team

Opportunities in Your Church

by

Belonging at St Nic’s

At St Nic’s we love and follow Jesus and so love and serve one another in kindness. Kindness originally links to the notion of kindred, a family relationship. This is expressed practically as the church body lives out its life together.

We are the Body of Christ 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, serving in our homes, at work and at play. This calling is more than just gathering on a Sunday. We express being kind to one another by offering lifts, sharing meals, praying for one another, shopping for those in need, and alerting our pastoral care team to more specific needs. It can also mean serving in a more formal role within the Church community.

Sunday Services

  • Welcomers: Welcoming guests and regular members on arrival with distribution of newsletter and assistance as required.
  • Children’s Ministry: Godly Play has roles for Storytellers and Doorpersons (see Karen D.)
  • Eucharist Assistants: help prepare for Eucharist and assist in serving during the service and cleaning utensils afterwards.
  • Sound: setting up and running appropriate sound for the various services we offer (see Alf H.)
  • Overheads: running the visuals on the overheads for the service (see Dannielle B.)
  • Worship: vocals, keyboard, guitar, drums, or possibly another musical talent not listed?
  • Readers: for reading the various readings during the service
  • Intercessions: leading our public prayers
  • Preaching and teaching: this requires training towards Licensed Lay Minister status.
  • Hospitality: Ensuring the availability of beverages and biscuits, assisting with cleaning up afterwards.

Blessing & Outreach

  • Op Shop volunteer (see Judy B.)
  • Little Lambs volunteer (see Barbara G.)
  • Lending Library (see Jan C.)
  • Wednesdays Dinners (see Verity M. or Kate H.)
  • Nourish Kids (see Carli K.): providing childcare for the Nourish Women’s group is an incredible blessing to the mums who attend and study God’s word together.
  • Parish Council: nominations will open in October for our 2019 Parish Council.
  • Mission Secretary: we are still in need of someone who is called to this position.
  • Alpha and other courses such as Boundaries: prayer for those who attend, and for Holy Spirit led invitations to people beyond our church community. Provision of hospitality or as a small group leader.

Small Groups Ministry

  • involvement in small groups
  • leading small groups: this requires discussion and oversight from the parish priest.
  • youth ministry: soon we will have a real need for a youth ministry to nurture and grow the faith of our older children.

General Operations

  • administration/ volunteering in the office (see Sophie P. or Ian C.)
  • assist our Site Management Team with maintenance and repairs of the church buildings and grounds, including the Historic Church (see Tony W.)

As a community we want to celebrate and acknowledge those who serve in these roles. By listing them here we can pray specifically for those areas in our church. If there is an area that interests you or you feel called into serving please speak to Rev Jamie or a team member.

Adapted from Opportunities in Your Church by St Nicholas Minster.

 

Parish Council Planning and Progress – Seeking God's Face

by

Last Saturday the Parish Council met to review our planning and progress over the past year and to consider next steps in our ministry together. Suzanne Saunders and I prepared an action plan review based on our planning from last year which addressed  all elements of our life together . It was an encouraging process  as we noted positive progress in so many areas.

We considered our context for mission and noted that we were perfectly aligned to the diocesan vision for mission which is

To see each of our Parishes and Anglican Communities transformed into ministering communities in Mission, where every member is valued and recognises that by virtue of their baptism, they have an important ministry to perform as a part of the Body of Christ, the Church.

To see each of our Parishes and Anglican Communities develop strategies that will enable the Holy Spirit to empower them to engage more effectively in the mission and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ: and so aid the growth of His Church and people throughout the Diocese.

The overall framework for our discussion was Mission. The areas we reviewed were Seeking God’s Face in prayer, leadership development, our current church community and pastoral care and nurture, preparing our church to welcome new members, small multiplying groups, youth ministry, children’s ministry, Sunday services, Safe church, ministry beyond our home base, communication within and without the parish, pathways in faith including baptism, dedication and confirmation, worship team development. Over the past year we have worked steadily on developing our admin including establishing a personnel committee, a site management team and clear job descriptions for both paid and volunteer positions and an annual review process.  With recent developments in our diocese we have also identified a need to inform and educate our church members so that we have a good understanding of our Anglican structures and wider governance such as synod, statutes and the roles of bishop, clergy and parish councils.

We finished our morning together considering how we might use our site missionally including the future use of the historic church building and the rectory.

Thank you for praying for the day as noted in our July Focus. I believe the fruitful and positive experience together was the fruit of this prayer cover.  We are considering how we might better communicate some of these things to the parish on a more regular basis. If you have any suggestions please speak to Suzanne Saunders or Karen Dennison in the first instance. We already have some ideas! Lastly thank you to the Parish Council for giving up time to meet, to pray and to plan together.

Shalom

Jamie

Meet the Team – Lois

by

This week we talk to Lois

Q1.  What roles and ministry do you serve in at St Nicholas?

I am currently the Safe Church Contact Person, a LLM position coordinating administrative aspects of safety for volunteers, Ministry leaders and the parishioners. I also help various ministry teams such as Alpha, worship, Op shop and the newly formed  Personnel committee.

Q2.  Have you always been a Christian?

My earliest memory is going to Church with my Grandma when I was 4, singing solos at the annual Sunday SchooI celebrations. I later joined the youth group at the Presbyterian church in Narrogin. As an adult it’s been a long journey trying to follow Christ, somewhat alone, as we moved towns often, juggling study, marriage, family and full time work. However when we moved to Australind in 2001  I found sense of belonging, a church family here at St Nics, allowing me to grow in understanding and faith and to make a firmer commitment to Christ. 

Q3.  What helps you daily with your walk with Jesus?

Finding time to be still, to listen and to seek. The estuary is such a blessing for this. 

Q4.  Favourite Hymn or worship Song?

I’m always singing in my head so I love all our choruses from Scripture in Song and old hymns but also welcome the new. The sung Psalm 23 will always be special.

Q5.  What do you enjoy doing?

Spending time with family is special. I also enjoy trying to keep fit and of course music and singing with others. 

Meet the Team – Joe

by
[siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget]

This week we talk to Joe Kaitani. 

Q1.  What roles and ministry do you serve in at St Nicholas?

Member of the Parish Council and worship group

 

Q2.  Have you always been a Christian?

Yes – through various denominations, I have remained a Christian all my life.

 

Q3.  What helps you daily with your walk with Jesus?

In simple terms – knowing that someone’s “got your back” is comforting and is a source of inspiration to face up to life’s daily challenges.

 

Q4.  Favourite Hymn or worship Song?

I have a few favourite hymns – Amazing Grace, Abide With Me, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehova, How Great Thou Art to name a few…

 

Q5.  What do you enjoy doing?

 

I enjoy watching sport – rugby union, rugby league, boxing and sports in general. I like gardening/working outside the home, travelling, camping and the outdoors.

'Meet the Team' Series

by

Ian Craig

With the lead up to the Annual Meeting of Parishioners we thought it would be a good idea to meet the team that serves our Church.  Not only will it serve to put a name to a face for new people in our church family but also to recognise the work that these people do. Our first team member is Ian Craig.  Ian has been involved in establishing the Calvary Welfare and Calvary Industries for the homeless, he has been a Senior Lay Canon and treasurer at St Boniface Cathedral and supported the Children and Youth Team there. His answers to the following questions are below.

Q1.  What roles and ministry do you serve in at St Nicholas?

I’m the Priest’s Warden, treasurer, administration and Licensed Lay Minister

Q2.  Have you always been a Christian?

I have always been a church goer, however in 1983 on Christmas morning I dedicated my life to Christ.  We were at the Church which is now Grace (Dream Builders) and everything fell into place that morning.  Not only did I dedicate my life but so did Fran and her Mother.  God blessed us that day.

Q3.  What helps you daily with your walk with Jesus?

Prayer time in the Shower!  Being with others and knowing that they are praying for you also.

Q4.  Favourite Hymn or worship Song?

Trust and Obey

Q5.  What do you enjoy doing?

I enjoy all the roles I serve in at St Nicholas but to unwind I love cross word and mind puzzles to keep my brain active.

P.S. Ian wants all AMP reports in