2026.06.14 Minister’s message
Dear Friends,
We are trying to take the opportunity to open ourselves up as a parish. We have covered so much ground with various votes to establish the union, a restructuring within the teams, new processes, a new minister, new service times... the change has been significant and not all of it has truly settled into place. However, through the exercise of the five-year plan we have attempted to start lifting our eyes to what is happening outside our restructuring and into the lives of the people in our congregations and across our parish. At our Stated Annual Meeting we took that to the next step, sharing and celebrating the grassroots and behind-the-scenes work that equip us to serve God in this time and place.
This week, we continue down that road as the whole eldership gather at 7:30pm on Wednesday in Orwell Church to share some of the missional aspects of our communities as well as hear from InTogether, a Perth Presbytery mission initiative which "aims to connect with and support families who have children with additional support needs". This lifting of our heads is important, not least because we believe that church has a wider purpose than simply its own survival; it is a gathering of people that seeks after God and joins in with the work of the Spirit.
The hard work that has been put into so many aspects of church life over the past few years, can now begin to bear its fruit as we recommit our attention to that which motivates us as a body, the things to which so many of you joyfully give of yourselves in service. "Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains." (James 5:7)
Every session and eldership meeting is an open one, so I invite you all to Orwell on Wednesday night, that we might collectively lift up our heads and look for the rains.
Every blessing,
Alex Johnson