Uniting Church in Australia
Presbytery of North Queensland
PRESBYTERY PROMPTS
29 Wentworth Ave Mundingburra 4812 Ph: 07 4779 5818 presbnq@bigpond.net.au
Website: www.presbyterynq.net
THIRTY -
On the Grapevine…
Hi everyone,
I want to remind you about the way we structure Presbytery Prompts.
This first section, On the Grapevine is usually completed by me. In this section each week I try to add relevant information. Mostly it is new information but occasionally I will leave an item for more than one week or change it slightly with updated information.
Steve adds his youth, children’s and family ministry information in the next section – Steve’s Stuff.
The What’s New section consists of information from other sources such as UC Information, Assembly Updates, emails etc. that we see as relevant. This section always contains new material each week.
The Please Remember These section contains the material from the previous weeks What’s New section.
The Presbytery Calendar contains dates of Presbytery events, meetings etc as well as giving a brief overview of where both Steve and I are at any given time. It can generally be assumed that for any of the dates where we are not mentioned as being away then we will be working from our respective home offices.
Pastoral Notes and prayer points:
· Please keep the upcoming Emmaus Walks, team members and pilgrims in your prayers.
· Pray for consultation teams and Joint Nominating Committees as they begin their work in seeking new ministry placements.
· Pray for the right personnel to be available for the ministry vacancies in the north.
· Chaplaincy in our schools, hospitals, prisons, aged care facilities and in industry and sport as well.
· Debbie Watson (chaplain) and the Tully High School community on the tragic death of a year 12 student in a motor cycle accident.
· Viv and Lyn Chapman on Long Service leave and Peter and Alison Blackburn as they provide supply ministry.
· Pray for the Southern Zone Kids Camp out this weekend at Bluewater
· Pray for our Catholic sisters and brothers as they prepare for World Youth Day.
Special Synod We have just been advised that the Special Synod to appoint a replacement General Secretary will be on Saturday 27th October 2007 and not as previously advised on 24th November 2007.
School Chaplaincy Last Monday evening Margie and I were among the 200 to 300 people who attended the Scripture Union Fundraising dinner in Townsville – the Anchor Dinner. There we heard many stories of the value of chaplaincy and the opportunities and challenges that the Federal Government funding for new chaplaincy work is bringing. It must be emphasized that the Federal money is only available for new or expanded work and not for existing chaplaincy. That must still be funded from local and existing sources.
Here I want to pay tribute to the many Uniting Church ministers and lay people in the north who are at the forefront of this work, as chaplains, on and often chairing local chaplaincy committees, financially supporting the work and prayerfully supporting as well. This is important ministry which I know can be frustrating at times but also very rewarding. Keep up the good work. Our children are worth it.
Thursday Island congregation will be celebrating PNG Independence Day this Sunday 16th September. It will be the 31st Anniversary. Please pray for Lawes and the community on Thursday Island that it will be a time of joy and peace.
Synod Building Survey: Some congregations may well have been contacted by the people doing this survey. Please make them welcome. Below is the detail of the purpose for the survey. This was sent to congregations in July. Please ensure that your property people and minister are aware of this so that the survey can be completed expeditiously. Thanks
“The Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia periodically undertakes a building survey of all properties and dwellings owned by the Property Trust. The purpose of the survey is to determine the current replacement value for each building / property improvement and to assess each property for physical hazards and risks.
The next survey is due to commence on 1 June 2007. The survey is being conducted by Australian Pacific Valuers and is expected to be completed within two years from the commencement date. The review is being administered by the Department for Financial and Property Services and the Project Officer is Mr Eddie Carleton. His contact details are:
Mr Eddie Carleton
Project Officer
Department for Financial and Property Services
GPO Box 674
BRISBANE Q 4001
p. 07 3377 9832
f. 07 3377 9716
e. eddie.carleton@ucaqld.com.au
At least three (3) months prior to a survey of any property beneficially used by
your Congregation / Service / Activity, the Department will establish contact to
obtain the details of the appropriate contact person of each property. This can
be pre-
Further information about the building survey review can be obtained by contacting the Project Officer.”
Garry Hardingham will be attending the National Rural Gathering in Victoria on October 15th 0 17th on behalf of the Presbytery and the Synod. This is hosted this year by the Vic/Tas Synod and is on the Theme “Five Years to Change”
Thursday Island Manse – We are celebrating the fact that we have a quote to repair the manse on Thursday Island including the downstairs flat. The quote is from Dave Kennedy Homes, in Cairns for $67,600 of which we have in hand $33,000. In faith we have given the go ahead for the work as it is very necessary. We believe that the finances will become available at the time we need them. The builder can commence work in November and expects to be finished by Christmas. This means that we will need the full amount by then. If there are congregations or individuals who would like to donate to this ministry opportunity please let us know. All the accounts for this project will be managed through the Presbytery Office so please send any donations here rather than direct to Thursday Island.
World Youth Day This week the cross and icon that will be finally displayed in Sydney at the Catholic Church world youth day celebrations will be in Townsville. While it is a celebration within the Catholic Church other churches are also encouraged to be a part of it. The cross and icon have been traveling around the world in much the same way as the Olympic flame and the Commonwealth Games baton and are now traveling across Australia.
Below in the What’s New section I have included some basic information about World Youth Day. Maybe there has been some activity in your area also.
BlueCare Chaplaincy
In accordance with general practice and established processes, there was an advertisement in last Saturdays Townsville Bulletin for the position of part time (50%) BlueCare chaplain in Townsville. This position will become vacant from 31st December 2007 when John Walker leaves so that he and Karen can begin the process of preparing for missionary service in Cambodia. The interview team will include both BlueCare and Presbytery personnel.
Prayer Workshop
Below in the “Please Remember These” section is the information about a Prayer Workshop hosted by Reef to Outback (YWAM) in Townsville in Oct/Nov. The flyers and info sheet referred to are available from the Presbytery Office.
Blessings to you all,
Bruce C.
Steve’s Stuff…
Greetings in the name of Christ!
Last week I attended ‘Triple P’ (Positive Parenting Program) training over four days in Brisbane. This training enables me to deliver the Triple P Program to small groups of parents over eight weeks and provide individual consultations.
One statistic that stood out for me is that only one in ten parent/s seek some sort
of help or assistance while navigating the uncharted waters of ‘parenting’. I started
to think about ways the church could be life-
Kids Camp Out – Southern Zone
Please pray for Kids Camp Out (KCO) which is taking place this weekend at Bluewater, Townsville. We have between 25 to 30 children plus leaders from four congregations attending KCO 2007. Please pray for fine weather, protection over the campsite and activities, positive relationship building and that children would grow in their walk with Jesus.
Kids Camp Out – Northern Zone, 20th-
Your congregation will receive a KCO pack in the mail either today or tomorrow. This has all the information to get you started. Please call me on 0427 727 070 or email me at stevek@yacmu.com.au if you have any questions or if I can help you in any way.
Young Adult Camp, 12th-
People who have attended previous young adult camps will receive a brochure/registration
form in the mail either today or tomorrow. If you have young adults that haven’t
attended camp before, please let me know so I can send them a form. The camp is
at Newlife Pastures, Kennedy which is half way between Cairns and Townsville. It
is a great opportunity for young adults to network, worship, grow in their faith
and have some time-
Yours in Christ’s service, Steve.
YOUTH & CHILDREN'S MINISTRY EVENTS
September 15-
October 12-
October – 20th – 21st – Kids Camp Out Northern Zone
January 2008 -
What’s New…
AUSTRALIA GEARS UP FOR WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008
Almost 2000 groups representing more than 120,000 people have registered to attend
the world's largest youth event in Sydney next year.
Although still many months away,
overseas group registrations for World Youth Day Sydney 2008 (WYD08) have been coming
in strongly, suggesting the target of 125,000 international pilgrims may be exceeded,
organisers say.
"Almost 100,000 international pilgrims are expected at this point
in time, and nearly 23,000 Australians," Chief Operating Officer Danny Casey said.
"We expect the numbers of Australian pilgrims to grow much stronger as we get closer
to the event," Mr Casey said.
WYD08 will be held from 15-
The top 12 source countries, with
current expected pilgrim numbers, are:
United States 30,400
Australia 22,900
Italy 15,400
Germany 8,000
New Zealand 4,200
France 3,700
Spain 2,900
India 2,600
Venezuela 2,400
Fiji 2,000
Nigeria 2,000
Mexico 1,800
More than 500,000 people are expected to take part in
WYD08. Individual registrations are now open. Registration and all WYD08 information
can be found at www.wyd2008.org .
Please remember these…
PRAYER WORKSHOP
Greetings from Reef to Outback!!
I’m writing to present a wonderful opportunity for your church. We are offering a 2 week dynamic Breaking the Silence Prayer Workshop from October 29 – November 9 this year.
Picture this….an auditorium full of people connecting with the heart of God for themselves and the nations, radical worship, excellent speakers sharing on the excitement of prayer, and hands on workshops that will prove that prayer CAN be exciting and creative! That’s just a small taste of the Breaking the Silence Prayer Workshop.
As you know, prayer is critical in this time and season and it is the cornerstone of our communication with the Lord, yet often one of our most difficult challenges.
Our desire here at Reef to Outback is for people to experience the life and exhilaration of connecting with the Lord in real and dynamic ways. The Breaking the Silence Prayer Workshop is all about uniting our hearts with God’s heart – learning how to break the silence in a way that’s creative, life changing and far from boring!
We’ve attached a flyer and also an information sheet on the workshop with this letter, feel free to copy and distribute to your congregation.
We would love to have you involved in this incredible opportunity! Please feel free to contact us at rto@reeftooutback.com or call 4771 2123 if you have questions or would like more information.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Ken Mulligan (Director)
UCONNECT – A NEW KIND OF DIRECTORY
A public version of the new online Synod Directory UConnect is now available at www.uconnect.ucaqld.com.au.
This is a public site for people wishing to contact Uniting Church congregations
or Synod departments and services. The UConnect Directory can be accessed from any
notebook or desktop computer connected to the internet. The exciting new UConnect
service will give you the ability to search congregations by name, suburb or postcode.
A more comprehensive version (including lists of ministers and church office holders)
is available for Ministers, Presbyteries, Church Council Secretaries and others who
have legitimate reason to access this information for church use. People who feel
they need access to the full UConnect directory service can register for a logon
and password at http://www.uconnect.ucaqld.com.au/new-
directory@ucaqld.com.au with the subject heading UConnect Enquiry.
Bruce Mullan, Manager, Communication Services Unit
WORKPLACE RELATIONS INFORMATION
As you may be aware, the Federal government is attempting to ensure that all employees
under federal industrial relations legislation know what their conditions of employment
are. As part of this process, it is a legal requirement for employers in the federal
system to supply a fact sheet (Workplace Relations Fact Sheet: Your rights and obligations)
to their employees. This legal obligation takes effect from the 20 July 2007. For
new employees, they must receive it within 7 days of commencing work. For current
employees, the fact sheet must be provided by 20 October 2007. The fact sheet can
be found on the site of http://www.workplaceauthority.gov.au/docs/EMPLOYERS/FactSheet/FS-
Ann Warren, Synod Human Relations Advisor
PASTORAL CARE 10 SOFTWARE
The new version of Pastoral Care Church Management Software is now available. New features include CarePlus (a module to help Congregations manage their legal obligations under the Blue Card legislation), compatibility with Windows Vista (earlier versions are not compatible) and much improved email integration. Full details can be found at www.pastoralcare.com.au. Order Pastoral Care 10 or your upgrade from any earlier version by visiting our web site at www.uca.net.au. Also check our prices on Microsoft software for Congregations and those in ministry. Some are as little as 20% of the street price.
Ken Griggs, Information Technology Services
EMAIL GUIDELINES
With an increase in the number of junk emails received increases, the possibility of legitimate email being mistaken, ignored or removed by spam filters increases. Staff at the Synod office are particularly concerned that they might not receive messages sent to them because they are mistaken for spam. Please help avoid this possibility by following these guidelines:
· Include a subject line which is meaningful, doesn’t have repeated characters or gaps (e.g. ‘h e l l o’) or words that make it look like it may be advertising (e.g. cheap, cost, price, replica, shop, watch). Do not send messages with no subject line.
· Do not use either all capitals or all lower case for the subject line or the body text.
· Do not use multiple fonts or colours, including in your signature block and do not leave successive blank lines in your message.
· Plain text messages are safest. Background templates, HTML (especially Microsoft Word documents saved as HTML), and messages that are a single large graphic are more likely to be filtered.
And just a few more tips on email protocol:
· f you are sending a message to multiple recipients it is polite to put their addresses in the ‘Bcc’ field and put your own email address in the ‘To’ field. If you put a large number of names in the ‘To’ or ‘Cc’ field you are revealing them to all others (a privacy issue) and increase the chance of the addresses falling into the hands of spammers.
· Typing your entire message in capitals is considered to be shouting and may offend.
Thank you for your assistance.
Bruce Mullan, Manager Communications Services Unit and Ken Griggs, Manager, Information Technology Services
JOURNEY FOR OP-
Congregations and agencies managing Opportunity Shops or second-
Bruce Mullan, Manager, Communications Services Unit
PASSION FOR PREACHING CONFERENCE CDS
Just a brief note to let you know that the CDs (audio only) from the recent Passion for Preaching conference are now available. In this set of six CDs, David Cook, Jenny Salt and Grant Thorp look at the essential elements in preparing Biblical sermons and talks that hold peoples’ attention and connect with everyday life.
· CD 1 A Model for Preparing a Sermon or Talk – David Cook
· CD 2 Being a Better Preacher to Women – Jenny Salt
· Conference Workbook (pdf format)
· Preaching Pyramid (pdf format)
· CD 3 Take-
· CD 4 Reaching Women with the Gospel/Preparing an Evangelistic Talk -
· CD 5 Connecting with the Head & the Heart: Illustration & Application – David Cook
· CD 6 Setting Hearts on Fire: Preaching with Passion – Grant Thorp
David Cook is the principal of Sydney Missionary & Bible College (SMBC) and the Director of the SMBC School of Preaching. David speaks regularly at conferences throughout Australia and overseas. He has wriiten books on preaching and a number of bible studies.
Jenny Salt is the dean of women at SMBC and is on the staff of the SMBC School of Preaching. Jenny is a regular speaker at women's events and conferences.
Grant Thorp is the Senior Pastor of Randwick Presbyterian church in Sydney and is a visiting lecturer at the SMBC School of Preaching. Grant has ministered in a number of churches in Sydney and rural NSW. He is an experienced conference speaker and trainer.
How to Prepare a Bible Talk -
In addition, an excellent book -
Prices -
Special Pack Price -
Ordering -
Greg Middleton, Gospel Outreach Ministries
FRIDGE MAGNETS
Fridge magnets for Prison Ministry are available. If you are interested contact ph: (07) 3250 1900.
Beatriz Skippen, Senior Prison Chaplain
MINISTRY SUNDAY ON 21ST OCTOBER
Resources will be on Synod Website. Please use this opportunity to talk about ministry in your congregation.
Lynne Davis for Future of Ministries Project Team
Presbytery Calendar (including Bruce’s and Steve’s Diary)
September –13th – 16th – Emmaus Women’s Walk
15th – 16th – Southern Zone Kids Campout
18th – 20th – Steve to Brisbane YACMU
18th – 21st – Bruce meetings in Brisbane
30th – Bruce to Preach at Malanda
October – 3rd – 6th – Bruce to Frontier Services Board meeting -
8th -
12th – 14th – Young Adults Camp
13th – Bruce to Brisbane for Synod Selection Panel
15th – full PLT face to face – presbytery office
16th – 25th – Bruce to Brisbane for meetings – Placements etc, CoachNet training
20th – 21st – Kids Camp Out, Northern Zone
21st – Ministry Sunday
24th – 26th – Steve to Brisbane for Discernment Retreat
28th – Bruce to preach at Wulguru
November 2nd – 4th – Presbytery meeting – Townsville area Venue to be advised
11th – 50th church Anniversary Mossman
12th – MRC meeting – presbytery office
20th – 23rd – Steve to Brisbane YACMU
21st – 24th -
24th – Special Synod Brisbane
December – 5th – PLT – full meeting presbytery office.
11th – 13th – Steve to Brisbane YACMU
13th – Bruce to Brisbane for Placements
25th – Christmas Day
January 2008 – 9th – 14th – Summer Madness Camp, Sunshine Coast