OUR COMMUNITY NEWS FOR TODAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Kur Mag’s story

Neil Tolliday asked Kur Mag, who attends the morning services at Crossroads, about his early life.

“I was born in a small village near to the city of Bor, in South Sudan.  The village community and the people of the city of Bor are Christian, since the 1960s in conflict with the Moslem-majority government of Khartoum.

I had to go to Khartoum for foot surgery, and my wife Ayor and our five children came with me.  At that time, there was terrible persecution of the Christians of South Sudan; with many innocent people killed. With my family, we were able to escape by train from Khartoum into Egypt.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assessed us as eligible for refugee re-settlement, and in 2003 we came to Australia, firstly to Springvale.  That’s where I met good people of the Uniting Church, and I feel welcome in Crossroads Werribee, since coming here in 2008.

Our Sudanese Christian Fellowship on Sunday afternoons is small; our leader is Pastor Daniel.  We read the Bible, and sing and pray in Dinka language. Crossroads people are welcome to join us.

We look for closer worshipping companionship with the English and Lisu speaking congregations here, and we hope to join together at the Sunday morning worship service.

It is good to worship together, to sing and pray together.

Our Sudanese community is concerned for the welfare of our young people;  some have found themselves in trouble with the law; that makes me feel very sad.

Amongst the problems we have to face is the cultural difference between local Australian and Sudanese family discipline.  Our people are accustomed to strict rules for young people in the family;  I find it hard when I see the confusion which our young persons experience from permissive rules at school and in Australian society.”

Kur and Neil agree that we in the churches have a challenge and opportunity, to build understanding across the whole community of old and new Australians.

Saturday Take-Away Night (STAN)

First gathering will be on February 24, 6.30 pm, at Werribee Town Centre ‘Pop-Up’ Park (TBC). Contact Lynette Boyd

Annual Congregational Meeting

The Annual Congregational Meeting will be held on Sunday 25 February, after the worship service.  Copies of the annual reports will be available from 11 February.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who responded to our request for clean plant pots.  The response has been wonderful.  The pots are being stored at the Church.  If anyone needs pots for propagating plants for the plant stall, please see either Mary Dixon or Carmel Woodward after the conclusion of the service to collect the pots.  (Carmel Woodward)

Next OSLO

Sunday 25^th February at 12 noon. We are booked to go to The Phoenix Hotel , 22-30 Wallace Avenue. Point Cook. We enjoyed the meal we had there last year although they do not serve senior meals on a Sunday. But the prices we found were reasonable. So we look forward to meeting each other over a meal . Everyone is welcome. Pooling of transport works well so don’t hesitate to contact Elaine or Lorna as we need numbers for booking the tables.

News from Church Council

Church Council met on Wednesday evening, and it was the occasion for thanks and best wishes given to retiring members Rob Bradley, Kevin Edgar, Stacey Duckett, George Tomkins, and Paul Cochran.  Stacey also concluded her service as church cleaner and was thanked for her work.

The PCG, which has effectively become the Property Committee, presented a lengthy report through Ken Storey, and Salote Tupou, our Treasurer, presented an update on the 2017 financial statements, and taking into consideration that much of the capital works were paid from property sale proceeds, the operating surplus for the year is now just over $10,000.