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.
