Ministry in the Snow

Alpine Uniting Church serves meals to 250 ski workers a week during snow season.

Last weekend a group of young adult leaders, led by Dave from the Pulse team, road-tripped to Jindabyne via a Young Adults Gathering in Canberra. The purpose of this trip? To experience Alpine Uniting Church’s Winter community outreach tradition. Every Monday night of snow season, they serve a meal to workers from the ski fields. Most of these people are young, seasonal workers, with unpredictable shift reliability who are there because they love the snow (they’re not making much money from this gig). To have a homely social environment, with a hearty soup meal, and warm community has become a key part of community for many of those who attend. Many describe it as their ‘sense of home away from home’ while they’re at the snow. 

Snow communities tend to be a fairly close-knit bunch, so word gets around fast. Add to that some TikToks that have shown off the church’s op shop and dinner, there are now regularly 250+ young adults connecting with Alpine Uniting Church every Monday evening. You would think to pull off an operation of that size, Alpine Uniting must be a huge church… the dinner is in fact, largely run by a small group of mostly retired church members. They have partnered with grocery stores and local community groups to help. Another church group in the area contributes a big pot of soup every week as well, but it’s the core group that turn up week-in, week-out to cook, serve, and share the gospel with the young people of Thredbo and Perisher ski resorts. 

After dinner, for those who wish to, the church sanctuary is set up as a chapel with some soft music playing and candles for people to light and pray. Then a short Gospel presentation is given with an invitation for prayer or to chat about life with those who would like that. Throughout the evening we were there, 60 to 70 young people came through the chapel space, about 20 of whom heard scripture read – some for the first time. 

The Young Adults who went down from Sydney and Canberra to experience the night have come back inspired and fired up for what ministry can look like in their own settings. They were invited to spend the night primarily connecting in conversation with the young people who attended. Somerset Drayton summarised some of their initial thoughts. “There were a wide range of people present at the soup dinner – those who needed a meal, those who craved connection or even just the convenience. A huge variety of people came from not only the local area, but all over the world! It was interesting to see the diverse range of spiritual and non-spiritual people. We tried talking to as many people as possible to get a diverse range of conversations.”

When asked what surprised them about the weekend, Ella Evans said “People find so much value in that church and its service. Not only did the people that attend have so much gratitude for the services being provided, but they were there to get the most out of the experience.” The rest of the group reflected that “The openness to spirituality – regardless of faith background – within the vast group that were there, was a big surprise.”

The car trip home was full of vibrant conversation of all the things the group would do if they had the opportunity to spend a whole snow season there, and the amazing opportunities for ministry an environment like that creates. In reflecting on the experience as a whole, they said it was “Great to get out of the ‘Sydney Bubble’ and experience other corners of the uniting church,” to “connect with other churches and interact with the communities they have built around them,” and to “see what is possible, even in communities that don’t have a minister in placement.”

It was both wonderful to be a part of, and inspiring to come home having experienced a church community that has looked at their local area and asked what they can do to connect and serve the young people around them. Maybe this can be an inspiration for all of us as we consider the opportunities for blessing and serving our world God has already placed at the doorsteps of our congregations. 

David Toogood