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Welcome to Community
Connections. To keep Community
Connections of interest to the widest possible
readership, we welcome for consideration news and information about
initiatives, events and activities from all parts of the Synod. Regional
contributions, and stories of how your congregation supports Living is
Giving, are especially welcome. Send your material (maximum 150 words) to
emmah@nsw.uca.org.au. NEWS AND
INITIATIVES •
Invest with confidence of
security •
PM listens to Uniting Church
concerns •
Project Green Church mini-documentary now
available •
Have your say in Insights’ online
survey EVENTS
AND ACTIVITIES •
Kristallnacht community-wide ceremony, Sunday,
November 9 •
Luncheon Club, NSW Council of Christians and Jews,
November 13 •
Mission and ministry workshop, Queanbeyan Uniting
Church, November 18 •
All Heaven Shouted for Joy — St Ives Uniting Church,
November 28 and 29 •
ELM Resource Ministry Conference, Bathurst, December 1 to
3 •
Ministry of Pastor conference, February 4 and 5,
2009 LIVING IS
GIVING: PRAYER POINTS AND RESOURCES •
October Living is Giving
updates •
New
Living is Giving Powerpoint
presentation •
Prayer point: Mission focus area 2: Ministry with
Australia’s first peoples NEWS
AND INITIATIVES Sell all the church’s
property! The Moderator’s words at Synod got him on to the third page of
the Sydney Morning Herald
and on to the radio a couple of times. He’s received correspondence both
of caution and applause. Read more in his column in November Insights, or online. Invest
with confidence of security Despite the toughest local
market conditions in twenty-one years, Uniting Financial Services is proud
to provide assurance to the Synod, PM
listens to Representatives from the
A
new 18-minute documentary on the The documentary is a
fantastic resource for churches and other groups that want to take action
on environmental issues, and are looking for some practical ideas on how
to make a start. The documentary covers
Visit http://www.mjuniting.org.au/greenchurch to view the
documentary online, or contact projectgreenchurch@gmail.com
(phone 02 9344 0055) to request a free DVD
copy. Have your
say in Insights’ online
survey The Insights online survey is your
chance to express your views on Insights magazine — what you like;
what you don’t like; what you’d like to see more of. The survey closes at
the end of November so get in fast. To complete the survey, visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rKSVIET_2bmfLKcK7GZ8ep0Q_3d_3d
and go into a draw to win a new release Blu Ray entertainment pack
courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home
Entertainment. Insights
values your feedback and your answers will help the Communications Unit to
create a better website and magazine to keep you informed and entertained.
Key findings will appear in February Insights. The Decisions made during the
meeting mean older people are being encouraged to hand on “the baton” of
leadership to younger people. Read about this and the Also in Insights’ November issue, read about
how to attract and keep men in your congregation and about how Wayside
Chapel in Kings Cross offers showers, meals, clothing, advocacy services
and much more to people who need a helping hand in
life. EVENTS
AND ACTIVITIES Kristallnacht
community-wide ceremony, Sunday, November
9 A
community-wide event to mark the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht will be
held at the Great Synagogue, 187a Elizabeth Street, Sydney, at 5.30 pm.
Kristallnacht was the night in Nazi Germany in 1938 which historians
acknowledge at the beginning of the Holocaust, when over 200 Synagogues
were destroyed, 92 Jews were murdered, and thousands of shops were
ransacked. The event will include an
address by eminent historian Dr Paul O’Shea on the wartime Pope, Pius XII,
readings from books by authors banned in the period 1933–1945, and short
addresses by Sandy Hollis, Director of Education of Emanuel Synagogue, and
Klaus Krischok, Director of the Goethe Institut.
The commemorative event has
been organised by the New South Wales Council of Christians and Jews with
Emanuel Synagogue and the Jewish Board of Deputies in conjunction with the
Great Synagogue. Click here
for a flyer, or for more information, call the NSW Jewish Board of
Deputies, 9360 1600. Luncheon
Club, NSW Council of Christians and Jews, November
13 The NSW Council of
Christians and Jews invites you to a challenging luncheon club
presentation at the Sydney Great Synagogue Hall, Speakers Rabbi Paul Jacobson
of the Emanuel Synagogue and Catholic Archdiocese Educator Anthony Gordon
will discuss the positive outcomes of World Youth Day in terms of
community and community spirit, in order to collectively achieve
objectives and be enabled better to explore and learn about the
differences and the commonalities of the Jewish and Christian
faiths. A
light kosher lunch will be served. Gold coin donation requested to defray
cost of catering. Mission
and ministry workshop, Queanbeyan Uniting Church, November
18 This workshop will introduce
the process of Mission Discernment which the Queanbeyan congregation is
using to develop its mission plan for the next three to five
years. It
will be held at All
Heaven Shouted for Joy — St Ives Uniting Church, November 28 and 29
St
Ives Uniting Church presents All
Heaven shouted for joy: Stations of creation. Fifteen of
Australia’s leading and most exciting young composers from Sydney and
Melbourne have been selected and invited to create a new piece of chamber
music for four instruments and four voices around the theme of “creation
and birth”, for two special advent concerts. Composers include Alex
Garsden, Julian Day, Jessica Wells and Christina Abdul-Karim under the
musical direction of Dan Walker. ELM
Resource Ministry Conference, This conference is designed
for both ministry agents and congregation members already within a
Resource Ministry placement, and those interested in finding out about
Resource Ministry. There will be workshops on discipleship formation in
congregations and input by practicing resource
ministers. For more information visit
http://elm.org.au/resconf.html Ministry
of Pastor conference, February 4 and 5,
2009 The Ministry of Pastor,
affirmed by the Assembly, will come into effect in the Synod of New South
Wales and the ACT from January 1, 2009. The Ministry of Pastor
conference at the Centre for Ministry on February 4 and 5 will resource
congregations, presbyteries, boards and agencies to implement this
ministry, connecting participants with training providers, Synod HR staff
and facilitators. For more information,
contact Jorge Rebolledo on 8838 8916. LIVING
IS GIVING: PRAYER POINTS AND RESOURCES October
Living is Giving updates If
you’ve contributed to Living is Giving this financial year, you should
recently have received a thank-you letter indicating how much you have
contributed, and most importantly, feedback posters highlighting some of
the ways your contributions have been helping the wider work of our
Uniting Church. Please remember to display
these updates in your church building and let congregation members know
that they have arrived. New
Living is Giving Powerpoint presentation The new Living
is Giving Powerpoint presentation, highlighting the 2008–09 mission focus
areas, is now available online at http://livingisgiving.nsw.uca.org.au/resources.htm.
Scroll down to the section headed “Publications and presentations”. You
can play the slides that relate to your congregation’s mission focus areas
at the beginning of worship, or play the whole presentation as part of a
service on giving and stewardship. Prayer
point: Mission focus area 2: Ministry with The Uniting Aboriginal and
Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) was established in 1985 to lead the
church in ministry with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
•
Pray for UAICC staff and members as they seek to empower indigenous people
for ministry and evangelism. •
Pray for initiatives like the new monthly group called “Understanding
Indigenous Issues” which meets at St David’s •
For more news on this mission focus area, visit http://livingisgiving.nsw.uca.org.au/updates/october08updates/updates10-08mfa02.pdf. To
find out more about Living is Giving visit http://livingisgiving.nsw.uca.org.au. Studying
journalism, graphic design or communications and would like to offer your
skills to Insights? Go to
http://nsw.uca.org.au/cu/internships.htm
to learn how. Don’t forget about the Moderator’s
Drought Appeal. Your donation will help provide counselling,
chaplaincy services and emergency relief to drought-affected
people. CONTACT US: cu@nsw.uca.org.au RECOMMEND US TO A FRIEND:
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Connections to a friend. Forward it on, or direct them to http://nsw.uca.org.au/e-news. You are receiving this
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