I received this delightful email from Sharonne Price on behalf of the Working Group for the Transforming Worship Conference that I wanted to share with you. Dear faithful volunteers, I write to thank you on behalf of the Assembly Worship Working Group for the fabulous contribution you all made to the success of the conference. Many things that are worthwhile are driven by volunteers, and as we know, even those who receive payment of some kind volunteer hour and hours of time, energy and financial resources to the life of the church. I know that not a single person who volunteered is a novice in  the art of giving. Thank you for offering us all your grace and energy, skills and knowledge for the conference. I hope and trust that everyone has recovered from the demanding (and inspiring) few days that have already become a sentinel experience of welcome, community, worship, wonder and learning for  those who joined us. All of you worked very hard whether it was serving food, washing dishes, mastering the coffee urn, solving problems, washing floors, disposing of rubbish, helping with the reception desk, monitoring the state of the bathrooms, setting up, re-organising …and yes, smiling through it all. The feedback has been very positive indeed. Thank you too for the way you were prepared to “muck in” with a new team and with people you did not know well. It certainly proved that our wider Uniting Church family is recognisable as having a distinctive service orientation. We made a happy community together. Special thanks go to the Burnside City folk. You shared your fabulous property and all your resources with willing and open hearts. You allowed others to make their way in your kitchen – not an easy thing to do – and you let people like me make their  own mistakes. Thank you! Christine Secombe is in the USA at the moment, but she joins me in thanking you all from the bottom of our hearts.  May your ongoing ministries of service be richly blessed,   Sharonne Price   … Continue reading →

Why on earth would we take on such a big event as Transforming Worship, disrupting our Sunday and impacting so many people? Through the Transforming Worship Conference, members of Burnside City Uniting Church were exposed to new ideas in relation to worship, new styles of worship and ways of worshipping, by internationally renowned teachers and preachers, wonderful leaders in this area of worship. We volunteered and served in teams which involved meeting new people trying new things discovering new skills making new friends, or reacquainting with old ones and discovering that we can do brewed coffee and it’s really nice! Our building and facilities were used for what they were designed to do – to be able to resource and equip the people of God to be able to worship God Burnside City Uniting Church now has a reputation nationally of a church who makes people welcome in generous ways We have been able to resolve some issues that have been challenging us for quite some time for example: The air conditioning in the auditorium has gone from being quite problematic to resolved!  We have developed much clearer, applicable  procedures for emergency evacuation.  We have developed great confidence in what we would do in an emergency these do need some further work but we have made big progress in this area because of the conference. This of course was not our conference it was organised by the Uniting Church Assembly’s National worship working group. It was our role to act as host, to provide the facilities, to make people feel welcome, to manage our car park and to help resolve issues with the facilities. Members of Burnside City Uniting Church went above and beyond in giving their time and effort and working really hard to be able to ensure that every detail was attended to. There were so many who, quietly behind the scenes, attended to many details that I won’t even know about. Thank you to the many, many, many volunteers who helped in so many different ways.  Was it all worth it? I think so and I hope others agree. Praise God for this opportunity!    … Continue reading →

Church meetings Scripture Verse “…we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)   Reflection The Church’s life is not decided by democratic process, or by people who speak the loudest or most forcefully. There is no place for party interests, personality clashes or power blocks. Church meetings are not based on a parliamentary model, or on business, government, service clubs or other secular agencies. We are unique.  We are the Body of Christ, being led by our Head, Jesus. This requires a commitment to seeking God’s will versus our own, to hearing and respecting others, being open and not defensive, and doing it all in an attitude of humility. Genuine and mature prayer is required here. Individual prayer before the meeting, intentional group prayer when all are gathered, asking for the guidance of the Spirit, extra time for prayer before making key decisions, and stopping for more prayer if there are conflicts, or if the meeting has reached an impasse. Saturation prayer indeed! (This reflection has been extracted from the Burnside City Uniting Church website and has been prepared by Colette Williams) How could church meetings you attend become more grounded in prayer? How respectfully do we listen for the voice of God in each other?   Prayer  Lead your church Lord Jesus Christ into the future and command our faithful following. Amen   Reprinted from 40 Days of Prayer—Thank you Colette   … Continue reading →