Digest of Presbytery Meeting Held at Seymour Uniting Church Thursday May 18Th 2017

Digest of Presbytery Meeting held at Seymour Uniting Church Thursday May 18th 2017

The meeting commenced with worship led by Rev Alan Lockwood and included the commissioning of long term supply Presbytery minister Mission and Education Rev Deacon Jeanne Beale. Jeanne may be contacted on 0432284279. Jeanne is offering, amongst other things to run Listening Skills Seminars – details sent to Church Secretaries or contact Jeanne.

Paul Linossier, CEO Uniting Vic Tas and Rev John Clarke, Director of Mission Uniting Vic Tas provided an update on developments with Uniting. Workshops are being held with all agencies to explain the values of Uniting to staff and volunteers. In helping people Uniting aims to be: Compassionate, Respectful, Imaginative, and Bold (CRIB). From July 1 there will be one board, one logo, one set of values, one employer, shared IT, email, intranet but changes will continue until the end of 2018. There will be 2 geographic regions – Western Vic (including Tasmania) and Eastern Victoria, each with a CEO. Kildonen at Shepparton will fall in the Western district and Goulburn NE including Uniting Care Wodonga in the Eastern Region. Each Presbytery will have a link person with Uniting who will attend Presbytery meetings.

Telling the Story: Rev Joan Fisher spoke of Mary Gregory, who died recently and her contribution to the church over many years. Joan made special mention of Mary’s interest and passion for music as organist and choir mistress at Wangaratta UC and how new hymns were introduced through robust hymn singing following lunch at Presbytery meetings – food for thought!

Marina Schmidt spoke of the growth in the ‘Drop in Café’held every 2nd and 4th Wednesday in Seymour, the small foodbank which manages to meet demands for assistance, the gathering of local church ladies at a local café for breakfast once a month – and how other non-church people have been invited to join the group which has sometimes led to their later involvement in other aspects of congregational life. They hope to have a conversation with someone regarding the community pastor position in the near future. Alice Long from Avenel congregation spoke of the growth in the Avenel/Nagambie communities. Although there is no church building at Nagambie they have Bible studies in local homes, monthly aged care services, ecumenical prayer times and are represented in community festivals.

Army Chaplain Rev Al Lavaki, based at Puckapunyal, was introduced to the Presbytery. Al has served in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a Core Chaplain with 14 years’ experience in the Army. His primary task is to provide pastoral care to all soldiers and their families.

Notices: May 30th 12:30pm lunch with the Moderator at St Stephens Wodonga – all welcome! Monica Melanchthon – Old Testament study day at Emmanuel, Wodonga West June 24th

Wisdom’s Feast to be held in Yarrawonga – August 18 & 19, preceded by Presbytery meeting August 18. Services of Release: June 25th Rev Lorraine Saultry – Bright, July 2nd Rev Rhonda Kissick – Tallangatta, July 9th Rev Christine Aisbett – Wangaratta. National Conference of Lay Preachers CTM July 7 – July 10 – all welcome – not only Lay Preachers. UCAF Day May 29thDookie – Guest speaker: Marg Docking. People are encouraged to look at the Assembly and Synod website for details of new music written to celebrate 40years in the UCA and to register for the daily prayers for the 40 days of prayer which commenced last Sunday.

Ballot for Lay and Ordained people to attend Synod in September was held. All Lay applicants accepted as they did not exceed the number of places available, 11 Ministers selected with Emergencies: Rev Alan Lockwood and Rev Christine Aisbett. We will have 13 Lay and 13 ordained at Synod. New members of Presbytery - Rev Deacon Jeanne Beale, Presbytery Minister Mission and Education and Rev Denise Naish, recently commenced at St Stephens, Wodonga – introduced themselves to the Presbytery. More recently Jeanne was chaplain at Aitken College for 13 years and Denise was Minister of the Word in Portland. Jeanne offered to lead worship but indicated that following the service she would be looking to speak with the congregation re their mission/strategy.

Table discussions: Following brief presentations from each of the Committee Chairs, members spent time in table groups responding to questions re their perceptions of the purpose and effectiveness of our presbytery. Further questions? Speak with your Presbytery Rep(s)

Helen Collins, Chairperson Presbytery NEV