GROUPS WITHIN THE WANGARATTA UNITING CHURCH

Our Parish consists of Eldorado, Greta/Moyhu and Rowan Street, Wangaratta. On a sad note we recently closed both the Milawa and the Whitfield churches due to maintenance issues and declining congregations. Milawa congregation now mainly worship in Wangaratta and Whitfield are now meeting in a private home.

We have 2 study groups that meet in private homes on a regular basis and these increase in number to 4 or 5 groups around Lent.

PALS is a group whose initials PALS stands for People Alone Lending Support, and which was introduced by Rev. Pam Riessen during her time in Wangaratta. This group meets monthly under the leadership of Rosemary Steele and is a gathering of quite a few ladies and men who enjoy the fellowship.

A program for Mums and children is Coffee, Craft and Childcare is an outreach group which runs for one day a week for 3 weeks each quarter. Up to 35 attend and enjoy, as the name suggests, a cup of coffee and the opportunity to learn some new crafts.

The Op Shop is manned by members of the church and assisted by volunteers with no religious connections and is an invaluable financial resource which contributes financially to Parish funds as well as being one of our important outreach programs.

UCAF, the Uniting Care Adult Fellowship meets monthly and aims to have a varied program. Around 30 people support this popular group and enjoy the fellowship that it provides.

Music is a very big part of Uniting Church worship and we are very lucky to have a large pool of musicians to lead morning worship. These include half a dozen pianists and a small but enthusiastic 4-piece band.

Many of our older members find it difficult to sit through a long church communion service so we provide an alternative – afternoon communion – to which up to 20 people attend.

A Preaching Plan is an important part of church life and each quarter the planners sit down and prepare a preaching plan, which, with Rev. Ron’s departure, is not an easy task from the pool that we have. However we usually get by with the help of a number of lay preachers to provide meaningful worship services.

The Catering Committee is often called upon to provide refreshments and meals for church functions, funeral services and special fund raising events. Our new kitchen has helped us to cater much more efficiently and our catering expertise is greatly appreciated by one and all.

A retiring offering is taken up after each month’s Communion service, the proceeds of which is used to provide food vouchers for the needy.

A basket in the foyer is used for the collection of items for the Loaves and Fishes facility which also provides food for needy people. We have a person on the management committee and volunteers assist on a regular basis.

Other areas where the church is involved include a knitting group, fundraising events (a recent one was to help farmers whose fences were destroyed in the bushfires), supporting Frontier Services, working bees to maintain our property and much more. We are also involved in the Samaritan’s Purse project which assists children in Third World countries and our monthly contributions are directed towards SHARE.

A big part of our outreach program is our participation in the annual Wangaratta Festival of Jazz where we combine with a number of other denominations to present the Jazz Praise on Reid open air worship service which is always well received.

As far as the day-to-day running of the church and its programmes is concerned, many more people are involved. Church Council looks after the important day-to-day running of the parish, including financial matters while the Local Committee’s task is to ensure that maintenance is kept up to date A large body of people make up the church Elders who are responsible for supporting the ministry team, providing spiritual oversight spiritual oversight and supporting Christians to grow in their faith.

A very important part of the Uniting Church parish is Uniting Care which occupies the building next door after outgrowing its original building in Murdoch Road. The Parish has a church member on the Uniting Care board who reports back to Church Council monthly.

As you can see there are all sorts of ways that the Uniting Church is involved with its own programs and those involving the wider community.  

If you would like more info about any of these groups, you are most welcome to contact one of the ministry team or the church office using the contact details HERE.