Adventures in Moruya

From Rev Duncan McDiarmid
Minister - Eurobodalla Uniting Church
and
Rev Andrew Smith
Presbytery Minister - Congregation Futures

Last week marked a key moment in Moruya’s adventure to be church in a different way that makes sense to people who do not have an experience of church.

The aim of the new service is to make it possible for the Moruya Uniting Church to provide a worshipful space where current participants in the Moruya worship service and newcomers can experience, explore and express being followers of Jesus (discipleship); in a way that makes sense to people who do not have an experience of the church.

Last week was the first Thursday gathering. They commenced in a spirit of developing ownership of the space for all the members. So, a soft opening was planned to allow folk to grow confidence and develop ways of being together in this new time and place. The change of place is to move from the traditional church building into the hall and gather around a table. The change of time is from Sunday morning to Thursday afternoon. In spite of the intention for that quiet start, there were three new attenders. 

Rev Duncan McDiarmid commented “We got about a third of the way through the liturgy and ran out of time! The engagement and presence of the folk in the space was something to see.  There is some heartache for leaving the 'church' space and for one regular who cannot gather with us at the new time.”

It sounds like Moruya is already heading in the direction of the commitment in the draft Presbytery Mission Plan to help each other grow connections with our local communities by expressing what we do in different ways to push into new territory of connecting with people in our local communities, as spaces to express and share our faith, and to discern and create new communities of faith that fit the local context. This is bound to be uncomfortable for us.