A gift of the Spirit for the whole Church

The Gospel Yarning Evangelism Conference gathered cross-cultural people from across the Uniting Church on 16-19 May with the view to “talk about how the Church can be a servant of the Gospel in changing contexts and into the next 40 years”.

As the Uniting Church celebrates its 40th anniversary the conference sought both international and local speakers to share their wisdom on faith-sharing in all its contexts across the diversity and cross cultural Church that we have become.

The Moderator, Rev. Myung Hwa Park reflected that Gospel Yarning, “has provided an excellent opportunity to talk about evangelism, Gospel and culture, who we are and whose we are.”

“Five days of the conference was like a feast, full of stories, insights and wisdom from many cultures, many places and many generations,” enthused Rev. Park. “From Gospel Yarning, a renewed understanding of evangelism has helped to define our faith and our churches, especially as we celebrate our 40 years as Uniting Church in the backdrop of 500 years of the Reformed church.”

The event also recognised the 50th anniversary of the Federal Referendum to recognise Aboriginal persons, and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

“At the end of each day, I was energised and got excited for next day!” said Rev. Park of the conference and the experience. “It was a sheer blessing that we had this opportunity to talk about evangelism with a fresh eye, with a renewed passion and with our cross cultural experience. Gospel Yarning was a blessing and a gift of the spirit for the whole Church.”

The conference sought affirmation and a renewed passion for the centrality of evangelism in the Uniting Church in its 40th year. The idea was to learn from each other – Uniting churches reflecting Asian, Pacific, Anglo, Middle Eastern, African and Aboriginal perspectives – and discover afresh the calling to the mission of God.

For more information about Gospel Yarning and to view photos from the event visit the Facebook Page.