send
in your own stories, pictures & ideas
Let's
Celebrate
It
was 1977 - in June,
The Uniting Church was born
For God to water, dress and prune.
The old divisions - torn.
"Abide
in Me, and I in you",
John 13, and verse 4.
Still God instructs each of us now;
His Word, the open door.
After
25 years - another day
Of celebrations come;
So on our birthday will you pray,
"Thy will Lord, be done"?
"Forgive
us", in Your name, " Lord Jesus,
Give Your Spirit's fire;
That God we will obey and trust;
In Jesus never tire."
As
branches, growing on His vine,
Our task is fruitfulness;
For rooted in the love of Christ,
Surely, our work, He'll bless.
So
join the celebration,
As thanks and praise we give
To Jesus, our salvation.
Rejoice! In Him we live.
Rita
Botwright,
Labrador.
Silver
Congratulations
Twenty-five
years ago today
Our church stepped out in faith.
Perhaps we faltered, a little, at first,
But the dream was real, and our faith we nursed,
As we sought God's will and way.
And
our church stood firm as it grew and spread
And its arms it opened wide –
A church where everybody could come
For the affluent, or from the meanest slum,
Or wherever God’s Spirit led.
For
the lonely out on the wide brown land,
Or the sick, in their hospital bed
For the desperate mum with no money to spend,
Or the teenager willing his life to end,
Our church lends a helping hand.
And
just like families everywhere
We sometimes fail to agree –
Some the conventional ways uphold
And others go modern and shun the old
But our basic doctrines we share.
As
churches go, we are still very young
But shared traditions unite.
They reach back in time, and we build on their base
And praising our God, we give thanks for his grace
For the Stock whence our people sprung.
So
what will the next quarter century hold?
You and I may not be here to see,
But the torch we pass on to eager young hands
Content they’ll fulfill what the future demands
And be there, when our church reaches “gold”!
Ruth
Inglis
Bribie Island
Don't
miss your opportunity to be part of this significant event in the
life of our church. There are many different ways, large and small,
that you can get involved and contribute to celebrating the anniversary.
Read the options below and register your interest today!
Commit
an Awesome Act of Grace
Two
of the objectives for the Silver Anniversary are to:
Raise the awareness of the Uniting Church and its activities
in the community— recognising who we are, where we have
come from and where are heading: The Church's spiritual message
with a great social outreach.
Demonstrate to the wider community that the Uniting Church is
a compassionate, caring denomination: God's people doing God's
work in our patch of the vineyard.
In
response to these two objectives the Silver Anniversary Task
Group is encouraging congregations to participate in at least
one AWESOME ACT OF GRACE.
Examples of an awesome act of grace is a free sausage sizzle
in the park for the community, acts of servant evangelism (mowing
lawns, painting houses, cooking meals for those who are no longer
able) and thank you lunches to community leaders, volunteers
and group leaders.
A congregation
might perform several Awesome Acts of Grace, where the Sunday
School, Youth Group, Home Group and Adult Fellowship Group all
do something each. Whatever the Congregation performs, we would
like to know about it.
Invest
in Signage
This
would have to be the most effective way to convey a universal
message to the community from each Congregation property. Erect
a noticeboard on your congregation's property, with the capacity
to display a corflute sign (same material as a real estate sign)
that is 900mm x 600mm.
Once erected, congregations will receive signs for key dates
like Easter, Christmas and in response to current events (i.e.
refugee issue) from the Synod Office and UnitingCare. Congregations
would also have the capacity to produce signs to present their
own messages to the community. Consequently, the noticeboard
would be a legacy of the Silver Anniversary and provide a permanent
outreach tool. The first sign to be circulated will be the Silver
Anniversary heart and soul image.
Please
note that the erection of noticeboards generally requires the
approval of the local council. As such, discussions have already
commenced with city councils in Queensland to obtain approval
on mass for the proposed signage to be erected within certain
parameters. However, congregations may have to submit supplementary
information with respect to the actual placement of the signs.
Where there are only one or two congregations in a township,
these congregations will need to submit their own applications.
For further information, contact Gary Adsett on (07) xxxx xxxx.
Join
the Choir
If
you can hold a tune, come and join the Celebration Choir. The
Choir will perform at the 'Hymnsing' and as part of the Heart
and Soul Celebration.
Play
Music
If
you would like to enquire about being part of the music team,
drop us a note.
Impromptu
Act
If
you or your group would like to nominate to present a short
performance on the Impromptu stage, get your agent to send the
details to us and we will put a star on your door.
Set-up
& Pack-down
There
will be a huge amount of infrastructure to install, construct
and remove across the weekend. Willing and keen volunteers will
make the load easier.
Hosts
& Security
As
part of the Celebration event, we are looking for people to
help host and usher people through the different options and
activities. A great smile, enthusiasm and keen sense of fun
is essential.
Bake
a Cake
If
you are a whizz in the kitchen, let us know and we will add
you to the ingredients for the World's largest Cake.
Food
Stall
If
you have a taste sensation to share, share with us your name
and idea.
Regional
Events
If
you can help out in Clermont or Townsville, we will be visiting
you soon.
Contacts
Become
a Silver Anniversary contact and be the first to find out all
the latest information to share with your congregation members,
workmates, friends and neighbours.
Anything
else...
If
you have anything else to share or give—from in-kind support
to a poem, painting, song—anything really—then let
us know.
Simply
contact Sarah Malone at the Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland
Synod Office by:
• phoning: (07) 3377 9777
•
or emailing: heartandsoul@uccentre.ucaqld.com.au
