Presbytery of Gippsland 1 KEY CHALLENGES The Presbytery and congregations across Gippsland continue to face a number of challenges. These include an increase in the number of part-time placements (as the ability of congregations and clusters to fund full-time placements continues to diminish) and an increase in the time it takes to fill ministry vacancies (which is impacted by a decrease in the number of ministers who are available for ministry placements in regional and rural areas). 2 STRATEGY AND MISSION Over the past year or two, the Presbytery of Gippsland has created a Mission and Strategy document. The Presbytery s strategy has the main objective of revitalising the Mission Areas of the Presbytery to encourage people to work together in Mission Area gatherings to share the good news of Christ, to listen to the call of God, to discover each other s gifts and to re-imagine the church in their context. 3 LEADERSHIP During the past 18 months, the Presbytery of Gippsland leadership has seen some major changes in personnel with Presbytery Minister Mission and Education Rev Philip Liebelt departing from Gippsland in November 2014 to return to congregational ministry in another Presbytery, and Chairperson Rev Ivy Goodwin standing down from the role in July 2014 due to the illness and subsequent death of husband Morris. Mr Robert Gaulton and Mr Robert Kiddell stepped in to share the role of Chairperson for the remainder of 2014 with Rev Jim Murray appointed as Chairperson from 2015. Jim has generously agreed to continue in the role for another two years. We were pleased to welcome new Presbytery Minister Pastoral Care, Rev Sani Vaeluaga, in November 2014 and have been greatly assisted by Rev Dr Des Parker taking up Supply (part-time) as Presbytery Minister Mission and Education from November 2014 until end of March 2016. The role remains vacant. Mrs Wendy McDonald (Pastor) has continued in the role of Presbytery Minister Administration and Presbytery Secretary. The Standing Committee and Pastoral Relations Committee carry out the bulk of the Presbytery s work. The Presbytery also has a Property Committee, an Education Committee (recently strengthened and re-branded the Mission and Education Committee), a Nominations Committee (which meets as needed) and tasks groups including the Applicants and Candidates Task Group, an IT Task Group and a Social Justice Task Group. 4 DISCIPLESHIP The Presbytery has continued holding four Presbytery in Council meetings each year (usually on the first Saturdays in February, May, August and November) and these are held at Traralgon as the geographic centre of our Presbytery. At these gatherings we have had a range of people leading worship; we have welcomed a number of guest speakers from partners such as UnitingCare Gippsland, from UC Camping, from chaplaincies, and from Synod and Assembly. Presbytery of Gippsland report to June 2016 Synod Section H1 H1.1
We have continued to hear Presbytery Snapshots where congregations and clusters present briefly on highlights and challenges in their contexts, with the addition from November 2015 of reports from Mission Area meetings following their re-establishment. 4.1 Candidates for Ministry During the past 18 months Presbytery members have enjoyed hearing from, supporting and journeying with our three former ministry candidates, Wendy Elson, Veronica Bradley and Ray McCluskey, all of whom are now ordained and ministering in other presbyteries. We currently have another ministry candidate, Ms Joedy Meers, who was accepted as a Candidate at the Selection Conference in September 2015, and we have one other person currently undergoing a Period of Discernment. Retired minister Rev Deacon Judy McLeod heads up our Applicants and Candidates Task Group and assists the Presbytery in attending to the requirements around our applicants and candidates. 4.2 Lay Preachers Leading worship across the Presbytery is enabled in many places through a team of faithful Lay Preachers. This year we plan to re-establish the Lay Preachers network across Gippsland. There are currently a small number of Lay Preacher candidates in Gippsland. 4.3 Education Events Under the leadership of Rev Dr Des Parker and the Education Committee, the Presbytery has continued to offer a range of educational programs and events. In 2014 a retreat open to all Uniting Church members across the Presbytery was held at our Grantville Lodge campsite entitled The Right Dirt. This was led by Ruth Spierings and Geraldine Naismith from the Emmaus Spiritual Ministry. A session on Preaching Mark s Gospel was held in November led by Rev Dr Sean Winter, New Testament professor at the Centre for Theology and Ministry. In 2015 a session on Worship Leadership was held in April and one on Understanding the Sacraments was held in May. In June a major event entitled Winter Workout Being a Vibrant Church Growing in faith and hope was held. This event laid some valuable ground work towards creation of the Presbytery s Mission & Strategy document. This year, in February, we were pleased to welcome Moderator-Elect Rev Sharon Hollis to lead two days on Transition and Change for Gippsland Presbytery. 4.4 Camping The Presbytery has two campsites, one in the western end of the Presbytery at Grantville Lodge and the other at Lake Tyers in the east. The Presbytery employs a part-time Presbytery Resource Worker Camping who oversees two camp events each year. Connect Camp is held at Grantville Lodge in June (during the University break) for 16-25 year olds, helping young people who have moved from Gippsland for study or work purposes to reconnect with God and with each other. September Camp is held during the September school holidays at Lake Tyers each year for primary school aged children in Years 4-10. The Presbytery has been assisted for many years by faithful people who provide leadership, cook and help at the camp in a number of ways. However, leaders for these camps are becoming much harder to find in Gippsland and this remains a challenge. For the 2015 September Camp we greatly appreciated a number of leaders coming from the Next-Gen group in Presbytery of Gippsland report to June 2016 Synod Section H1 H1.2
the wider Synod. Around 40 campers attend September Camp each year. Numbers at Connect Camp are small, but we feel this is an important opportunity and is greatly valued by those who attend. 5 PARTNERSHIPS 5.1 UnitingCare Gippsland (UCG) The Presbytery continues to have a good relationship with the one agency in Gippsland, UnitingCare Gippsland. Presbytery Chairperson and Presbytery Ministers meet regularly with the CEO and for the past two years we have held a combined annual dinner where Presbytery Standing Committee members and members of the UCG Board meet for fellowship and a shared meal before holding their own separate meetings. Some time ago, the Presbytery and the agency introduced the chaplaincy role of Agency Minister, a position held by Rev David Howie until earlier this year. The Presbytery valued David s work with staff across the agency, helping them understand what it means to work in a faithbased agency. David was also able to provide valuable liaison between church and agency and led worship in a number of congregations. We look forward to planning together for the future of the role so it can continue. One challenge we are facing with the agency is uncertainty around the impact of the bringing together of all UnitingCare agencies under the one umbrella and how this will affect our relationship. 5.2 UC Camping The Presbytery appreciates the partnership with UC Camping at Grantville Lodge. Local church members sit on the Campsite Support Group and the Presbytery receives the annual report at a Presbytery meeting each year, which for the past few years has been delivered by Regional Manager Daniel Murray. During the past year, as local camp committees were reviewed, we have worked with UC Camping on changes to the Constitution and to the MOU with the Presbytery. 5.3 Frontier Services A significant amount of time and energy in the Presbytery over the past two years has been in dealing with the issues being faced by Frontier Services and the impact this has had on patrol ministry in this Presbytery. This has been one of our major challenges, with the Presbytery keen to continue the support that patrol ministry provides to people in remote rural areas places that often experience more than their fair share of natural disasters such as floods, droughts and bushfires, as well as the challenges that people living in remote rural Australia face every day. From this year the Presbytery now has one patrol ministry (down from two). This is based at Swifts Creek ministering to people in the former High Country Patrol area and parts of the former Snowy River Patrol area, with the Presbytery and Synod having taken over management from Frontier Services. We are encouraged in this work by the generosity of congregations in other places who have offered to contribute financially to this patrol to keep it on the road. 5.4 Ecumenical The Presbytery Chairperson and Presbytery Minister Pastoral Care meet regularly with the Anglican Bishop in the Diocese of Gippsland. We were saddened by the sudden and untimely death of Bishop John McIntyre in June 2014. In May 2015 we were pleased to welcome new bishop the Right Reverend Kay Goldsworthy into the role. Kay is the first woman to be elected as Anglican Bishop of Gippsland. Representatives from the Presbytery continue to meet regularly with Kay and we look forward to the opportunities this partnership will enable. Presbytery of Gippsland report to June 2016 Synod Section H1 H1.3
The Presbytery continues to have a number of cooperating congregations across its bounds including Neerim South and District, Croajingolong (in the far east) and KooWeeRup-Lang Lang (all Anglican/UCA) with the Cooperating Churches of Churchill-Boolarra-Yinnar a partnership of Anglican/UCA and Churches of Christ. The new document Weaving a new cloth which sets out the current framework for Anglican and Uniting cooperation, was the subject of some table group activities at a Presbytery meeting in 2015. Bishop Kay s installation was a week after the Catholic Church appointed Rev Patrick O Regan as the new Bishop of Sale. Rev Sani Vaeluega represented us the Episcopal Ordination and Installation of Patrick. 5.5 Rural Presbytery Ministers network The Presbytery Minister team has appreciated the opportunity to meet fairly regularly with our colleagues in other rural presbyteries to discuss common issues and ways to address them. We look forward to what opportunities the Rural Presbyteries Leadership Fund (established at the 2014 Synod) will enable. 6 RISK TAKING/NEW VENTURES The Presbytery continues to make available small amounts of money for Green Shoots Grants new or innovative ministries and mission endeavours. The Presbytery remains committed to wanting to provide ministry in the rapidly developing Growth Corridor which stretches from Pakenham to Warragul and beyond. Rev Alan Mathews served us faithfully and well in this role until his retirement in January 2015 and we look forward to appointing another person to this role. 7 MINISTRY MOVES People across the Presbytery of Gippsland and the congregation of St. John s Cowes were saddened by the sudden death of minister in placement Rev Rod Scoullar just after Christmas 2015. Rod served his congregation and the Presbytery faithfully and well and we miss him deeply. 7.1 Ordinations We celebrated the Ordination of Wendy Elson as a Deacon at Cowes in July 2015, the Ordination of Ray McCluskey as Minister of the Word at Traralgon in December 2015 and the Ordination of Veronica Bradley as Minister of the Word at Leongatha in January 2016. 7.2 Inductions Rev Temukisa Amituana i-vaeluaga was called to Traralgon District commencing 1 September 2014. Rev Jeff Dart was called to Mitchell River (Bairnsdale, Mitchell Valley and Paynesville) commencing 1 October 2014. Rev Sani Vaeluaga was called to Presbytery Minister Pastoral Care commencing 1 November 2014. Rev Bruce Wood commenced at Warragul 1 March 2015. Presbytery of Gippsland report to June 2016 Synod Section H1 H1.4
Rev Robyn Schaefer returned to Gippsland on 1 March 2015 after concluding ministry in another Presbytery and is currently awaiting placement. 7.3 Relinquishments Rev Philip Liebelt relinquished the role of Presbytery Minister Mission & Education in November 2014 and was transferred to the pastoral care of the Presbytery of Port Philip East. Rev Sue Stott relinquished her placement at Lakes Entrance in September 2014 and was called to Sale commencing 10 October 2014. Rev Alison McRae relinquished her role in ministry at Omeo-Swifts Creek and the High Country Patrol (Frontier Services) in December 2014 and was transferred to the pastoral care of the Presbytery of Western Victoria. Rev David Howie relinquished the role of Agency Minister UnitingCare Gippsland in December 2015 and was transferred to the pastoral care of the Presbytery of Yarra Yarra. Rev Rowena Harris relinquished ministry at Orbost and Snowy River Patrol (Frontier Services) on 20 December 2015 and commenced in the High Country Patrol on 1 January 2016. 7.4 Retirements Rev John Maynard retired 7/5/2014. Rev Alan Mathews retired from Growth Corridor Ministry 1/1/2015. Rev Chris Cohen retired from Warragul 16/2/2015. Rev Anne Honey retired from Traralgon 31/3/2016. WENDY McDONALD Presbytery Minister Administration and Presbytery Secretary Presbytery of Gippsland report to June 2016 Synod Section H1 H1.5