QUC News. July The QUC Vision: The whole of Creation Reconciled and Renewed

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1 July 2017 QUC News The QUC Vision: The whole of Creation Reconciled and Renewed An important reminder. In my readings and reflections over the last couple of weeks, I ve read a number of things that have particularly stood out. I thought I would share one with you: The reading is from a book called Living a prayerful life a classic devotional edited for today s readers by Andrew Murray ( ). The origins of the book came out of a minister s conference in If conscience is to do its work and the contrite heart is to feel its proper remorse, it is necessary for each individual to confess his [their] sin by name. The confession must be intensely personal probably no single sin should be acknowledged with deeper shame than the sin of prayerlessness. A rather confronting challenge! Many of us struggle with a healthy prayer life. We too often struggle to make time, can t be focused, are too busy etc, etc. While we may find it hard to put the words together for prayer. We are bombarded by and contribute to the many many words that fly around us every day, the church itself can be a place of many many words too. In the midst of such words, it's always important to ask the question - how many of all the words are words shared in prayer? What is our focus, especially when we may be feeling bombarded by all the words or feel that we have much to say? Andrew Murray, in a manner akin to his time, is very forthright in his calling people to prayer; honest, earnest, sincere, committed prayer. Inviting people to make prayer our top priority. As I said earlier, I have found such a call to prayer challenging and a strong reminder of its importance. I also wonder if each of us might hear such a call, and be more intentional about our prayer and maybe turning more of our words into words shared in prayer? Grace and Peace Church Office (by appointment) For general enquiries (including room use/hire) please see our webpage or leave a message at phone or office@quc.org.au To speak with Steve Coster our Minister - mobile or minister@quc.org.au or Amy Junor, our Youth & Community Pastorpastor@quc.org.au

2 QUC National Church Life Survey (NCLS) Profile The Church Life Profile for the Queanbeyan Uniting Church provides an interesting insight into the demographics, values, priorities, people s gifts of the congregation. It also looks into how we relate to God, each other and the wider community. Thank you to everyone that participated in the survey as it s providing a valuable resource for QUC council and QUC members to evaluate what the results have revealed and how to move forward. This data is collected from approx. 60 responses. Some of the demographics of the congregation are: Australian born make up 87% of members Higher number of females in the congregation at 64% Well educated with 46% having a university degree and 23% with a trade certificate or a diploma Many new members with over a third, 39% have been with the church for less than 5 years Attendance at least monthly is at 94% The top 3 priorities for the next 12 months are: Sense of community Spiritual growth (e.g. direction) Worship services that are nurturing What do we value about our church, the top 3 are: Wider community care/justice emphasis Sermons, preaching or teaching Practical care in times of need We see our key gifts as being: Hospitality (welcome, host, provide food) Education (teach, coach) Communication Relating to each other: 84% of people have a strong sense of belonging to this local church 79% found it easy to make friends within this local church There are many more details and insights contained within the report and encourage you to download and review it. You can download it from the post on the home page of QUC online or from this link. Let Steve Coster or Ian Gray know if you want a printed copy (noting there are 36 pages). Thanks to John Harper for coordinating the 2016 NCLS and putting this report together. This report is very useful for Church Council as we look to the future. There will be further reflections from this report over the next 12 months. 2 P a g e

3 News from Amy - Has it been 5 months??? Hello everyone. I can t believe it is July already! It feels as if the months have flown, and yet there is also the distinct feeling that my time here at QUC has been exceedingly longer so much has happened. We have wrapped up semester 1 of youth group, and the youth leaders and I are working on an exciting new calendar for next semester. Watch this space! On Sunday mornings, a few of the high-school aged people and I have been overhauling the vestry room and thinking about what it means to create our own space. We are in the early days of working this through but so far we have had a few laughs and named all of the nativity animals. Looking forward to seeing what comes of this small group. News from Church Council Church Council had a special time together at our June meeting. In preparation for a soon to be called congregation meeting, we spent the first hour giving considered thought to what we see as important priorities for QUC in the months ahead. CC has co-opted Iris Talbot as a member of CC in accordance with the UCA regulations. After prayerful consideration Iris accepted. She joined us for the first time in our June meeting. We feel blessed by her grace and wisdom. Sadly, Mitchell has announced his resignation from CC. He and his beautiful family are heading to Thailand for work for 3 years later this year. We have really appreciated Mitchell s commitment and input over these last 6 months. Church Council has been hard at work, the following is an update on many of the areas we ve have been focussed on: Pastoral Care A few Saturdays ago, a number of our people and I attended a Safe Churches workshop at Weston Creek Uniting Church. Much of the day was talking about things that I would usually find extremely boring like forms and policies and stuff. But what really helped was thinking about the reasons for ensuring that we have our infrastructure running smoothly. There is loads of stuff we can all do to make sure that we are accountable for what our groups and teams are doing that makes stuff easier and more enjoyable for all who come along. More to come soon as we develop resources for our groups to use moving forward. Hope you are all keeping warm! Amy Church Council has established a new pastoral care ministry team. They will research and establish a pastoral care model that will help meet the many and various pastoral needs within the life of QUC, including the welcome and follow-up of new people. Thanks to those who have agreed to be a part of this important ministry. For more information see: If you are interested to know more please speak to Ian Gray or Steve. 3 P a g e

4 St. Benedict s Community Centre Update St. Benedict's (over the road from QUC) is a cooperative initiative of Christian Churches in Queanbeyan. St. Benedict's assists guests to obtain appropriate housing, and provides meals, advocacy and practical support. St Benedict's also seeks to provide emotional, physical, and spiritual security for its guests. QUC has had a long association with St Benedict s. At a recent meeting, the Management Committee unanimously agreed to dissolve the current Management Committee and enter a transitional phase. The new four-member Board consists of the Ministers of: the local Anglican Church (Archdeacon Elizabeth Dyke) as Chair, Uniting Church (Rev Steve Coster), Baptist Church (Rev Peter Junor) and the Celebration Community (Rev Michael Cockayne). Church Council has been aware that this has and will require a time commitment for Steve. We have supported this as we, along with these other churches, see this as a vital shared ministry to the vulnerable in our community. If you d like to know more about this ministry go to: HOME at QUC? Next Steps At the end of last year, the Board of HOME approached our Church Council with an idea. HOME is looking to expand and are wondering if we d be interested in some form of partnership that could see on our site the establishment of 6 to 10 new HOME units, and at the same time the (re)development of some of our older buildings. The Church Council is responsible, under the Uniting Church regulations, for all property issues. CC has established the QUC Property Review Group (PRG) to specifically consider the proposal from HOME to potentially expand the service they provide, that of providing long term accommodation to vulnerable persons. The PRG are treating the proposal as a trigger for our Church to consider what are the tools we need to minister effectively into a changing society and a growing community over the next 20 to 25 years and in particular what will be our property needs which may or may not include HOME. It would be very easy for the PRG to become primarily focused on the building/property, it could be primarily task focused! However, the Church Council has asked the PRG to do more than this. The primary focus of the PRG, at this stage, must be to answer the question: HOW DO WE BEST ENABLE THE PEOPLE OF QUC TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION ABOUT THE FUTURE PROPERTY NEEDS AT QUC? This question is at the heart of the brief, it moves us from being task focused to being people focused an essential element at this stage in the process! The members of the PRG are Andrew Flahive (Chair), Steve Imrie, Steve Adams, Peter McIntyre, Alison Crawley, Vivian Harris, Alex Bickford. Some members of CC along with Steve will also be actively involved with the group. These people were invited because of their skills and experiences, and genuine interest in exploring the opportunity bought about by the HOME proposal. The PRG has committed to meeting weekly for now and having now done some foundational work are looking to engage as widely as they can in the coming months to try and gauge the appetite for improvements with regards to our property. They will be speaking to each interest group such as Spring Fair organisers, youth, jumble sale, kitchen crews, Sunday school organisers, and musicians etc to get your group s collective views. There will also be opportunities for individuals to share their views. 4 P a g e

5 If you would like to know more, have any concerns or want anything clarified you can contact the chair, Andrew Flahive on or Andrew will be providing you with regular updates. He is keen to hear what you think and to entertain ideas for Church property improvements. You can read and or see more at QUC Online You may also want to consider something of the history of how QUC has responded to community needs, including through its buildings, over the past 150+ years You can learn more about HOME at their webpage: Upcoming Congregation Meeting If you are on , you may have received an invite to our Annual General Congregation Meeting called by CC. This had not been confirmed with CC and as such the date originally proposed was not suitable. CC could not be ready for a July meeting as we are still waiting on the last of the June accounts to come in so that our treasurer and assistant can complete the end of year accounts. We plan to have our reports and proposed budget out two weeks before the meeting so that you have time to prayerfully consider them. As such the Annual General Meeting has been postponed for a few more weeks and should be held sometime in August. We will soon be calling for nominations for our Presbytery Representatives so that they can be elected at the August congregation meeting. Please start to prayerfully consider people whom you may think are suitable. We need 2 to 3 reps. CC has also recommended that we postpone calling for nominations for additional Church Councillors until September so it lines up with the election for office bearers and church councillors typically held at the November Congregation Meeting, noting that the new nomination process requires a 6-week period. Volunteer Position Assistant Treasurer Having been our assistant treasurer for 5 ½ years Martha has decided it is time for us to look for a replacement. The assistant will work alongside Grant as our treasurer and primarily does the book keeping aspects of the job. This is a really important role in the functioning of our church. Excel and a familiarity with online banking is important. Martha is happy to provide training and a transition period until you are feeling competent in the role. If you would like a better understanding of what is required please speak to Martha on or speak to Grant. Spring Fair We have started to prepare for our annual Spring Fair on Saturday, 21 st October. The Fair is the one event we do as a whole church and gives us a significant connection with our wider community. A small team has been established to organise the event. Michael Shilling, who normally takes a week off and does most of the logistical work, is now working in Adelaide and is unable to get the time off. As a result, some changes will need to be made so it is more manageable. The new team is already coming up with some interesting new ideas, as well as those things we ve come to know and love 5 P a g e

6 from the Spring Fairs of old. If you would like to help please contact: Welcome Rose! Heather Irons Jo Shilling or Amy Junor If you would like to know more about the work of Church Council please don t hesitate to contact me, and as always please continue to hold us all in prayer. Yours in Christ s service Ian Gray - Chair of QUC Church Council Mobile: quccouncil@gmail.com Messy Church Together with Emma, Matt and Jack, we celebrate and give thanks to God, for the safe arrival of Rosalie Fenwick Shaw (Rose/Rosie), born 2 July, 3.25kg and 48cm. An all-age gathering normally on the 3rd Sunday of each month from 4-6pm. A fun afternoon of sharing in games, stories, craft and a meal, as we grow in our understanding and experience of God together. Basically, it s Church for those who like to get their hands dirty. Here are the dates and themes for 2017: 16 th July - A Messy Response 20 th August Messy Music 17 th September - Messy Meal 15 th October - Messy Church 19 th November - A Messy Christmas We are looking forward to a very Messy year QUC Playgroup Is looking to restart on a Thursday morning from the beginning of Term 3! Anyone interested please speak with Rosemary Robinson rosemaryr2@iinet.net.au or Wendy Imrie wimrie@hotmail.com (both will be attending with their grandchildren). 6 P a g e

7 A BIG THANKYOU! Thanks to the Jumble team for the massive pruning effort to the trees behind the Jumble Shed. It looks great and your efforts are greatly appreciated. If you are doing some cleaning up around the ground and have access to a trailer, please take any prunings to the council s Waste Minimisation Centre rather than leaving them in a pile up the back. If you are unable, please speak to Colin Veal so alternate arrangements can be made. Night Church/Couch Conversations Night Church gathers each Sunday starting at 6pm. Varies week to week and can include a conversation on the couch, a time for personal reflection, and/or share a meal at The Royal. We are looking for what people are interested in doing, please contact Erin McIntyre (m) or Amy Junor pastor@quc.org.au Hungry Souls Men s Breakfast Once a month, on a Wednesday, a number of men from different churches in town gather together in the CAST (foyer) area of the church for a cooked breakfast and to hear someone share a story about their life, faith and experiences. When: Wednesday 14 th August 7-8am. Cost is $5. Sharing: Details still TBC. Come along and hear someone s story and enjoy the fellowship and food. Adult Fellowship Our adult fellowship meets at the church at 2pm on the first Thursday of every month except January. Activities include guest speakers, worship and afternoon tea, among others. For more details, contact Yvonne Wallace on Safe Shelter 2017 The Queanbeyan Safe Shelter team has once again open its doors to offer emergency overnight accommodation to the city s homeless population. Its first night was Tuesday 28 th March and will be open weekly throughout winter Safe Shelter is always looking for more volunteers to help out. If you are interested, please contact June Lawrence at flowerofscotland45@gmail.com. Good Housekeeping If you are using the kitchen, please take the dirty Tea Towels home to wash Thankyou Sharing my Gifts and Skills 2017 Would you like to be involved in bible reading or morning tea on a Sunday morning or helping mow the church lawns, maybe you d like to sing or even preach? We are very keen to hear how you would like to be involved, it s very simple, just go to QUC Online and tell us (if you are reading this as an , simply click here). Mental Health First Aid Mental Health First Aid helps ordinary people better understand mental health problems and feel confident to assist people with them to get help for their condition. Rosemary is looking at whether there is enough interest to run this twoday course this year. It is highly recommended for all volunteers for Safe Shelter, Home and St Benedict's and to any of us who would like to better recognise and assist people with mental health challenges. Talk to Rosemary about the course. Rosemary Robinson: , rosemaryr2@iinet.net.au 7 P a g e

8 QUC Online QUC Online is our online information management system. From here you can access our directory, your rosters, QUC calendar, latest financial figures, music library, rostering, forms, latest news and much more. You can also update your own details. Many people have attached photos to their file. This is a great assistance to our newer members and to our ministry groups. We encourage you to add your own photo, or if you need assistance send us one and we can add it for you. Booking and Calendar You can now see all the events and bookings in one place. This is useful if you need to make use of some of our facilities. It is also useful if you need to do something at the church such as flowers, grounds or a bit of maintenance. This year there has been a lot of work done to streamline our booking system, including online booking forms and details about each of our spaces along with photos on our website: 2/rooms-and-facilities/ There has been a growing interest from our community seeking to use our facilities. In the last couple of months, we have new weekly bookings for a new Youth Dance Group, a new Youth Drama Group and an English teaching organisation. Steve has been using this as an opportunity to more widely connect with our community. QUC Online Tips: Home Page the first page you see when you login is the Home page, keep an eye on it as it will have the latest news items. Saving your user name and passwords in your computer - If two or more people login from the same computer, saving your user username and password can cause problems the computer can t differentiate between you and may try to log you in under the same user name and password (the one that is saved). HELP! - If you are having troubles let us know, we are more than happy to help. Contact Steve mobile , minister@quc.org.au) or Ian (mobile: quccouncil@gmail.com) 8 P a g e

9 News from the Wider Church/Community 40 years The Uniting Church in Australia is celebrating 40 years as a uniquely Australian church. At our inauguration service on Wednesday 22 June 1977 the first President Rev. Dr Davis McCaughey, the primary author of our Basis of Union, remarked that church union meant absolutely nothing, unless it drives us back to the fundamental questions where do you come from, where are you going, and who are you? Are you and I prepared to find our bearings afresh? asked McCaughey, as he urged the 1977 faithful on a new pilgrimage, to engage the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of his spirit. A photo of Colleen Geyer, UCA Assembly General Secretary, at the Canberra Presbytery celebration: Theme for the Synod - Telling our Story The Moderator-Elect, Rev. Simon Hansford, has chosen Telling our Story as the theme for Synod 2017.This gathering will be an opportunity to give voice to the hope that is within us that our lives are woven into the story of God spoken in Jesus Christ and that our calling as the Uniting Church is to tell that story in word and action. We gather so that out of sacred story and contemporary experience we may discern how we will continue to fulfil our calling as the people of God in this Synod responsive to the new thing that God is doing in the world. The Installation of the Moderator Elect, Simon Hansford, will take place at 7pm on Friday 29 September, 2017 at St Stephen s Uniting Church 197 Macquarie Street, Sydney. UCA Stamp Committee We ve received a letter of appreciation from the stamp Committee for our contributions of stamps for sale, total sales to date for 2017 are $9000. Many thanks to those among us who contribute used stamps (can be left at the back on the bookshelf) and those who organise getting them to the committee in Sydney. QBN Vinnies needs help! Do you have any spare time? Would you like to meet new people and give back to your local community? If you answered yes to either of these questions Vinnies Queanbeyan would love to hear from you. A range of roles are available from serving customers, store and stock maintenance, through to working at the register. For more information please call Isla Smith, Vinnies Queanbeyan Store Manager on P a g e

10 Regular Ministries of QUC Ministry When Contact Adult Fellowship First Thursday of every month, 2pm. Yvonne Wallace Bible Studies and Small Groups Various times, weekly or fortnightly. Various - ask Steve Chapel Service Sundays, 8:45 to 9.15am during school term. Robyn Robinson Choir Rehearsals on 1 st Monday and 2 nd Tuesday nights Lauren Fee each month 7.30pm at the church. Garden Ministry Various. Natalie Maras Jumble Sale One Saturday per month (usually the 4 th ), 9am- Julie Veal 12pm. Men s Breakfast One Wednesday morning most months. Ian Gray Messy Church 3 rd Sunday of the month, 4-6pm. Julie Posthuma Night Church Sunday 6pm. Erin McIntyre Nursing Home Service 2 nd and 4 th Tuesday, 11-11:30am. Robyn Robinson Playgroup 10am till 12noon each Thursday during school term Rosemary Robinson Prayer Group Tuesday Mornings Leigh Harkness Refugee Advocacy/Justice varies Alison Coster & Issues Vivian Harris Safe Shelter Tuesday Nights during cold months. June Lawrence Schools Ministry (Scripture) Regularly during School Term Julie Posthuma Sunday Morning KUCA Sunday Mornings as part of 9:30am service during Kimberley Pullen NSW school term. Sunday Morning Worship Sundays, 9:30am. Steve Coster The Shed Same dates as Jumble Sale. Heather Irons Youth Group Friday, 7pm, fortnightly during school term. Erin McIntyre If your ministry group s details are missing, or incorrect, please contact the office to correct them for the next newsletter. Your generous giving helps us fulfil our vision and mission locally, nationally and internationally. There are a number of ways you can regularly give and/or make a once-off donation. 1. Direct Giving (encouraged) - is giving that you arrange with your own bank (can normally be set-up as weekly, fortnightly, monthly or annually) into: QUEANBEYAN UNITING CHURCH AT CALL ACCOUNT, B.S.B , ACCOUNT NO Cash (or Cheque) offering put in the offering bag each Sunday. 3. Weekly Envelopes - cash (or cheque) put in the offering bag each Sunday during worship. The envelopes are freely available to be picked-up from the back table at the church. 10 P a g e