Synod update, Reconciliation, Being a Multicultural Church, Gospel of Mark presentation

New Synod Meeting Planning Committee

Expressions of interest are now open for people interested in helping shape future Synod meetings. Synod 2022 adopted a proposal to create a new committee appointed by the Standing Committee, with its membership to include up to eight people incorporating a diversity of Church members and minority voices. Its purpose is to plan and arrange the theme, venue, community life and timetable for future meetings of the Synod, giving priority to broad engagement with the membership of the Church, through the implementation of interactive, engaging and creative strategies and processes.

Tributes Service

This year’s Tributes Service will be held at Wesley Church (Lonsdale St Melbourne) on Saturday, July 23 from 2.30pm. Traditionally held during Synod meetings, the service honours ministers who, since the previous Synod meeting, have been ordained, retired or received from other denominations, or celebrated 50, 60, 65 and 70 years since ordination or commissioning. The service will also be livestreamed.

Watch here

Synod 2022 wrap

UC members gathered in Melbourne recently for three days of discussion, deep engagement and discernment as part of Synod 2022. All three days and the Opening Worship service, which featured the installation of Moderator David Fotheringham, can be found on the Synod 2022 YouTube channel, while daily updates were posted to the Crosslight website.

Share Grants

Applications for 2022 Share Grants are now open. Since 1980, the Share Grants program has provided financial assistance to enhance the quality and scope of UnitingCare and Uniting Church services to the community in Victoria and Tasmania. With the program now part of Uniting Vic.Tas, this year’s grants are once again available for parish missions, congregations and others in the community.

St Luke’s has some great activities which could qualify for these grants

Gospel lecture

The role of the Gospel of Matthew in engaging with community-led issues, such as violence, land and food security, and unemployment in South Africa will be the focus of an August 4 lecture by Professor Gerald West. The lecture will be held in person at the Centre for Theology and Ministry and also streamed live.

Faith and diversity

Recent Census data has provided a snapshot of modern Australia, including the fact that for the first time, first and second generation migrants make up more than half of our population, at 51.5 per cent. National Assembly Consultant Rev Dr Apwee Ting explores what this means in terms of faith and diversity.

Get Involved

First Peoples webinar

The role of history and truth-telling in working towards a more just and self-determined future for First Peoples is the subject of a webinar on July 21 organised by the Uniting Church National History Society. First Nations leaders and historians will be part of the Zoom event exploring the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Find out more

24/12/2021

The nativity story – a reading

From Rev Alex Sangster, a telling of the nativity story (great to share with your children and grandchildren):

02/11/2021

Grief and Loss seminars

Lockdown has been hard! After nearly two years of unrest, and a constant shifting of the goal posts, many of us will have unresolved grief and loss issues that have been ‘on-hold’ during the lockdown, and others may be somewhat ambivalent about the security of the roadmap ahead and the continuing presence of Covid cases.

The Presbytery of Port Phillip West is offering two on-line seminars that seek to offer an opportunity to name the grief and loss impact that Covid-19 (and the lockdowns) have had on each of us, as well as provide a pathway for dealing with our unresolved concerns.

Each session will be 2 ½ hours in length and will be offered for either a morning or an evening session Wed evenings or Friday mornings.

Grief and Loss Seminar 1 – Understanding the Stages of Grief
17 Nov – Wed evening, 7-9:30pm, or
19 Nov – Friday morning, 10am -12:30pm

Grief and Loss Seminar 2 – Understanding the Different Types of Grief and Loss
1 Dec – Wed evening, 7-9:30pm, or
3 Dec – Friday morning, 10am -12:30pm

To register for any of these sessions, please go to Trybooking site: https://www.trybooking.com/BVCAP

02/11/202102/11/2021

Preparing for Advent Wednesdays Nov 10, 17, 24

Looking for Advent ideas? Keen to be a bit more creative this Advent season?

If so, this FREE 3-session Preparing for Advent series is for you!

Suitable for anyone – including, but not limited to, ministers, pastors and lay preachers – multiple sessions of one hour in duration will be offered each day (Nov 10, 17, 24). To register your interest and indicate your preferred timeslots, go to 2021 Preparing for Advent.

For more information e-mail chris.barnett@victas.uca.org.au.

Advent: Something is Coming!

NEW Resource Something is Coming! is a fresh way to engage households, small groups and whole communities throughout Advent.

This new, FREE resource encourages us to pray, reflect, grieve and rejoice as we draw nearer to Christmas. Available as a downloadable resource, Something is Coming! includes beautiful printable characters to use in making your own Nativity scene and ideas for fostering engagement amongst those
you gather with.

May Something is Coming! be a special part of your Advent 2021 experience!
Check out and download Advent: Something is Coming! for FREE here: Advent: Something is Coming!

29/10/2021

Workshop: Building Intercultural Skills for Ministry

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/navigating-the-landscape-building-intercultural-communities-tickets-162630264499

22/06/2021

Pastoral Care training for caring people

Pastoral Care as we ride the waves of a Pandemic

The Presbytery of Port Phillip West is pleased to offer training in how to deal pastorally with our current “Covid/Semi Post-Covid/Back into Lockdown” on-going experiences. How and why do people drop out of church and activities?

What practical things can we do to help people as they consider returning to church?

We are running two three-hour seminars:

Pastoral Care as we ride the waves of a Pandemic – Part 1 and Part 2 –

These seminars will contain the following material and is based on the study and training developed by Rev Dr John Savage, a United Methodist Minister from the USA.

Part 1 Seminar:

Identifying inclusion and exclusion experiences
Understanding the track that leads to on-going attendance or no further attendance (relevant to church and any other group life)
Identifying the implications for our own setting
Coming back after Covid
How to care for people who have stopped attending

Part 2 Seminar:

Enabling tracks to return to church/group life.
Entry/Re-entry process and the readiness grid
Visiting inactive members and closure in a visit
What keeps active members active?
“Why are you still a Christian?” a module from Makes you Wonder.

There will be two time slots for each seminar to cater for as many people as possible.

Pastoral Care as we ride the waves of a Pandemic – Part 1.

Aug 12, Thursday 6.00 pm – 9.00 pm Zoom only

Aug 20, Friday 9.30 am – 12.30 pm Zoom or in person at Hoppers Crossing UC.

Pastoral Care as we ride the waves of a Pandemic – Part 2.

Aug 26, Thursday 6.00 pm – 9.00 pm Zoom only

Sept 3, Friday 9.30 am – 12.30 pm Zoom or in person at Hoppers Crossing UC.

This training is offered free as a gift from the Presbytery of Port Phillip West.

It is open and would be of benefit to ministers, pastors, chaplains, people involved in pastoral care, welcomers and church councillors.

You need to register through the following link https://www.trybooking.com/BSEGF

Pastoral Care Seminars

We have had over 200 people attend our previous pastoral care seminars with very positive feedback. The interactive nature and the ability to become more aware of how and why we listen have been common threads from the participants.

We are repeating our initial Pastoral Care Seminar 1 on the following dates and you can register here for this seminar https://www.trybooking.com/BRJHY

July 16 Friday 9.30 – 12.30pm Zoom and in person at Hoppers Crossing
July 21 Wednesday 6.00pm – 9.00pm Zoom only
Sept 14 Tuesday 6.00pm – 9.00pm Zoom only

This seminar teaches you about active listening, communication, and the specific listening skills of paraphrase and perception checks. This session is a pre-requisite for other sessions of the Pastoral Care Seminars being run later in the year.

Seminar 7 “Dealing with Criticism, fogging and listening conversation”

September 16 or Sept 24

Seminar 8 “Neuro Linguistic Programming and listening conversations”

Oct 7 or Oct 22

You can register for these seminars here https://www.trybooking.com/BSFZS

Blessings

Jeanne and Narelle

Presbytery Ministers

Presbytery of Port Phillip West

20/05/2021

Red Ochre Theology: Northey Lecture 2021 – on Zoom!

So many wonderful events in Melbourne are now available to us through the option to attend via Zoom! Pilgrim Theological College is where our ordained and lay people undertake their training for ministry and ongoing professional development and formation in the Uniting Church in Victoria.

“The first Northey Lecture for 2021 will offer the theological viewpoint of an Australian First Nations theologian who has spent the past two decades decolonising biblical narratives and constructing a theology that draws on Australia First Nations creation stories (Ancestral Narratives) and our understanding of the Creator’s actions and interactions through our Spirit Ancestors in the creation of our world, humanity, customs, laws, ceremonies, songs, rituals, connection to land, water and sea; language, cosmology, worldview and philosophy – this being the basis to the formation of First Nations identity, faith and Spirituality.”

Dr. Anne Pattel-Gray is an Aboriginal woman who is a descendant of the Bidjara/ Kari Kari people in Queensland and she is a recognised Aboriginal leader within Australia – nationally and internationally. She has dedicated her life to the struggle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and she is a strong campaigner and lobbyist and deeply committed to seeking justice, equity and equal representation for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people. She is very proud of her Aboriginal culture and heritage and is a strong advocate for Aboriginal women, children, families and community regarding our Cultural and basic Human Rights. She has developed a leadership quality that promotes and builds a deeper sense of community and participation that brings a greater Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and cultural identity and cohesion with the broader community that leads to beneficial partnerships, engagement and reconciliation.

You can read more and register here:

Red Ochre Theology: Northey Lecture 2021

17/02/2021

Lectionary Year B 2020-21

Hell friends,

For those of you who like to keep track of the lectionary readings, you can download a PDF copy here:

Lectionary-2020-2021-Year-B

12/02/202117/02/2021

Messy Church in 2021

Messy Church is one place we can mark special transitions. Photo credit: Elizabeth Stoel

From Barbara and the Messy Church Team:

Welcome Back to Face-to Face Messy Church at St Luke’s Highton!

We really can’t wait to see you all again as it has been a while since we met in person and had fun at Messy Church! We are starting cautiously due to the ever-changing COVID restrictions regarding numbers allowed inside.

So ….here are our plans so far…………

Messy Church in February

Friday 19^th February 5-7pm At Drewan Park

CANCELLED DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS

Our first meeting will be outside at Drewan Park, City View Drive, Wandana Heights – just up the hill from St Luke’s and where we had our picnic last Sunday. It’s a great park with a good view and plenty of facilities.

Theme: The Good Samaritan- we will be planning our usual bundle of fun Messy Church activities outside amongst nature. BYO food and chairs.

Here’s a kid-friendly version of the story:

And here’s a perspective on the Good Samaritan parable from one of the First Nations Christian Leaders – Brooke Prentice of Common Grace – and where she sees the situation of Aboriginal people in this story.

Messy Church Dates for the remainder of 2021 – put these in your diary!

Friday 19^th March– Back at St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm- Easter themes including a Labyrinth and New Life activities- sounds intriguing! Stay tuned!

Friday 16^th April -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm

Friday 21^st May -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm

Friday 18^th June -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm

Friday 16^th July -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm

Friday 20^th August -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm

Friday 17^th September – St Luke’s Church, 5-7pm

Friday 15^th October -St Luke’s Church, 5-7pm

Friday 19^th November– St Luke’s Church, 5-7pm

See you soon!

Love from your Messy Church Team: Judy, Shaghek, Paul, Barbara, Jean and Robyn xxxxx