Vibrant ministry in our most rural communities

By Bindy Taylor
Communications Manager & Editor-in-Chief

Posted Jul  8, 2016 in Faith

The township of Cummins, situated on the Lower Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, is a vibrant and picturesque farming community. A place where you can leave your car unlocked or step outside the house and run into a familiar face.

For remote rural locations such as Cummins, the Church plays an important role in nurturing and gathering community together, particularly in farm settings where isolation is inescapable.

The Uniting Church SA Moderator-Elect, Rev Sue Ellis (pictured left) has worked in ministry in the Western Eyre Parish for the past two years. In this role, she has supported local farm families and church communities located in Cummins, Yeelanna, and Lock. After bushfires devastated the region in 2005, a new worshipping community, “Cornerstone”, was birthed at Cummins in 2008. After a couple of years of operation, the worshipping community dissolved and the regular Cummins Uniting Church congregation began to reduce in size. But the elders of the church felt God was assuring them they would grow again.

Over the past six months, Sue, Ann Challinger (a church elder), and Scott and Mary-Anne Mickan (leaders from Yeelanna Uniting Church who felt called to help the ageing Cummins congregation) formed a leadership team to explore what a new worshipping community in Cummins might look like.

“As we explored scriptures together we saw that God was going to bring back people who had gone from this church for one reason or another. Together with God we planned to offer a more relaxed space for people to explore what faith means to them,” says Sue.

“We decided to keep the Cummins Uniting Church name but theme it ‘New Beginnings’. The theme of a charred stump shooting forth new leaves was chosen as a symbol of what the community was doing.”

The first service for New Beginnings took place on Sunday 15 May. The leadership group had been planning the day for many months, and launched the service with a dramatic performance that captured the way God has been working to build a new church through the Holy Spirit. The drama re-enacted parts of the church’s history, including the laying of the first stone on 8 May 1912 and the work of the former Cornerstone church plant.

Sue preached from Ephesians for the inaugural service, choosing to focus on life in Christ – a topic strongly tied to the hopes of the leadership group at New Beginnings.

“We hope those who attended the opening service will share their experiences and people will return or come along to this new church,” says Sue.

With Sue’s placement at Western Eyre coming to an end, she reflects on both the work she has helped to achieve and the work which still needs to be undertaken in the region.

“I have seen God’s hand in the development of these local ministries. The congregations that I have been serving are great examples of resilience in rural communities, particularly rural communities of faith,” says Sue.

“The Yeelanna congregation is a large vibrant congregation whose nurturing supports people like Scott and Mary-Anne to come out and begin new things in ministry like New Beginnings in Cummins.

“Yeelanna is currently exploring ways of being supportive of one another in family groups. An exciting project which the congregation’s elders are leading.

“Meanwhile in Lock, the congregation continues to care for themselves in a fresh ecumenical relationship with the Lutheran Church and to offer care to their community.”

The emphasis each of these congregations has on “every member ministry” will help them to grow and thrive, even once Sue completes her work with them.

“God does not need me to continue God’s work in these three rural churches,” Sue states. “God has excellent people equipped for ministry. Just as I have been called to a new role, God is also in the process of calling someone else into this vibrant community, which loves to serve Jesus and wants to progress the life of the Kingdom he brought.”

This article was first published in the June/July print edition of New Times.

---

Comments

Write comment