longs for will not be disappointed. “Speak Lord, we’re listening” is perfect language and a perfect stance for what lies ahead. We trust you will join us – the invitation is yours. With love and affection, BRIAN AND BOBBIE HOUSTON HILLSONG CONFERENCE TWENTY-FIFTEEN Sydney. London. USA.
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Mark & Grace Driscoll
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Jentezen Franklin Jentezen
Like Samuel, the LORD has come many times, spoken many times and (hopefully) had our response many times, but this is an eternal conversation that involves not only personal relationship, but also the wellbeing and salvation of others. In the midst of a world saturated with voices and noise, the Voice we long for is His.
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Some steps in our Church’s journey of reconciliation
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ignificant conversations are going on around Australia, in support of officially recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution. For many, this is an urgent need, as well as an appropriate next step in the process of reconciliation. This search for reconciliation should resonate with members of the Uniting Church. Not only is talk of “reconciliation” at the heart of the Basis of Union, but it has been part of our life for the past 30 years. For us in the Uniting Church, this process began in 1985, with recognition of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. Recognising it as a discrete body within the Church, the UAICC had authority in relation to Aboriginal and Islander members, Congregations and ministers. Also, it was given a constitutional voice in the decisionmaking processes of the whole Church. Three years later, the UAICC was deeply disappointed when the national Assembly of the Church refused to recommend that Uniting Church members boycott the Bicentennial Celebrations. This boycott was called for, due to the UAICC believing inadequate steps had been made to gain justice and land rights for Aboriginal peoples. The UAICC organised its response in the "March for Freedom Justice and Hope" event. The actions of the Assembly strained the Church’s relationship with the newly established UAICC. So, in 1991, the Assembly agreed to begin a process of covenanting between the UAICC and the rest of the Church. It committed itself to building relations of solidarity within the Church, at every level of its life — Congregations and the Aboriginal people in the locality; in Presbyteries, Synods and at the national level. From 1992, at the request of the UAICC, I was appointed to work full-time in collaboration with its members, to develop relations between Aboriginal people (in every locality) and Uniting Church groups. Between 1992 until 2000, I travelled to every part of the country, encouraging
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local Church groups to meet, talk with, and listen to local Aboriginal people about what reconciliation might mean in their area. Many local actions were taken in response to these consultations. In 1994, as part of this process of covenanting and reconciliation, in the presence of all the former Presidents and the whole national Assembly of some 250 leaders of the Church, the President of the Uniting Church made a formal apology* to the Chairperson and UAICC members. This apology was for the wrongs done to Aboriginal and Islander people, after 1788, by the newcomers to this land (and, in particular, the churches). The Assembly, on behalf of the whole Uniting Church, entered into a covenant with the UAICC. The terms of this covenant included transfer of financial assets of the Church to the UAICC, for its work. Over the next 15 years, the Church took various actions as it explored the implications of this covenant. Many people — both members of the UAICC and other members of the Uniting Church — felt that the constitution of the Church, drafted in the 1960s, should reflect the new situation in which we had come to recognise ourselves as a community of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and later comers. This was not only a matter of recognising the reality that the Uniting Church comprised Aboriginal and non-aboriginal people. It required acknowledgment that before Christians came to Australia with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God was already here. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had been trying to live their lives for millennia in response to their recognition of the Creator God. They tried to live their lives in response to their understanding of themselves as creatures accountable to the Creator. In 1996, the Assembly Standing Committee issued an apology on behalf of the Uniting Church to the Stolen Generations, for wrongs done to them (and the whole Aboriginal community) under these policies. The Chairperson of
the Commission of Enquiry, Sir Ronald Wilson, was a previous President of the Uniting Church National Assembly. The 1997 Assembly also passed a resolution that the Church, at every level, should promote the choice of a new National Day. This would be to replace “Australia Day” on January 26, on the grounds it is offensive to Aboriginal people and, therefore, divisive within the Australian community. In 2006, procedures were established to affirm the right of the UAICC to present its view on any matter to the Assembly — before other debate took place on the issue. The Assembly went on to reaffirm the covenant with the UAICC, and to encourage discussion at every level of the Church (and all its agencies) about the implications of this, for the Church. Over the next three years, the Uniting Church, in its various councils, continued to work through the implications of being a church in a covenant relationship with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. In 2009, the Assembly resolved to adopt a new Preamble to the Constitution, in recognition that the Uniting Church included both First Peoples — the Aboriginal and Islander peoples who had lived in Australia from time immemorial — and Second Peoples; those who had come to live in Australia since 1788. The Uniting Church has taken some significant steps on the journey to reconciliation, but there is still a long way to go. Needing to be tackled are issues of land, sovereignty and self-determination, recognition of the contribution First Peoples can make to the Church and nation, and ongoing issues of racism and injustice. The Uniting Church needs to maintain its commitments and, particularly, its commitment to the UAICC. John P. Brown *Copies of the full text of the apology, and the response of the Chairperson of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress can be found in Robert Bos and Geoff Thompson (eds) Theology for Pilgrims: Selected Theological Documents of the Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Press, 2008.
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Soapbox Where has the joy gone?
W
hen I visited with a family recently, they joked: “Where has the joy gone? Where is this abundant life we talk about?” It reminded me of Andrew Dutney’s book, that has the title Where Did The Joy Come From?
Rev. Dr John Squires The soapbox is conventionally attributed to street preaching on a given subject, to engage those who would stop and listen in passionate discourse. London’s Hyde Park is known for its Sunday soapbox orators, who have assembled at Speakers' Corner since 1872 to discuss religion, politics and other topics.
While they were half in jest, it was evident that the burdens of church life are far outweighing the abundant joy we proclaim. Going to church is not always the uplifting spiritual and social occasion our older members remember. Today it is hard work, with fewer people facing increasing responsibilities and chores so that things can tick over for another week. As I have reflected on this question, I have not discovered any real answers. I thought about how stretched everyone is — all of us being asked to do more with less — and how busy and tired people are. When you ask someone how they are, have you noticed the answer is nearly always the same: “Busy!” I began to question my own sense of joy. As I sat watching a movie about Oscar Romero — the Archbishop of San Salvador who was murdered while conducting mass in 1980 — my perspective was refreshed. It reminded me I have freedom and safety, and I will not have to watch as my children starve or are beaten to death. I have a Church I can go to without risk to my life. I have a home to live in that is luxuriously spacious compared with the living conditions endured by most of our world. I have work I love, serving people I care for. I found my joy. But then, a few months ago, I watched as our Moderator was detained by police for holding a public prayer vigil in Tony Abbott’s office. Praying for the thousands of refugees who are treated inhumanely, simply for wanting just a little of what we have in such abundance. I was proud of our Church – that we care enough to move outside our own
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self-absorption to advocate for those on the margins. As our Church struggles to adapt to a new way of doing things, part of our temptation is to try and keep everything going. But that isn’t lifegiving, which is a fair indicator that perhaps we have some hard decisions to make and some prioritising to do. While I know these issues are complex, I also know our purpose was clearly spelled out in the Basis of Union. We were designed to be a Church that joined God in working for reconciliation and renewal in all of creation. Our DNA is that of joy — loved for who we are, challenged to be who we could be, and then compassionately loving one another the same way. Our Church springs from being God’s people serving God’s world… but as I look around, I don’t see many joy-filled Congregations. Maybe too many of us have forgotten where our joy is? I love our Church. I love our people, but even more, I love who we could be. Of course we have tasks to do and hard decisions to make, but maybe it’s time to step outside our own nostalgia and self-absorption and see life through someone else’s perspective. In order to be reminded of who and whose we are — and the purpose to which we have been called. So, in your Congregations, Church councils and small groups, I ask you to talk about where your joy is. How evident is it in your worship and in your discipleship? Ask one another: “What have we to offer our communities and our world if we have forgotten our joy?” Rev. Dr John Squires, Wauchope Uniting Church and Southern Zone Minister Mid North Coast Presbytery
What are you passionate about?
Want to continue this conversation online? Tweet or Facebook using #ucasoapbox and let’s get a conversation going.
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Ministry Matters P lacement Vacancies as at 1 April 2015. The following placements have submitted profiles to the Placements Committee and are either in, or soon to be in, the process of seeking to fill a ministry vacancy. Placements are available to specified ministers of the UCA. These placements are listed as being suitable for a Pastor under Regulation 2.3.3(a)(ii). A non-ordained minister may offer to serve in an approved placement through a written application to the Synod. Expressions of interest may be made in writing to the Associate Secretary, Rev. Jane Fry, janef@nsw.uca.org.au or to the Presbytery’s Placement Committee representative. CANBERRA REGION Eurobodalla 70% (ADVERTISED) Bega Tathra South Woden (ADVERTISED) FAR NORTH COAST PRESBYTERY Maclean 70% (ADVERTISED) GEORGES RIVER PRESBYTERY Bardwell Park Oatley KOREAN Sydney Cheil English Ministry 75% (ADVERTISED)
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KU-RING-GAI PRESBYTERY Broken Bay – Ettalong/Umina Thornleigh Hillcrest MACQUARIE DARLING PRESBYTERY Broken Hill 50% PARRAMATTA-NEPEAN Castle Hill (ADVERTISED) West Epping Seniors Ministry 40% SYDNEY PRESBYTERY Mustard Seed (ADVERTISED) Tonga Parish Wesley Chinese (ADVERTISED)
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Challenges on the menu for food ministries I
n some ways, the growth of food ministries operated by Uniting Church Congregations throughout NSW and the ACT in recent years has been a double-edged sword. To the needy, food ministries are a tangible demonstration of Christian love and service. To local Congregations, they are a forum for members to engage with their community and a way to develop relationships with non-members. On the other hand, maintaining an effective food ministry requires a lot of resources, including volunteers. This need presents one of the biggest challenges for many Churches, particularly those in country regions. Neil Barber is UnitingCare’s Community Partnerships Coordinator for the NSW Riverina. Part of his role involves coordinating UnitingCare’s support for Congregational food assistance programs across the NSW and ACT Synod. He says there are more than 80 Congregations in NSW and the ACT running some type of food ministry, including grocery or pantry services where clients select a range of food items. Other types of food ministry are drop-in centres and cafes, school breakfast programs, soup kitchen style services and community gardens.
been well documented nationally. The challenge, then, is: How do you deal with this?”
“And particularly in regional areas where there might not be that base of volunteers coming through.”
“A few years ago we did not know that much about how individual Churches were going in terms of trying to address this problem.
He says it is important to remember these are voluntary services. They do not attract any government support and it also is very hard to attract philanthropic funds.
“Now we know most are doing quite well with the resources they have, but they are also running at the limits of what they can do.”
Maintaining an effective food ministry requires a lot of resources, including volunteers Many food ministries have grown in recent years and, as a result, are facing new challenges. These include increased costs, the need for more storage space (including cold storage), limited availability of fresh produce, and the need for more volunteers. In many cases, particularly in country areas, services are operating at full capacity in terms of volunteer support. This means it is very difficult to maintain the long-term sustainability of some services, as volunteers who leave are hard to replace.
All of these services have developed as a result of Church members identifying a need in their community – people were going hungry.
Neil says most food ministries are being operated “by people who are well into their retirement — their age and energy levels have a finite capacity.”
“We know that in many cases the budget is not stretching across the week or fortnight to meet the food needs of a family, particularly if there are extended family members present,” Neil says.
“A lot of services are expressing concerns about their volunteer capacity, especially in the role of coordinating the service — it’s becoming very hard, too, to replace people who have been running these services for many years.
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In light of these many factors, Neil says sound planning and strategic thinking will play an important role in helping to support Church food ministries in the future. This year, Neil will undertake a research project examining various aspects of the Church’s food ministries. The aim is to obtain data that will enable UnitingCare to more effectively support these ministries, as well as to help each service better respond to future challenges. The results will also assist Congregations planning to start new food services to be better prepared for the challenges they might face. Mark Filmer
Price Trust applications
A grant from the Norman and Florence Price Memorial Trust helped the Wagga Wagga Uniting Church improve its Bread and Hamper Ministry. Last year, the church received $7,000 to buy new cold-storage units. The Price Trust is an important resource for congregations and the communities they serve. Applications for 2015 grants close in August. For more details visit: http://www.unitingcarenswact. org.au/resources/grant_ programs/price_trust insights.uca.org.au
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Bringing hope to Wauchope F
riday nights in Wauchope used to be all about groups of young people roaming the streets, looking for something to do. But a youth program run by the local Uniting Church has changed that. A recent four-day excursion to Sydney demonstrates that this community outreach initiative has provided a significant blessing to many. Wauchope is situated on the Mid North Coast of NSW. It sits within the southern part of the State electorate of Oxley - NSW’s poorest electorate. Its population of 6,000 is comprised predominantly of the elderly, lowincome earners and those on benefits. Unemployment is more than double the national average. Around 20 per cent of residents have completed the HSC or equivalent. The school drop-out rate and unemployment are very high. About 5 per cent of the population identifies as Aboriginal — around double the national figure. For Aboriginal youth in this area, glimpses of hope are not always easy to come by. Several years ago, the local Council and two middle-aged UCA ministers (Elizabeth Raine and John Squires) came together, to provide something for Wauchope’s younger people. The Friday Night Wauchope Youth Program offers free, enjoyable and engaging activities in a safe environment. Initially run by the Council as a pilot program, the Wauchope Uniting Church has since taken the reins and has been running the program for the past 12 months. At its heart, the program aspires to provide young people with an environment free from alcohol and drugs, at a time in their lives when they are highly vulnerable to harmful and anti-social behaviour. It also seeks to provide positive role models for young people and to build self-esteem. The group meets at the Church on Friday nights during school terms. It is
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an outreach of the Wauchope Uniting Church: to “love our neighbour as ourselves”, to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly”, and to put into practice our commitment to be “uniting for the common good”. Those involved with running this youth program know it’s not always easy to talk about the good news with someone who may not have a lot of good news in their lives. Also, it can be difficult to talk about a God who loves you like a parent, with someone who is a ward of the state. At times, then, there is no viable alternative to practicing what you preach as a role model. Finding ways of providing experiences that might give a glimpse of God’s kingdom, and something greater than the lived reality.
Putting into practice our commitment to be ‘uniting for the common good’ So, the idea of an excursion for the youth group was conceived. One that hopefully would offer a glimpse of something greater than everyday life, as well as inspire a vision in the 20-plus young people from the Wauchope Youth Group. This special four-day excursion to Sydney took place during the January 2015 school holidays. Fourteen Congregations from across the Mid North Coast Presbytery contributed financially to the excursion, along with a number of enthused individuals. Uniting Venues gave a generous discount for food and lodging, and Pittwater Uniting Church designed a creative program for the young people to attend. This strong support ensured the trip’s success. The excursion was designed to include educational opportunities and enjoyable moments. “We wanted to expose the young people to a part of society outside
of what they have known,” says Rev. Raine, who organised the excursion. “We feel it is important to provide positive role models, and inspire these young people to aim for something greater in their lives,” she continues. “A number of those who came on the excursion come from families that lack positive role models (especially male role models). We have been trying to offer positive experiences and good, clear role models for them. The excursion was an opportunity to offer some of this enrichment in their lives.” The group of eight girls and 12 boys was escorted by youth workers Rachel Rhodes and Adam Meyers, as well as Wauchope Uniting Church’s ministers, Revs Raine and Squires. Thanks to the Pittwater Uniting Church, the young people from Wauchope had a number of adventures. They went swimming at “Summer Bay” from the TV show Home and Away (in real life, the place is North Palm Beach). There, they learned about surf rescues and resuscitation techniques. All the boys — and the girls who attended — had a great time at a football clinic with David Vaealiki, a former first-grade rugby league player. They also enjoyed time on the basketball court, and recording their own songs at the studio at Pittwater Uniting Church. These activities were graciously provided, and paid for, by Congregation members. Over 90 per cent of the youth group identify as Aboriginal. The four-day excursion also included a trip to the Australian Museum’s special exhibition on Indigenous Peoples and the Sea. “The young people were very engaged with this exhibition”, says the Rev. Dr John Squires. “As Biripi people, living on the Mid North Coast, they identified with the displays about the role the sea plays in their traditional culture. insights.uca.org.au
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“An important part of our regular program is to work with local elders and encourage the young people to engage with their culture and traditions.” While they were staying at Elanora in Sydney, the young people enjoyed a visit from the Moderator, Rev. Myung Hwa Park, She shared an evening meal with them and heard first-hand what they had enjoyed during their stay. The group members all wore a distinctive t-shirt with an Indigenous design by Jamie Donovan, a young Aboriginal leader on the Mid North Coast. One of the specially-designed shirts was presented to the Moderator. She had provided the funds to have the shirts printed by an Aboriginal company based at Port Macquarie. On the final day, the group travelled to Darling Harbour to watch the shark feeding at Sydney Aquarium, before happily exploring the delights of the stalls in Market City. They returned to Wauchope late on the fourth day, happy and tired, full of stories to share with friends and families. For those who led this excursion. it underlined the importance of just “hanging around” with young people. “It is very easy, in Church life, to place the emphasis on joining up, getting involved, attending meetings, and running like crazy”, says Rev. Dr. Squires. “The notion of just being with these kids, hanging around, being ‘a presence’, is a little strange, and somewhat unfamiliar to me. But this is precisely what they valued most of all.” The four days provided an opportunity to offer a Christian presence, to build relationships and to share experiences. For the youngest boys in the group, the evening swimming sessions in the pool were the highlight. “We believe that building strong relationships is the foundation for a resilient ongoing program,” says Ms Raine. “We were really pleased with the whole trip, and feel we have achieved the goals we set out to. “It was important to provide a safe, affirming environment for all the kids. We also wanted to inspire them to aim for something greater than what their present situation offers. “Most of all, we wanted to show each of the young people that they are valuable individuals, and that they matter to us, and they are loved by God. We consider that this is just a insights.uca.org.au
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very simple way for us to live out our Christian faith,” reflects Ms Raine. The group resumed its regular Friday night activities in February. These include time for some physical activity, learning life skills, and an arts or crafts component. A simple, nutritious meal is served, which is often prepared by the young people, with assistance from Congregational volunteers. Each Friday evening ends with a session on the basketball court at the Wauchope Indoor Stadium, a facility provided free of charge by the Port MacquarieHastings Council.
We believe that building strong relationships is the foundation for a resilient ongoing program “A grant from the Federal Government just before the 2013 election ensured that we would be able to run the group for at least two years”, Ms Raine explains. The grant pays a youth worker for five hours per week, as well as paying for the craft and food. “Ongoing funding beyond 2015 has yet to be secured, but it is clear that we are meeting a great need in the local community through this youth group,” explains Ms Raine. “We hope that we will be able to continue for some years to come.” This year, the group’s activities will expand to take on the morning teas and sausage sizzle at the Church’s monthly Community Markets, held on the Wauchope Uniting Church’s grounds. The young people will continue to learn important life skills as they cook, serve, balance the books and clean up. Some school students already take part in a similar activity at the Community Meals program, held in the Wauchope Church Hall each Friday lunchtime. Plans are under way to partner with the local TAFE so that participating young people can apply their learnings toward a certificate of achievement. These are all tangible expressions of the commitment of Wauchope’s Church to be a presence in our community, “uniting for the common good.” Elizabeth Raine and John Squires
About Wauchope and District Uniting Church
We are a community of believers committed to exploring our Christian faith. Whether someone is committed in their faith or seeking answers to some of the big questions of life and faith, they are welcome to explore with us the relevance of Christian faith in modern life. We believe everyone has God-given gifts to serve one another and the community. We are a varied group of people that believes what we do and who we are has the power to change our world. We have a variety of theological and political opinions, and we welcome open discussion. We strive to be a community that honours the diversity found in humanity. We believe in a loving God, revealed in Jesus Christ, whose spirit is present in our world today. We believe the gospel of Jesus calls us to action in the world, and to promote justice, peace, equality and basic human rights for all. Our community outreach includes: • Community lunch is held each Friday in our church hall from 12:00-1:30pm. Join us for good food and good conversation shared in a caring environment • KUCA Club is on each Friday afternoon, for school children aged from 5 upwards • Community Markets are held in the church grounds on the first Saturday of each month • Monthly worship is held at Bundaleer Hostel (10:30am on the third Friday of each month) and Bundaleer Nursing Home (11:00am on the fourth Wednesday of each month) We also have a variety of fellowship groups, Bible study groups, friendship groups for the elderly, a prayer group, Congregational dinners; and other social groups. These groups provide an opportunity for people to grow their faith, interact socially, and make friends in a caring community setting. For more information, go to www.wauchopeunitingchurch.org Insights April/May 2015 37
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Lectionary Reflections April - Easter
The Book of Acts tells us about the blossoming of the Christian church and its faith. In our readings this month are four glimpses of a growing church that stood firmly in the belief that God had raised Jesus to life — and that this risen Jesus is the heart of the universe.
5 April, Acts 10:34-43 There are two points of amazement in this story. The first has to do with the way God has acted through Jesus to offer life to the world, a promise made certain by the resurrection. The second moment of amazement, one we usually find much harder to deal with, is Peter’s opening remark. The fact that “God shows no partiality” (v. 34). God actually loves everyone the same. The heart of the gospel is the promise of reconciliation, the breaking down of barriers, divisions or petty claims such as “God loves me more than you”. God’s love is an act of grace, shared equally by all. We cannot do anything to make God love us more than others, or to love others less than us. Think about youyou speak Think aboutthe theway ways speak about and treat about and treatothers. others.Do Doyou youreally reflect sense “God shows reallythe reflect thethat sense that “God no partiality”? shows no partiality”?
12 April, Acts 4:32-35 I have a suspicion that we read this story as the lovely actions of an enthusiastic church looking forward to the early return of Jesus. And that such things as are mentioned in this passage have stopped, because people had to then live in the “real” world. That is, it was a lovely idea, but entirely impractical – a text to be passed over unless someone carelessly leaves it in the lectionary. Unlike the parallel passage in 2:4445, this passage does not say they held everything in common but, rather, 38 Insights April/May 2015
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that no-one considered anything their personal property. They may have owned it, but everything was for the good of all. The passage challenges us with the central value of mutual and shared life. The practices of a resurrection community, are always opposed to the view that our only interest is in looking after ourselves. Private possession and looking after “me”, have become central values. What does your Church do that reflects values more like those in this passage?
19 April, Acts 3:12-19 A man who could not walk or work begs each day at the Temple. Peter and John come along, and rather than offer money, they heal him. He had been there some years, so his sudden “walking and leaping and praising God” (3:8) were noticed. How is this healing possible? Peter’s response is interesting and challenging. First, he asks why they are surprised (3:12). Is their God, the God of their ancestors, incapable of bringing new life? Have they lost an awareness of the deep spiritual life of God active in the world? What Peter goes on to say to them is something like: “Look, I believe in the same God as you, and this God has acted decisively in Jesus."
"In your ignorance, you rejected him, but now there is another chance. Have a relationship with The One who can heal and bring forgiveness.” What do you do to nurture your awareness of the deep spiritual life of God that is active in the world?
26 April, Acts 4:5-12 If the people were astonished because of the healing of the man who could not walk, the religious leaders were a little angry. And why not? To save the nation, they had arranged for Jesus to be killed. Now, Peter and John are telling everyone that he was actually God’s chosen one, that he had been raised to life, and that he was the source of healing. The implication is that those guarding the law and the prophets' messages, have been ignorant of what God was doing. As a result, their whole world seems to be under threat by what Jesus had stirred up. They seek to frighten and bully disciples Peter and John into silence, but there is a strange new courage at work in the world.
Jesus challenges our self-interest. What privilege or self-interest do you find hardest to give up, so you can listen to Jesus and gain LIFE?
The heart of the gospel is the promise of reconciliation, the breaking down of barriers and divisions... God’s love is an act of grace, shared equally by all, and we cannot do anything to make God love us more than others or to love others less than us. insights.uca.org.au
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Lectionary Reflections May - Ascension and Pentecost
This month we venture into the New Testament letters. We are going to read the passages through a particular lens: what might they suggest about the nature of flourishing human life, and what has that life got to do with God?
17 May,1 John 5:9-13
3 May, 1 John 4:7-21
It is really easy to get tied up in the demands of each day. To be overwhelmed by everything we feel that we need to do, to make sure life flows well. We can be so consumed by such things we forget the centre of life: Jesus. The one given to the world by God. It is this relationship that gives us the contours of a truly rich life.
At the heart of flourishing human life is love, the love that has its foundation and character in God. Love begins in God, and is expressed most clearly in how God sent his Son into the world. Because God has loved us, then we are under an obligation to love others. Indeed, we cannot claim to love God and not love our brothers and sisters. The love of God is amazing, extraordinary and life-changing. The response cannot be hatred of others we disagree with, or exclusion of those who do not follow our understanding of faith. We are to love others in ways that we wish to be loved. How has your awareness of God’s love for you changed your life?
10 May, 1 John 5:1-6 People often claim that they love God. But how do we know if they do? As we read in this passage, the answer is because they demonstrate love for their neighbour. Like the love God has for his people.
A flourishing life now is lived in the promise of eternal life. This doesn’t mean our only interest is the next life, but it does mean we can keep life in perspective. The heart of life is a relationship with Jesus, who is the source of life.
What does it mean to the way you live your life, that God has offered you eternal life?
24 May, Romans 8:22-27 To live a flourishing life, we need hope. A key part of Christian hope is that God’s glory will be revealed in us. In this passage, Paul points to three distinct forms of “groaning” that are an index of hope. They express the belief that someone hears and cares. There are groans of Creation (reminding us nothing is outside the scope of God's salvation works); the groans of us who have glimpsed new life in the Spirit and await its completion,
and the Spirit which intercedes with sighs too deep for words. At the heart of a good life is hope that waits with patience upon the promise of God. “We, who have the first fruits of the Spirit” (vs.23). What do these signs of new life look like, in your life?
31 May, Romans 8:12-17 Flourishing life is life in the Spirit. In a world marked by suffering, it can be hard to sustain hope. Paul’s theme in chapters 5 to 8 of Romans, is the hope of glory that is promised to all believers. The Spirit of life in Jesus has set us free from sin and death (8:2) and brought us righteousness. There is a deep struggle in human life, shaped by all the pressures around us and our own internal struggles. This means we do not always love God and our neighbour. Working harder at rules and regulations, will not help. We need the transforming Spirit of God. What do you do that helps you live in tune with the Holy Spirit, rather than with the pressures of the world and your “demons” within? These reflections were prepared by Rev. Dr Chris Budden, the interim National Coordinator of Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
This week's passage also asks: how do we know we love other people? The answer is because we love God and obey His commandments (v 3). There is a shape to love, reflected in the life and teaching of Jesus. It is not just about feelings, but real and practical action in relation to others. This practical action is not a burden or a worry, but an expression of thanksgiving for what God has done in our lives. How much priority do you give to learning what Jesus has taught us about the shape of love in the world? What is one other thing you could do? 40 Insights April/May 2015
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John Calvin Social Reformer Born in France in 1509, theologian/ecclesiastical statesman John Calvin was Martin Luther’s successor as the preeminent Protestant theologian. Calvin made a powerful impact on the fundamental doctrines of Protestantism, and is widely credited as the most important figure in the second generation of the Protestant gener Reformation. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1564.
Wednesday morning seminars at United Theological College with Ben Myers, Lecturer in Systematic Theology 6,13, 20, 27 May
Register at utc.edu.au
Innovative Community Grants Funding Round Now Open to support the Uniting Church’s Mission in the local community The UnitingCare NSW.ACT Councils Innovative Community Grant Fund aims to build stronger communities through funding initiatives that: • • •
Promote choices and opportunities, adding value to people’s lives Support people who are disadvantaged, vulnerable or isolated Support special needs groups including people with disabilities, from non-English speaking backgrounds or from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
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Provide innovative programs for the elderly, children, young people and families in need
•
Support and encourage community use of Church facilities
insights.uca.org.au
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Congregations, Presbyteries and community groups are invited to apply for support of projects. Applications close: 30 April 2015 and must fit within relevant criteria. For further information or a copy of the application form, please contact: Therese Faulkner T: 02 9460 5950 E: tfaulkner@unitingcarenswact.org.au or visit www.unitingcarenswact.org.au
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To mark June 2015 as Multicultural Month in the Synod of NSW and the ACT, we bring you the
Uniting Multicultural Festival Saturday 27 June, Centre for Ministry, 16 Masons Drive, North Parramatta 8.00am - 5.00pm There will be multicultural food stalls, dance and music competitions, and much more. Come and enjoy a day of fun and entertainment. All ages welcome. See the website below for competitions and stall holders applications forms.
We celebrate the Uniting Church in Australia Anniversary with a
Multicultural Worship Service of Thanksgiving 4pm, Sunday 21 June, Newington College, 200 Stanmore Rd, Sydney
Registrations forms & resources online at www.ucafestival.com.au We encourage local churches and groups to celebrate multicultural month in June. See resources on the web site above. For further enquiries contact Katalina Tahaafe Williams, Synod Multicultural Consultant, at katalinat@nsw.uca.org.au.
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27/03/2015 12:32:14 PM
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Belief matters
“The communion of saints…”
I
n the third century, a Greek philosopher named Celsus wrote a book attacking the Christian faith. Origen, the great Christian scholar and teacher, was asked to reply to these criticisms. His response to Celsus was perhaps the finest work of Christian apologetics ever written. But Origen began by noting that the Christian faith doesn’t really need a written defence. “Jesus is always being falsely accused,” Origen said, “and he is silent in the face of this and does not answer with his own voice. But he makes his defence in the lives of his genuine disciples. Their lives cry out the real facts and defeat all false charges.” Jesus created no institutions. He did not proscribe the right answers to moral questions. He did not seem particularly interested in founding a new religion. He wrote no books. He was the author not of ideas but of a way of life. Everything Jesus believed to be important was entrusted to a small circle of followers. What he handed on to his followers was simply life. He showed them his own unique way of being alive – his way of living, loving, feasting, teaching, and dying – and he invited them to live the same way.
I do these things I am also seeking myself. I want to find myself among the circle of Jesus’ followers. I want to be wherever Jesus is – and he is in the company of his friends. I want my whole life to be “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). I want my life’s small story to be tucked into the folds of Jesus’ story.
Life and death are too small for the communion of saints When this happens, my life acquires a meaning beyond itself. I begin to see myself as part of a great company, an ever-widening circle of people who have handed their lives over to the pattern of Jesus’ life.
This great company of disciples seems to speak with one voice, to breathe with one Spirit, to cry “Abba, Father!” with one unceasing prayer (Rom 8:15-16). The Fourth Gospel ends by telling us that it has offered only a glimpse of Jesus. If everything Jesus did was written down, “the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). Perhaps, at the end of the age, the Total Gospel will be read out and will be found to contain everything – every life, every story, every human grief and joy, all included as episodes in the one great, infinitely rich story of Jesus and his friends. The world itself is too small for such a book. Life and death are too small for the communion of saints. Ben Myers is Lecturer in Systematic Theology at United Theological College
Becoming a Christian is not really about institutional membership or about adopting a system of ideas. To become a Christian is to be included in the circle of Jesus’ followers. I am washed with the same bath that Jesus and all his followers have had. I get to share the same meal that Jesus shared with his followers. Four of Jesus’ followers left written records of what he said and what he was like, and I get to spend my life continually reading these four accounts. I read them not because I am studying ideas about Jesus but because I am studying him. I want everything in my life, right down to the smallest and most disappointing details, to enter somehow into communion with the life of Jesus. I share the holy bath and the holy meal, and I read the holy stories, because I am seeking Jesus. But when 44 Insights April/May 2015
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insights.uca.org.au
27/03/2015 1:38:40 PM
Culture watch
Living hope in Christ – an ironclad promise
A
world without hope. Without law. Without mercy. That’s the bleak situation in the apocalyptic world inhabited by Mad Max, the classic Australian action hero who returns to the big screen this month. We haven’t seen road warrior Max since 1985’s Beyond Thunderdome. But don’t expect too much to have changed. Sure, Max has transformed from Mel Gibson into modern tough-guy Tom Hardy, and special effects have been radically upgraded. But the fourth Mad Max film, Fury Road, looks set to be just like its predecessors – a simple, highoctane tale of primal people trying to survive in a world. A world without hope, law or mercy. Also starring Charlize Theron and the kinds of anarchic marauders that Max always fights, Mad Max: Fury Road will be like one long chase sequence. Where the first Mad Max was driven by vengeance, its sequels have been stoked by humans desperately fighting to stay alive. Trying to survive in a near-future that’s devastated by fuel shortages. As control of scarce resources dominates everyday life, Fury Road will hone in on those who hotly pursue it. Perhaps, like me, you are busting to insights.uca.org.au
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see the mega-action of Fury Road. Your adrenalin already is pumping, because Mad Max is back for demolition derbies in the desert.
and actions should point back to the divine source, where mercy and hope flow from. To the God whose Son we all need, more than anything else.
Isn’t it odd, then, how in real life we aren’t entertained by the sort of stuff Fury Road revs up? Because who wants to live in a world without hope, law and mercy? While spending a few cinematic hours with Mad Max can offer engaging fantasy, no-one wants to be a full-time resident of Fury Road. Things can be tough enough out here, in our real world.
“Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). No greater display of mercy has ever occurred, than God allowing His Son Jesus to provide the only way to salvation from sin.
Speaking of which: How many of you are actively helping to fight off the things of a “Mad Max world”? On a regular basis, plenty of Christians strive to combat the lack of hope, justice or mercy – in their local community, across our nation and around the globe.
Anything a Christian does for mercy or justice in this world should be a signpost back to the “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) that is found in being a genuine follower of Jesus. Because no matter how much help we provide to anyone or anything, the greatest help we can offer is assisting others to grasp that ‘living hope”. Helping them make their own choice to take hold of the only hope that any of us can bank on.
Driven by Christian truth and convictions, God’s people everywhere should lead such movements. We should oppose anything that goes against the One who has lavished our world with mercy, justice and other unchanging elements of his character. But we don’t just do this because the world of Mad Max is a place we don’t want to live in. We witness to, and serve for, the things of God because our words
Salvation through Jesus is an ironclad promise of God. No matter how much Mad Max: Fury Road promises a world without hope, law or mercy, God’s promises in Jesus are the only ones that will ultimately stand (2 Corinthians 1:20). Ben McEachen Insights April/May 2015 45
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Entertain me read this
press play
press play
Exodus Gods and Kings (M) Exodus: Gods and Kings is based on one of the most important stories in the Jewish and Christian traditions. The film begins with Moses (Christian Bale) as an adult. He has been raised as a prince of Egypt, a brother to the future pharaoh, Ramses (Joel Edgerton) and he is a general of the Egyptian army. He has been blessed with leadership qualities and has the respect of the Egyptian nation and his uncle, Seti, the current Pharaoh (John Turturro). After proving himself on the battlefield and a series of events, he is confronted with his actual family history and the prophecy of his role in the salvation of the Hebrew nation. The way the story unfolds might be a slight revision of the story that many will know from tradition or Sunday school and church stories. Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Alien) has revised the story to bring it to the big screen and the question has to be: “Why?” The biggest disappointment with Exodus: Gods and Kings is not merely the poor usage of the original narrative. With the resources that are available to him, Scott had the opportunity to make an epic film and to redefine the later part of his career, but he did not achieve this. If only he had just told the story and added his artistry to fill in the gaps. Russell Matthews 46 Insights April/May 2015
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The Suburban Captivity of the Church, Tim Foster This book begins with an effort to clarify “The Gospel”. Author Tim Foster contrasts the angry God story (referred to as the “Punitive Gospel”) with a fulfilment-oriented restatement (referred to as the “Telic Gospel”). This is a helpful place to start, as it highlights how the narrative we are responding to actually shapes our life. Foster’s critique falls well short of debunking the violence of God that exists in most gospel outlines. Much of his material does its best to undermine theological support for violence-based religion. Yet his ideas don’t quite escape this ingrained way of thinking. Foster knows his stuff and explains it well. The section describing the historical and theo-cultural process by which suburbs came into being is a real eye-opener. It details many of the assumptions that appear to be at work in suburban culture (and churches). Good work is done around the gospel’s capacity to critique our culture. Yet it is unclear how much Foster views the gospel as a dynamic working within — while being counter to — all cultures. His book is stimulating and insightful. If it had also recast the gospel as an exposé of our scapegoating violence — and the call to take responsibility for our violence (in the context of grace) — I would have said it was a must-read! Dave Gore
Interstellar (M) This sci-fi epic is set on Earth in the near-future. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) scrapes a living as a farmer, dwelling on his past as a failed astronaut and dreaming of the day when the human race will reach for the stars once again. The future for his children, Murph (Mackenzie Foy) and Tom (Timothée Chalamet) looks bleak: years of drought and blight have reduced the country to a dustbowl, with worse environmental catastrophe looming ahead. The appearance of a strange gravitational phenomenon in his daughter’s room leads Cooper to a secret base, where he discovers the world’s best-kept secret. Under the leadership of Professor Brand (Michael Caine) and his daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway), the ‘Lazarus Project’ is about to launch its most ambitious mission yet – and Brand wants Cooper to be part of it. Cooper leaves knowing that he may never see his children again. There are so many “what ifs” in Interstellar. Nolan’s film asks: “What if we did this?” “What would the personal cost be?” Cooper pays the ultimate cost, yet also gives his children a better world. Surely this is the best we can offer? A better world for our children, which is what makes this film such a poignant statement about what we are doing to our present environment. Adrian Drayton insights.uca.org.au
27/03/2015 3:01:39 PM
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