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17th ASSEMBLY
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This is my Uniting Church

Gawler Uniting Church

October 24, 2023

In this new regular series we're excited to be telling some stories of our local congregations and communities of faith - the beating heart of the Uniting Church!  Find our growing hub of stories here.
 
This week we join Family Connections Worker Kaitlyn Phillips to hear a small part of the 170-year story of Gawler Uniting Church. Gawler is north-east of Adelaide, on the lands of the Kaurna people.

"God is at work through the family growth in the area, people’s openness to big questions, and community involvement through the church"

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What’s one thing that makes your community unique?

Gawler is the largest regional centre in South Australia with significant housing development growth planned over the next 10-15 years. Because of this, we are seeing a need for family-based community.

On a Sunday, we offer our families a safe space for their toddlers, our primary school-aged program Kingdom Kids, our youth-aged program Awakening and an intergenerational service every 5th Sunday. Additionally, our playgroup, First Steps, runs every Thursday morning during the school term and continues to be a blessing for our community, with attendance of up to 70 people per week.

Where do you see God at work in your community?

God is at work through the family growth in the area, people’s openness to big questions, and community involvement through the church and wider family ministry areas.

What are the intercultural and/or intergenerational aspects?

We plan for intergenerational services every 5th Sunday which involves people of all ages in the services. Our young people love the opportunity to be involved in church services in all aspects and we find it is a great opportunity to encourage some of our older congregation members to get involved where they normally wouldn’t. Our congregation enjoy worshipping in a way that honours the eras, with songs from the 1900s, 2000s, and from more recent times.

We also run one of the largest playgroups in the northern suburbs on a Thursday which involves parents/caregivers of a variety of ages and families with a variety of backgrounds. We are excited to go “around the world” in term 4 as our playgroup families share with the children their backgrounds and cultures.

What are some of the challenges you are facing?

Encouraging our playgroup families to take the next step in faith by attending church and finding volunteer capacity to provide our young people with unique opportunities to strengthen their faith.

What can the rest of the church pray for you and your community?

That lives will be transformed with the good news of Jesus through our family ministries.