Congratulating new Act2 Appointments
October 25, 2022
Images: Rev Erik Lennestål (left) and Rev Cyrus Kung (right).
The Assembly is delighted to announce the appointments of Rev Erik Lennestål and Rev Cyrus Kung to the Act2 Project Unit.
Rev Erik Lennestaal has been appointed Act2 Project and Research Officer, a key role that will support the Act2 Project to gather and interpret the insights of the wider Uniting Church and shape opportunities for collective discernment.
Erik is an ordained minister in the Uniting Church in Sweden, founded just last decade as a broad union of Swedish Methodists, Baptists, Mission Covenant Church and Salvation Army. Since returning to Australia after some years spent in his native Sweden, he has been worshipping at Eastwood Uniting Church in Sydney.
Erik is a highly skilled communicator, collaborator and researcher. He brings more than a decade of experience in transformative change management, strategy, business analysis and project management across a variety of contexts.
He was a strategic change manager and analyst for a major organisational change project of the Salvation Army Australia which created a revised national structure. Erik also conducted a detailed national review of the Salvation Army’s Reconciliation Action Plan.
As a senior minister in the Uniting Church in Sweden he has been an innovative, collaborative and empowering leader of local church communities. For three years he belonged to a regional team that focussed on community change, leadership and pioneering ministry.
Erik thrives on engaging with people in a wide array of contexts and has lived, studied, and worked in six different countries and is multilingual. He brings impressive qualifications in theology, pastoral leadership, business, facilitation, project administration, systems management and linguistics.
Rev Cyrus Kung will take up the role of Act2 Administration Officer. Cyrus is a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church and brings wide-ranging skills in general administration systems and technologies, project coordination and volunteer management.
Cyrus was previously Print and Digital Production Coordinator/Administration Officer with Mediacom Education, where he oversaw large-scale administration and communications processes, graphic design work and the preparation of edited publications.
He was also the Administration Officer with Tabor College in Adelaide, and the Relationship Coordinator for Surrender Conference Adelaide where he managed a team of volunteers and facilitated engagement with the community.
As a Uniting Church minister Cyrus also brings theological and pastoral skills and qualifications, and a great understanding of Uniting Church’s identity. He has held a diverse range of ministry roles in congregations and communities with an emphasis on intercultural and intergenerational engagement. He is a Panel Member for the Assembly’s Being a Multicultural Church Circle, and was recently involved in a research project that mapped CALD and intercultural congregations in the Synod of South Australia.
Both Erik and Cyrus will commence their roles in November.
The Act2 Project Unit was established by the Assembly Standing Committee (ASC) following the 16th Assembly this year. Under the leadership of the ASC and the Act2 Steering Committee, made up of people from across the national Church, it is responsible for the development and management of the Act2 Project and will play a key role in implementing the work commissioned by the Assembly.
The appointments of Erik and Cyrus to the Act2 Project Unit complete the team, joining Andrew Johnson as Act2 Project Lead and Bethany Broadstock as Act2 Communications Officer.
"I am excited to welcome both Erik and Cyrus to the team,” said Andrew.
"Collectively the team brings a breadth of insight and experience, across the diversity of the Uniting Church, in other Christian traditions, and the wider external environment. We are committed to supporting our Church to collectively discern our future together."
With the Act2 Steering Committee and Act2 Project Unit in place, the website for the Act2 Project will be relaunched on 1 November. Make sure you’re subscribed to National Update and following the Assembly on social media to get the news first.