Just over a month ago, we asked our members to consider serving our community as a Lay Reader. We were delighted and overwhelmed by the response with over 10 members offering to consider becoming a Lay Reader. In preparation, Anna Schubert, Pastor Dale Gosden, Pastor Geoff Burger, Pastor Neil Stiller and Pam Mickan met to discuss how best to provide information, mentoring and support to this group. On Tuesday 15th August, those interested met with the support team, and so we began the process of sharing, providing information and support to the team of potential Lay Readers.
Our first Lay Reading services will be on Sunday 27th August and then again on 3rd September. More will follow, approximately fortnightly.
At this stage due to being unable to secure the pastors for all of our worship services, at times lay read services will occur in successive weeks for both services and then at times we may have a few pastors in succession. Pastor Geoff and Pastor Neil have kindly offered to provide Holy Communion for now, when they are available for lay read services.
We will be formally recognising our lay readers at both services on Sunday 10th September. Please come to encourage and support them.
Anna Schubert has been providing incredible administrative support and working above and beyond to ensure our community is serviced well through worship services. Each week, Anna will, as she already does now, recommend songs in collaboration with the band, put together the Service Orders and PowerPoints, organise and provide information to chaperones, bible readers, organise the prayers, musicians and children’s’ address volunteers plus a lot more. A heartfelt thank you to Anna.
From Tuesday 5 September, the St John's Unley Church Office hours will change. The Office will now be open:
TUESDAY, THURSDAY and FRIDAY 9.00am-5.00pm
The Church Office will be CLOSED on Mondays, Wednesdays.
There is an answering machine available for phone messages, and you can email the Office anytime: office@stjohnsunley.lca.org.au
Come and be part of the Christmas Tree Marketplace on Saturday 9 December. Current stalls are: cake, craft, plants, candles, cards, treasures, BBQ, drinks. Looking for a few more stalls to make the day an interesting and exciting day. If you’re interested, contact Audrey Burger via the Church Office
This is a summary of some key dates in the St John's community this year. Check the News or Upcoming Events tabs for more details as the dates get closer.
Sat 23 Sept: Quiz Night
Fri 13 Oct: Pregnancy & Infant Loss Service
Tues 31 Oct: Light up Halloween
Sat 4 Nov: Women's Retreat
Sun 5 Nov: All Saints Day
Sun 12 Nov: High Tea
Sun 19 Nov: Half-Yearly Meeting
Thurs 7 - Sun 10 Dec: Christmas Tree Festival
Find & follow St John's Lutheran Church, Unley now also on Instagram!
stjohns_lutheran_unley
Pastor Andrew recently completed a sermon series on the theme of Stewardship and shared a wonderful resource called the "Stewardship: The Whole of Life" which we can use to reflect on the various areas of our lives and how they fit together. For us the segments of the wheel radiate out from the hub, which is our relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” – Romans 12:1,2
- Masks are encouraged in indoor public places
- We still encourage good hand hygiene and physical distancing
- Please do not attend Church or other events if you are unwell
The St John's Business Directory is a list of businesses owned by the members of St John's Unley.
We invite our community to support these businesses.
If you would like your business added to the directory, please email the church office.
GROWING FAITH AT HOME is a weekly lectionary-based resource to help your households live, share and celebrate faith together each and every week!
- Looking for a way to link Sunday worship with household faith formation Sunday to Sunday?
- Want to provide resources to help parents and grandparents pass on the Christian faith in their homes?
A resource that connects weekly congregational worship with the faith life of the home.
Where does GROWING FAITH AT HOME come from?
GROWING FAITH AT HOME is developed by the Lutheran Church of Australia department, Grow Ministries
Is GROWING FAITH AT HOME only for families with children or youth?
People of all ages can use the devotional resources (Bible readings, prayers, blessings) in their personal or couple ‘quiet times’.
Small groups, ministry teams and committees can also benefit from using the Faith Talk questions for spiritual reflection and focus.
Using GROWING FAITH AT HOME to its full potential requires more than simply photocopying the resources and distributing them to select households. It has proven to be of most benefit when reinforced through Sunday worship, promoted to households on an ongoing basis and supplemented with practical teaching and training.
A Congregational users guide and Home user's guide have been developed to help you introduce the resource to your congregation and support its use over time.
If you would like to know more about mentoring, check out the Mentoring Equipping documents here.