Ministers Desk 23rd November 2014

The Church Council met on Monday 17 November.  At this meeting we received an update from the property refurbishment committee.  They presented some initial sketches that address changes to the foyer, hall, auditorium and Laurel street and South Pine Road entrances.  These changes range from replacement of the existing carpet, through alternative layouts of furniture for better functionality, improved acoustics in the hall and the addition of an awning outside the hall on the Laurel Street side.  The committee have sought to be faithful to suggestions made at the property workshop held in June this year. 

Suggestions that have not been taken up are to install concertina walls in the hall and build a mezzanine somewhere in the building.  Advice from the architect is that these ideas would not be practical and would be prohibitively expensive.  For these reasons these ideas will not be considered again.  The property refurbishment committee will continue their work with a view to presenting something to the congregation in the first half of next year. 

In the planning the committee have considered how this building fits with our purpose of Growing Disciples who Exalt, Explore, Embody, Engage and how it can best be used as a tool for ministry.  This has meant that we’ve taken time in the planning phase, almost a year so far and still going.  Once decisions are made by the congregation about what we’re going to do, the implementation may take even longer. 

The building assists us in our ministry; it is not ministry in itself.  So whilst the property refurbishment group does its work, there are others working on the ministry of Emmanuel Uniting Church. 

An Embody team meets regularly to understand our neighbourhood and seek ways in which we are able to step out in mission and service.  Our Christmas community dinner is the first activity of this group.  In the New Year we will look for other avenues of outreach and ways to highlight and develop the important work of outreach that many people are already doing. 

Our Worship Pastor, Dom Chan, is researching, assessing and implementing changes to our 9:30 and 6pm worship services to help us offer excellence in worship and experience whole of life transformation. 

Initial thoughts are being given to family ministry that seeks to provide a pathway of faith development for children, youth and young adults.  This pathway places the primary focus of faith development in the home and ensures that the church partners with parents to achieve a goal that we all desire, seeing children come to faith in Jesus Christ.

In addition to these new initiatives leaders are encouraged to continue to refine and focus their groups and ministries as we move toward being a disciple forming community who grow disciples who Exalt, Explore, Embody, Engage.

Grace and peace

David Fender

Ministers Desk 9th November 2014

We have a wonderful and unique youth ministry here at Emmanuel. We have our brigades groups and we have our non-uniformed groups all of which are contributing to the overall ministry at our church. This week our ministers desk is a chance for our congregation to become a little more familiar with what we do.

Our Brigades programs.

Brigades is a highly structured international organisation that has been helping to disciple kids for over a hundred years. With a duel focus on fun and adventure brigades is a fantastic organisation for our young people to be a part of. Our brigades leaders are some of the most highly motivated and enthusiastic in our congregation and are responsible for much of the good work being done for kids who attend our church and others.

Our Church and Rec program.

Church and Rec is our innovative program for older kids. The goal here is to create space for kids who aren't connected to the church to engage with Christianity without confrontation. Young people are exposed to a culture that is increasingly hostile to religion and this has had a big impact on an entire generation of youth. Many are searching for meaning but simply don't feel comfortable coming into churches to find answers. So we decided we would go to them and offer them a place where they can have these conversations on their terms.

Our Church and Rec Bible Study.

September Camp saw many of our young people wanting to reach for more in faith. Our leaders have now responded to this need and are offering a Bible study program which would help these kids who are largely outside of our congregation to come and be more involved and connected to our community.

Our Clifface program.

Clifface is a program for youth close to the young adult age group which primarily looks at helping kids already established in the congregation with their faith walks. These kids are familiar with the “Christian slang” that we use and this group is great for kids who already attend church regularly, and want to connect with other people their own age.

Our Extreme program.

Extreme is a non-uniformed youth group which connects to our presbytery. It has a focus on devotions and games and several times a term the whole presbytery comes together to celebrate our shared faith and the vision of youth ministry for the Uniting Church.

Our team appreciates your continued prayer support for the various youth ministry activities, leaders, and kids across our whole youth ministry.

Grace and peace,

Matt.