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Presbytery Meetings 2025

29th of March 2025 (Moonta) & 25th of October 2025 AGM

Presbytery Meeting 12th October 2024 – Videos and Summary

We began the morning welcomed by Athelstone Uniting Congregation as they led us in a call to worship. Rev Tim Hein followed the time of music, with his talk on The Secret to Exponential Influence (Acts18:24-28). Rev Hein reflected on the characters of those mentioned in this passage; Apollos “charismatic leader” and Priscilla and Aquila who actually “showed Apollos the gospel”. Rev Hein asked the question, what kind of leaders do we need? Rev Hein shared that the secret to exponential influence, is not necessarily all about finding the “right” leader/minister but can be about “everyday ordinary” people going all in, who are willing to live as devoted followers of Jesus.

After this first session we enjoyed morning tea together, offering opportunities for connection across the presbytery. This led into the beginning of the formal meeting which was spread throughout the day. Due to a lack of quorum we were required to replace proposal 1 with:

“That due to the lack of quorum, the Wimala Presbytery Meeting 12th of October 2024 will follow the regulation 3.8.5 (noting we will not reconvene the meeting) that the business of the meeting may be conducted by those present in relation to the nominations. And that the budget will be officially voted on by the Wimala Standing Committee post-presbytery meeting.”

The opportunity to respond and ask questions was provided. This motion was accepted by the voting cards as an avenue for consensus without quorum. While we did not have quorum, cards were used to affirm the reports and nominations.

We welcomed Peter Lane back as our Presbytery Treasurer and Amy Duke as Presbytery Secretary. We thanked Bruce Ind, Rev Peter Trudinger and Pastor Sonia Armani for joining the Wimala Standing Committee. The Pastoral Relations Committee welcomed Pastor Gary Ferguson, Rev Geoff Tiller and Rev Wendy Prior to the team.

Following on from this business; we heard from Matt Wilson, Manager of the property services team, who provided us with very useful and welcomed information of matters surrounding property. His key theme, and the heart of the property team, was shared: that property should follow mission, meaning that the mission of a congregation is to be supported by the property not that the mission of the church is dictated by the property. He asked the question: does the property support the mission/purpose of the congregation who are using it? Matt is willing for us to share the power point for those interested (please send Amy Duke an email) and we will be sharing the video on the Wimala website in the next month or so. Matt encouraged people to contact the property team with questions http://sa.uca.org.au/property-services

Phone:(08) 8236 4200 Email: property@sa.uca.org.au

After lunch, the financial report was shared as proposal 4. And while the budget will be passed by the standing committee at the next meeting, there was opportunity provided to ask questions.

We then spent time together, ‘Hearing from our Presbytery’. Jaquie and Gwen, from the Village Church Alberton, gave us a word of encouragement, sharing their history and transition of change within their community and congregation. Rev Peter Trudinger, Brett Francis and John Secombe shared their journey of congregation collaboration across Kimba and Morialta UC. They provided insights into the ease of use accessing live online services through to the technicalities of being the “broadcasting” congregation. We heard about the joys of collaboration between “city and country folk” and engaging in one another’s lives.

Paul Turley provided an update on the work of Mediacom. The information about Liturgy Learning and Life, L3, can be found here: L3 (liturgylearninglife.com).

Rev Paul Goh provided an update about the pilot project Awaken Adelaide: Neighbourhood Mission project and reflections from a few of the participants from within the Wimala Presbytery (Rev Ann Phillips and Rev Olly Ponsonby). Does this sound like something you might light to be involved in? Expression of Interest can be accessed via the button below.

Next we celebrated those who had completed their PoDs (Emelia Haskey and Dan Phan) and those who completed Phase Three (Rev Ann Phillips).

Dan Phan shared his recently funded project, supported by the Wimala Presbytery, which is looking at the ways which second generation young people connect with Christianity and the Uniting Church.

Sporting her own wonderfully selected op shop clothes, Rev Rebecca Purling shared about her thesis and the positive outreach opportunities that church run op shops can have in our community, as well as for those members in the congregation who deliver op shops. 

Following afternoon tea, Rev Dianne Holden encouraged us to consider what it looks like to work together. She spoke of Hebrews 12: 1-3, encouraging us to run the race of endurance, keeping our eyes on Jesus. This launched us into our final group session which allowed us to choose two of the three topics for hearty discussion:

–       Steps towards partnerships between congregations

–       Flourishing and Renewal

–       Congregational Resourcing

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Presbytery Meetings

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Full Agenda and Reading Materials

Agenda, Program and Reading Material for Presbytery Meeting held 13 April 2024

Summary of the meeting

(these are not meeting minutes)

Our Presbytery Meeting began with the induction of Rev Dianne Holden as the Wimala Presbytery Chairperson. We thank our visitors joining us in the morning as we celebrated the welcoming of Di and lifted our voices worshiping our maker. After the formal proceedings, we heard from Dianne as she shared of her calling to the Chairperson role and her hopes as we discover opportunities and new ideas together.

After morning tea we received an update from the Moderator, Rev Peter Morel. He shared his reflections on the Moderator role thus far, detailing some of his functions such as preaching, leading a number of commissioning and also the opportunity to share Christ’s love in his Christmas and Easter online videos with the wider community. Peter shared his particular highlight of participating in the wider church community, visiting at numerous aged care facilities and speaking at school events. Peter concluded his message, reminding us of the 15th anniversary of the preamble of the constitution and the 30th anniversary of the covenant with the UAICC. He encouraged us to consider the past, where we are now and where we are going into the future.

Wimala Youth Update: We received a rather jubilant update from Rev Rebecca Purling and Rev Ruthmary Bond of their Summer Youth Day and Easter Youth Day. They informed us of plans to review and consider a “rhythm of life” which would determine regular youth events going forward. We were encouraged by their attitude towards action and their call for additional volunteers in the future. Please reach out to Rebecca or Ruthmary if your community is interested in being involved.

Uniting College Opportunities: Dr Rosemary Dewerse shared a gamut of learning possibilities available to those interested in starting off their learning journey at the college, or to update their knowledge in particular areas. Dr Dewerse noted courses such as the Community Ministry Pathways, Arrow Leadership and Supervisor training. A particular interesting note was that when a student of the College, participants have access to over 400,000 books and ebooks. But community members can also sign up to the library and access over 67,000 books, journals and ebooks. Our Library – Uniting College for Leadership and Theology (https://unitingcollege.edu.au/about/adelaide-theological-library-atl/)

After lunch Rev Paul Turley thanked Trevor Phillips for his dedication to the Presbytery in the formation of the Wimala Presbytery on our behalf. And Rev Leanne Davis led us in prayer for Trevor and his next chapter.

We then heard from Paul and Leanne about their regional work and received the encouragement to “keep at it” while also listening to our inner voice and the whisper of the holy spirit in knowing when it is time to stop, which may bring about new opportunities.

We received an apology from Dr Craig Mitchell who had intended to provide a CMLA update. Due to this absence, Rev Geoff Tiller took the opportunity to update the Presbytery on the work of the Ecumenical Relations Committee. Geoff invited the Presbytery to share their ecumenical work across denominations, encouraging us to consider the “uniting” of people in our regions.

The Chairperson of the Uniting Foundation Grants Committee, Leesa Story, showed us a clip about the Foundation and grant opportunities. There were three areas that Leesa wanted us to take back to our congregations:

1. From all of the applications for grants, only one congregation from Wimala applied last year. Please apply!

2. Criteria has changed. The requirement for leadership to be 50% of the grant has been removed. Please check the criteria and apply!

3. If your congregation isn’t at a stage where they are planning new opportunities or initiative, remember that Uniting Foundation can receive donations and bequests. The information is all on the website. UCA SA – Uniting Foundation (https://sa.uca.org.au/uniting-foundation/)

Thank you to Uniting Technology for filming our meeting which we will be able to share. And to the Woodville Uniting Church (and their volunteers) for caring for us and donating their time to support our meeting.

The final session of the day opened up great discussion and opportunity to feed back into the Presbytery. We invite congregations to consider and provide their own responses if they would like.

Introduction from Chairperson Rev Dianne Holden. As chairperson, and as the Presbytery Standing Committee/Pastoral Relations Committee we take our roles of oversight and caring for the life and mission of the congregations and agencies within our bounds very seriously. As we enter a new phase of our Presbytery life and build on the firm foundation of the year’s past, looking to what “new thing” God might be calling us all into, we are going to take some time to consider 4 key things within our life together. Digital and media, communication, Presbytery Gatherings and renewal.

Videos
Full Agenda and Reading Materials

Agenda and reading materials can be found here: Agenda, Program and Reading Material for Presbytery Meeting held 28 oct 2023

Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes can be found here: Minutes Presbytery Meeting held 28 October 2023 CONFIRMED

Videos

Video Clips from the Presbytery Meeting:

  • Act2 Update from Linda Driver, click here
  • The Wimala Great Debate, click here
  • Rev Philip Gardner’s update, click here

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Wimala Standing Committee Decisions

The Wimala Standing Committee meet regularly once a month. This generally occurs on the second Wednesday of the month. We share the decisions from these meetings to our Presbytery and are able to provide the minutes upon request. If you would like to receive the minutes please send your request to the Presbytery Secretary secretary@wimala.org

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