Since I have just caught up with all my emails, I noticed a distinct lack of information from other Synods.
The Northern Synod met from Sunday Sept 27 till Wednesday Oct 1 and I've noticed that most of the minutes etc are available on the website http://www.ns.uca.org.au/Synod/Synod2003_intro.htm It might be of interest to note that at least 3 'Insight'ers where present. I know of only 3 by the fact that I have seen contributions from the other 2, that is Tom Stuart and Andrew Watts. Tom was up to lead a workshop on his Village ministry work at the Pilgrim Presbytery which met on the Friday and Saturday before Synod. For those that don't know the Northern Synod is a geographical area encompassing the whole of the Northern Territory, the top of Western Australia across to Broome and Derby and the top of South Australia. It is made up of just 2 Presbyteries, the Pilgrim Presbytery of Northern Australia (PPNA) and the Northern Regional Council of Congress (NRCC). These Presbyteries share the same geographical area as the Synod with the Pilgrim Presbytery being all non-indigenous congregations and the NRCC being all the indigenous congregations. The Synod web site states that there are 16 congregations ,including 2 Patrols, within the PPNA and some 25 communities represented on the NRCC. Currently within the PPNA there are about 5 congregations without Ministers, including 2 in the Darwin area. Synod was a great opportunity to get together and share about the dreams, visions and also the frustrations of being church in geographical isolation. One great story came from the Derby UC which sent it's entire congregation to Synod as it's representative, yep that's right Derby UC has only one member. She shared the frustration of watching a Church dwindle as people left the town and also the challenges of combining with the Anglican Church when at times the Anglican leadership outside of Derby was seemingly opposed to a combined congregation, and how now she worships with the local NRCC community fellowship and has grown greatly from the experience. She has rejoiced with the installation of Andrew Watts to the West Kimberley patrol (Andrew I hope that's what your ministry there is called) as it means there is now another UC person in the Town. Synod has a very different flavour from other Synod's, I noticed the NSW Synod has some 500 members. Northern Synod had around 80 people, 8 groups of less than 10 although it's hard to count since sometimes the numbers changed from session to session depending on health etc. Some associated members where there to provide language support to the NRCC members. For myself as a non-indigenous Australian, Synod was a great opportunity to spend time discussing issues and sharing stories with my brother's and sisters from the NRCC in one-on-one situations. This was greatly enhanced with the 'Confronting Racism' workshop that was held throughout the Synod meeting. That is we would have a session of business, followed by a meal break of some description and then a workshop session before another meal break and then back into a business Session and so on. The best example of how Synod worked, in that while people had different views on certain issues the issues were discussed in an attitude of loving acceptance of the people and seeking to reach a common understanding, was when Synod Proposal 84 and the Resolutions of each of the Presbyteries. Certainly I expected some fireworks, some heated debate, but surprisingly the whole issue was dealt with in a spirit of peace and love, the Presbytery resolutions or statements where noted and added to the minutes un-opposed and then a proposal and with minor amendments was passed as a Resolution, the wording of all of that part of Synod can be found at http://www.ns.uca.org.au/Synod/Synod_Resolutions/Syn_Res_One.htm So there you go, some Synod news from another part of the UCA. God's love and peace be with all of you in all that you do. Andrew Swenson ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
