Monthly Archives: June 2016

MtE Update – June 30 2016

Friends,

the latest MtE Update

  1. Our next study series will be in August, considering Rowan Williams’ great little book, Being Christian; details and registrations are available here.
  2. At our most recent (June) church council meeting, the church council agreed to support a proposal from Craig that we might explore ways of encouraging the wider Uniting Church to reflect upon its practice of celebrating the Eucharist, with a view to promoting the benefits of moving towards weekly celebration of the Eucharist as being the norm in UCA congregations, rather than the (very rare) exception. A basic description of this project is given here; there will be an opportunity for to participate in a conversation about this following worship on Sunday July 10.

Other things of potential interest:

A letter from the Moderator:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The Basis of Union encourages us to engage in active partner relations with the Asia-Pacific region. These relationships are a source of great blessing to us as a church. Part of being in partnership is to encourage and support each other. Through the President Stuart McMillan, and Uniting World, one of our partner churches – the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua (Gereja Kristen Injili Di Tanah Papua ‘GKI-TP’) – has asked for our urgent prayer and support as they lead their people in troubled times, seeking to reduce political tension and avoid conflict in Papua.

I want to encourage you to remember the GKI-TP, its people and leaders and the people of West Papua in your prayers this week, and over the weeks to come. Could you also share this call to prayerful solidarity widely with your communities.

There is further information from the President and Uniting World about the situation in West Papua here.

Grace and peace,

Sharon Hollis, Moderator

An upcoming free event to celebrate NAIDOC week at Brunswick Library

Taizé prayer

5.30pm, Saturday, 2nd July 2016

@ Trinity College Chapel, Royal Parade, Parkville.

Singing practice from 5pm.

Please join us for dinner in the Dining Hall afterwards ($10 per person)

It does get VERY chilly in the Chapel during winter, so please make sure you rug up and bring your scarves, beanies and blankets …

If you can’t make it this week, the dates for the rest of the year are:

6th August

3rd September

1st October

5th November

Taizé in Melbourne, Working Group

Pastoral Care workshops (Bethel)

Dear POTENTIAL Lentara Team Member,

As part of a major fundraising effort to support Lentara’s Asylum Seeker Program, Lentara is again pulling together a team of people to participate in this year’s Melbourne Marathon Festival on Sunday the 16th October 2016 and are looking at you to Put the U in Run.

You don’t need to be fit to participate, as distances include the Marathon, Half Marathon, 10km, 5.7km and a 3km walk.

Runners will have the opportunity to seek supportive sponsors, and we’ll let our team know how to do this a little later.

Last year, with a team that included a number of very impressive performances from UC Ministers, Lentara staff and friends, our team raised over $12,000 and had a great day. So we encourage you to get involved.

Our Target in 2016 is to raise in excess of $20,000.00 and registrations are now open.

Please let me know if you do register or if you have any queries, and feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might be interested.

With thanks,

Rev David Withers

Mission Development Minister

BasisBits – Paragraph 17: Law in the Church

 

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The Uniting Church acknowledges that the demand of the Gospel, the response of the Church to the Gospel, and the discipline which it requires are partly expressed in the formulation by the Church of its law. The aim of such law is to confess God’s will for the life of the Church; but since law is received by human beings and framed by them, it is always subject to revision in order that it may better serve the Gospel. The Uniting Church will keep its law under constant review so that its life may increasingly be directed to the service of God and humanity, and its worship to a true and faithful setting forth of, and response to, the Gospel of Christ. The law of the Church will speak of the free obedience of the children of God, and will look to the final reconciliation of humanity under God’s sovereign grace.

From Paragraph 17 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 16: Particular Functions

 

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The Uniting Church recognises the responsibility and freedom which belong to councils to acknowledge gifts among members for the fulfilment of particular functions. The Uniting Church sees in pastoral care exercised personally on behalf of the Church an expression of the fact that God always deals personally with people, would have God’s loving care known among people, and would have individual members take upon themselves the form of a servant.

From Paragraph 16 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 15: Government in the Church

 

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The Uniting Church recognises that responsibility for government in the Church belongs to the people of God by virtue of the gifts and tasks which God has laid upon them. The Uniting Church therefore so organises its life that locally, regionally and nationally government will be entrusted to representatives, men and women, bearing the gifts and graces with which God has endowed them for the building up of the Church. The Uniting Church is governed by a series of inter-related councils, each of which has its tasks and responsibilities in relation both to the Church and the world.
The Uniting Church acknowledges that Christ alone is supreme in his Church, and that he may speak to it through any of its councils. It is the task of every council to wait upon God’s Word, and to obey God’s will in the matters allocated to its oversight. Each council will recognise the limits of its own authority and give heed to other councils of the Church, so that the whole body of believers may be united by mutual submission in the service of the Gospel.

From Paragraph 15 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 13: Gifts and Ministries

 

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The Uniting Church affirms that every member of the Church is engaged to confess the faith of Christ crucified and to be his faithful servant. It acknowledges with thanksgiving that the one Spirit has endowed the members of Christ’s Church with a diversity of gifts, and that there is no gift without its corresponding service: all ministries have a part in the ministry of Christ. The Uniting Church, at the time of union, will recognise and accept the ministries of those who have been called to any task or responsibility in the uniting Churches. The Uniting Church will thereafter provide for the exercise by men and women of the gifts God bestows upon them, and will order its life in response to God’s call to enter more fully into mission.

From Paragraph 13 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 12: Members

 

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The Uniting Church recognises and accepts as members all who are recognised as members of the uniting Churches at the time of union. Thereafter membership is open to all who are baptized into the Holy Catholic Church in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Uniting Church will seek ways in which the baptized may have confirmed to them the promises of God, and be led to deeper commitment to the faith and service into which they have been baptized. To this end the Uniting Church commits itself to undertake, with other Christians, to explore and develop the relation of baptism to confirmation and to participation in the Holy Communion.

From Paragraph 12 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 11: Scholarly Interpreters

 

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The Uniting Church acknowledges that God has never left the Church without faithful and scholarly interpreters of Scripture, or without those who have reflected deeply upon, and acted trustingly in obedience to, God’s living Word. In particular the Uniting Church enters into the inheritance of literary, historical and scientific enquiry which has characterised recent centuries, and gives thanks for the knowledge of God’s ways with humanity which are open to an informed faith. The Uniting Church lives within a world-wide fellowship of Churches in which it will learn to sharpen its understanding of the will and purpose of God by contact with contemporary thought. Within that fellowship the Uniting Church also stands in relation to contemporary societies in ways which will help it to understand its own nature and mission. The Uniting Church thanks God for the continuing witness and service of evangelist, of scholar, of prophet and of martyr. It prays that it may be ready when occasion demands to confess the Lord in fresh words and deeds.

From Paragraph 11 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 10: Reformation Witnesses

 

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The Uniting Church continues to learn of the teaching of the Holy Scriptures in the obedience and freedom of faith, and in the power of the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, from the witness of the Reformers as expressed in various ways in the Scots Confession of Faith (1560), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), and the Savoy Declaration (1658). In like manner the Uniting Church will listen to the preaching of John Wesley in his Forty-Four Sermons (1793). It will commit its ministers and instructors to study these statements, so that the congregation of Christ’s people may again and again be reminded of the grace which justifies them through faith, of the centrality of the person and work of Christ the justifier, and of the need for a constant appeal to Holy Scripture.

From Paragraph 10 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 9: Creeds

 

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The Uniting Church enters into unity with the Church throughout the ages by its use of the confessions known as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Uniting Church receives these as authoritative statements of the Catholic Faith, framed in the language of their day and used by Christians in many days, to declare and to guard the right understanding of that faith. The Uniting Church commits its ministers and instructors to careful study of these creeds and to the discipline of interpreting their teaching in a later age. It commends to ministers and congregations their use for instruction in the faith, and their use in worship as acts of allegiance to the Holy Trinity.

From Paragraph 9 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

BasisBits – Paragraph 8: Holy Communion

 

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The Uniting Church acknowledges that the continuing presence of Christ with his people is signified and sealed by Christ in the Lord’s Supper or the Holy Communion, constantly repeated in the life of the Church. In this sacrament of his broken body and outpoured blood the risen Lord feeds his baptized people on their way to the final inheritance of the Kingdom. Thus the people of God, through faith and the gift and power of the Holy Spirit, have communion with their Saviour, make their sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, proclaim the Lord’s death, grow together into Christ, are strengthened for their participation in the mission of Christ in the world, and rejoice in the foretaste of the Kingdom which Christ will bring to consummation.

From Paragraph 8 of the Basis of Union (1992)

 

Download a high-quality image of this BasisBit for insertion into your pew sheet

 

BasisBits are intended particularly for congregations of the Uniting Church in Australia but could be easily adapted for general use by congregations of other denominations. The suggested use of BasisBits is as items in the “news” section of your Sunday pew sheets or regular congregational publications; some would lend themselves to incorporation into your liturgy order itself.

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