Friday 29 May 2015

Moderator Comes to the West Part 2


Receiving a precious hand-made quilt at Griffith
Last week I talked about the things that small congregations in the Riverina wanted to share with the Moderator and this blog I'd like to focus on what the Moderator shared with us.

Myung Hwa is an extremely vivacious and bright person (Hwa in her name apparently means "bright" and it certainly suits her) so it was extremely easy for people to talk with her and also to share her wisdom. Conversations were always lively and often with a lots of laughter.

With Members of Coleambally church (with the sun streaming through the trees)

The visit was not only designed to highlight the good and bad of the being Church in remote NSW but also to bring encouragement to the small congregations. For those who don't live in remote areas it is hard to understand just how encouraging it is when someone like the Moderator of the Synod makes an effort to come and visit. In more than one place someone said to me, "this has been such a tremendous boost for us". It is often easy to feel forgotten, especially if you are not all that big.

Barellan Congregation

The other advantage of the visit was that Myung Hwa was able to bring some of the "big picture" perspective with her. She shared her vision for the Synod which is that we have a strong sense of social justice and that we are addressing the issues in our communities. For many of the congregations that we visited this confirmed the direction that they were heading in and gave enormous encouragement to keep going.

Talking with Church Members at Griffith
So thank you Myung Hwa for giving up your time to come visit and for working so HARD while you were here. We hope you've had time to recover!


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