Lismore encounters reconsecration and resurrection

On Sunday, 22 September, Lismore Regional Uniting Church held a service to reconsecrate the church building after extensive repairs.

The service was entitled “Reconsecreation and Renewal: A Reopening Service.” Around 200 people attended, including the Mayor and local members.

The church was severely damaged by unprecedented flooding in February 2022, when water flowed through the streets of Lismore’s CBD.

The Synod’s Presbytery Relations Minister Rev. Dr Rob McFarlane took part in the service.

“The reconsecration service was an amazing experience,” Rev. Dr McFarlane said.

“As a service, it blended hope for the future with a lingering lament for the suffering from the floods, relational informality with liturgical structure, and traditional with contemporary music. I loved that the service wasn’t just about the building.”

As well as the building itself, the church pulpit, baptismal font, and communion table were all reconsecrated, pointing to the importance of what happens within the worshipping community. Floral Decorations in the church were donated and arranged by congregation member Andrea Bryant and florist Lana Marshall.

“I was delighted to be invited to lead in the prayer of reconsecration of the communion table, as one of a group of Presbytery and Synod,” Rev. Dr McFarlane said.

“The lunch afterwards allowed for a shift in focus to start talking about a renewed sense of who the congregation is called to be and what it is sent to do.”

The Synod’s Manager First Peoples Strategy and Engagement, Nathan Tyson, provided the Welcome to Country. Mr Tyson placed a vase in honour of Reverend Aunty Dorothy Harris-Gordon (Dorrie) a WIdjabul Wyabul elder of the Bundjalung nation and the first ordained Aboriginal woman in the Uniting Church.

Heritage listing an additional challenge

The reopening marks the second Lismore Regional Uniting Church has had to recover from unprecedented flooding. The church was inundated in 2017 and reopened in 2018.

After the 2022 flood, the congregation’s Treasurer Alan Hoskins told local newspaper The Lismore App that the building being heritage listed meant an additional challenge: The church had to be rebuilt to meet the regulations and requirements for a heritage listing. 

“Even the front brick fence surround is heritage listed and has to be replaced exactly the way it was, and those bricks are a bit hard to get. They are coming from Victoria. The floor had to come out, so it is down to bare earth,” Mr Hoskins said.

Extensive repair works included the pouring of fresh concrete. While the church was being rebuilt, the congregation continued to meet at a temporary space at the back of the building.

According to Rev. Dr McFarlane, the situation was unique.

“The thought of having to do it all over again was overwhelming, not just for congregation but the whole community,” he said.

“Members of the congregation were all dealing with their own loss and stress when turning to recovery for the church. They are an amazing bunch of people, not just restoring and renovating their own buildings but providing relief and support to the wider community.”

Working with the Synod, the Far North Coast Presybtery, and the Assembly, the congregation worked to get the church halls and meeting spaces restored, and to get the Red Dove Café up and running. The project also involved working with builders, tradespeople, engineers, and  architects.

“The process was quite challenging as the building was heritage listed and the work was a bit more challenging than expected due to the building market. But we were glad to have the chapel opened as this is a new chapter for the UCA members,” said Alfred Santos, Head of Property Services for the Synod

The work was funded in part by a fundraising campaign organised by Mr Hoskins called Pennies for Heaven. The fund will now continue to be used for other projects.

As Brett Fisher, project manager from the general contractor Global FM said, the project was only made possible through “passion, craftsmanship and relationships.”

Lismore Regional Uniting Church’s first stone was laid on 1 June 1908. The church is one of two in the area that have undergone extensive repair works, with Jiggi Uniting Church recently being revitilised.

For more information on Lismore Regional Uniting Church, visit their official Facebook page here.

Jonathan Foye is a freelance journalist.