ELM Closure

For over three decades, ELM has proudly served the Church by providing education, administration, training, mentoring, advocacy and support to individuals and groups. ELM has had a key role in the formation for ministry of countless disciples of Jesus Christ and leaders in both Church and Community.

ELM Staff, Volunteers, Reference and Consultative Committee members have contributed faithfully in a team-oriented environment that has valued the gifts and graces of each and every member of the body of Christ. Their work has been characterised by strong networks, relationships of encouragement and a sense of the embodied love of Christ.

As Lay Ministry continues to grow and develop, please join us to celebrate the legacy that we hand on to a newly structured Board – Uniting Mission and Education - and the Presbyteries of the Synod of NSW-ACT. Their work continues on the foundations we leave behind.

YOU ARE INVITED

to share in

ELM's REUNION and REMINISCENCES...

a Service to mark the Closure of School.

WHEN:   2pm, Saturday 10th September, followed by Afternoon Tea.

WHERE: Centre for Ministry, 16 Masons Drive,North Parramatta NSW 2151.

..............................................................................................................................

Past Staff, Consultative and Reference Committee members are gathering prior for lunch at Noon.

Please RSVP for catering purposes.

Peace studies from Amelia and Chris Walker

The Peacemaking and Discipleship study guide and DVD 'Putting God's Peace in to Practice' is now available to purchase from Mediacom. The national Director for theolgy and Discipleship, Rev Dr Chris Walker, Ms Shannon Dillon and ELM Director, Rev Amelia Koh-Butler, co-authored this new resource which should be suitable for Lenten and Post-Easter Study Groups. (Also usable at other times).

This study book is a resource for Uniting Church congregations, study groups, and individuals who want to examine the Christian call to peacemaking and explore how each of us can practice peace in our lives.

Both DVD ad study guide are available from www.mediacom.org.au or call 1800 811 311

Study Guide, Uniting church Press, 66  pages, paperback

product code: UCP257 $12.95

DVD, Uniting Church Press, Product code UCP259 $19.95



Resources for Congregations

Chris Lockley has been uploading audiovisual resources for congregations to use in worship. Check out the Resource Ministry downloads page!

(And I'm posting this from my new Squarespace iPhone app - how cool is that! Linz.)

October.... sigh - :)

October is holiday time... Jorge, Lindsay and Amelia will all be taking some time off, but Natasha and Chris will still be around.

We plan on coming back refreshed and ready to go!

Living Water, Thirsty Land... the 12th Assembly of the UCA is in Session

I write from the floor of the Assembly meeting.

Great Working Groups and interesting people from all over the place...

big ticket items are:

- what do we say to the Northern Territory interventions policy?

- how should we regard and share our properties?

- should we change our constitution? > which led to a decision to talk less about the institutional structural stuff and more about the purpose of the Church and how we should be shaped by reading the Basis of Union in the current context!

- should we have a pre-amble to the constitution that acknowledges the First Peoples of this land and our heritage?

- how do we respond to the current needs of creation (incl. climate change)?

...more to come...

June kicks off...

Last week was the 'Nurturing Growth' Lay Ministry In-service. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great success! 50 Lay Pastors, Pastors, Supporters, Lay Preachers and Children's and Families Workers made up the community. It was a time of inspiration, networking, skilling and sharing. Everyone is exhausted but delighted. What wonderful people!

Congratulations to those who have moved on to the next stage of recognition as Lay Pastors. Best wishes to those who are in the process of transitoning to Ordination.

The staff briefly touched base as they prepare to launch straight into talks with counterparts from across the country in Caloundra tomorrow. In particular, we are interested in sharing ideas about what it means to live and grow as disciples and what resources are needed to support them. We are looking forward to coming back with 'goodies' from other Synods.

May Madness -

I write from Tullamarine Airport after attending the Victoria-Tasmania Synod Lay Preacher Association Gathering in Melbourne at CTM (Centre for Theology and Ministry). What a wonderful group of people and so committed to great local ministry. I heard first-hand about their work post-bushfires and was inetersted in the diverse communities they serve. I will be including some of the papers and sessions I presented on the Downloads section.

I have just spoken with Lindsay, who is in a car with Darren Wright (Lay Pastor Candidate & Riverina Presbytery Youth Worker). They have just been working with Rev Anne Ryan at the Talking Faith (Intro to Theology School) in Wagga Wagga. Again, I could hear the satisfaction and excitement in their voices. Lay Preachers (and Candidates) are doing the most cutting-edge and exciting theology!

Chris has been in Parkes (Macquarie-Darling) this weekend doing a Preaching workshop - largely focussed at younger and emerging models of ministry... is there a theme emerging here?

Jorge has been emailing all and sundry this weekend with news about developments for Pastors - in particular, the first meeting of the Synod Pastor Committee, who will be dealing with appications from people offering themselves beyond their local setting for Placements as Pastors.

God is very active and we are getting glimpses of lots of activity among lay people, called to learn to serve God and te world in fresh ways.

- Amelia

Mid-April update

Welcome back to Chris Lockley (Resource Ministry Consultant) who has been in the USA. He has looked at how Lay and Resource Ministry has been developing in other parts of the world. In particular, he has been assessing resources.

Lindsay Cullen has been in Glen Innes (2nd half of the 'Talking Faith' School and has moved on to Broken Hill, Macquarie Darling Presbytery, (2nd half of the Sacraments course).

Amelia has had recent  visits to Narrandera (Riverina Kids' Campout), Terrigal UC (Palms and Psalms) and the Hunter.

We are all looking forward to the upcoming Lay Ministry In-service - Nurturing Growth - see the Scheduled Events for details.

The Course Readers have just arrived for the next set of Lay Preacher Schools - Proclaiming Jesus Christ. So, register now and start your pre-reading!

New website

Having only just finished updating the look of our website, we ran into further problems in February. Our hosting service changed their server system and suddenly all our contact forms and online registration forms stopped working! Despite working with our hosts on a number of different ways around the problem, we were unable to get things working again. This difficulty, along with the fact that we needed more room than was being offered to us (for free) by our hosts, led us to considering new alternatives.

We have now moved our site to a paid hosting service which also provides a CMS-like backend (for you techo types). Hopefully our new partnership with SQUARESPACE will be beneficial to all concerned.

If you want to give us feedback on the new site using our contact form or emailing the webmaestro, we would be very grateful.

We have also for the first time enabled commenting on this blog, so feel free to leave comments on any stories that interest you.