From Pymble to Kiribati, we are all Uniting Church

Gordon- Pymble Uniting Church is a congregation on Sydney’s North Shore. It is an autonomous, local community, served by an elected Council with a number of volunteer working groups and committees including the Faith Development Team, and the Mission Team, among others.

For some years now they have had an association with UnitingWorld. They have been involved with Lent Event, an annual fundraising event that brings people together to build peace and beat poverty. They also support the Everything in Common campaign, where gifts that people buy help to fight poverty and bring hope to communities they work within India, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia among other countries.

That’s why it seemed the natural progression to become a partner, according to Nicola Robinson, the family Worker and Ministry Co-ordinator at Gordon-Pymble Uniting Church. She told Insights that GPUC want their mission to be, “local, national and international, so we decided to talk with UnitingWorld to see where we could help internationally. They gave us a few options, we surveyed our congregation and decided on the Partnering Women for Change (PW4C) program, which includes the Healthy Families, Safe Communities project.”

As a church, they are committed with UnitingWorld to support both the Kiribati Community and UnitingWorld staff in prayer.  They also devote at least one service per year focussed on Kiribati and their program, educate the GPUC Community about the project and the partnership, and produce a video twice a year to send to the Kiribati Uniting Church.

At a recent Messy Church, they devoted the whole online service to learning about Kiribati. They listened to a documentary, heard songs sung by Kiribati Uniting Church, did craft activities based on learning more about this island nation, and their Messy Church families sent a Thinking of You video.

Next Sunday, 27 September, at 2pm they will host a Zoom Trivia Quiz Fundraiser to support the UnitingWorld Kiribati Project. It is a community event with fun activities for all. The suggested donation is of $20 per person. A special competition which will also be mailed out, so that those not on Zoom can participate.

All community members can donate to this initiative at any time through a donation link on Gordon-Pymble Uniting Church’s website.