2015 Reports
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2015-AGM-Reports
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<strong>2015</strong> <strong>Reports</strong><br />
1
FORGING<br />
THE<br />
FUTURE<br />
Rectors Report<br />
This year has seen the growth of our parish numerically and missionally.<br />
We spent a number of months clarifying God’s vision for us.<br />
The Micah Movement provided the opportunity for us to share our<br />
dreams and determine to intensify our efforts to reach our district with<br />
the gospel. We spent the last few months discussing our core values so<br />
that we can unite around our common cause. Our vision is to so affect<br />
our district that 2,000 people are members of Dapto Anglican Church by<br />
2020. Those 2,000’s mission is to affect 20,000 people per year for<br />
Jesus.<br />
As 2016 dawns I need to acknowledge some of the people foundational<br />
to our parish. On the 20 th February Lyndall Bailey went to be with the<br />
Lord. She served three senior ministers in an organizational and<br />
administrative role. She did so much more. She coordinated the major<br />
building project of 2010 and our new auditorium is part of her legacy.<br />
Her service of us always had a pastoral emphasis. Many families were<br />
helped by Lyndall especially in times of bereavement.<br />
On the same day Scott Goode was inducted as Rector at South Wagga<br />
Wagga. For six years he served as an astute and compassionate pastor.<br />
Scott provided great support within the leadership team as a calm and<br />
project oriented thinker. He and his wife Natalie provided great<br />
personal wisdom and support to families. These disciples of Jesus have<br />
laid the foundations of our growth for the years to come.<br />
As promised, Children’s and Youth leadership returned to a full time<br />
basis in <strong>2015</strong>. We start 2016 with the biggest base of participants ever.<br />
Ian Morrison has expanded our ministries within the local primary<br />
schools with after-school clubs scheduled to commence at Koonawarra<br />
(weekly), and three others on a termly basis. Eliza Vesey is employed by<br />
the Preschool as our community liaison and her work amongst the preschoolers<br />
has continued to flourish. Pete Gold has led a transition in our<br />
youth ministries as we welcome an influx of new young people through<br />
StreetCrew and our high school ministries.<br />
Stephen Swanepoel, assisted by Christine Lane, coordinated the 7pm<br />
service and young adult ministries through a year of transition. Growth<br />
groups and their leaders are serving at the evening service and “After<br />
Hours” is providing increased opportunities for fellowship afterwards.<br />
Social programs are really starting to take off. John Batten and his team<br />
are reaching regular groups on the street each week. In 2016 Stephen<br />
2
FORGING<br />
THE<br />
FUTURE<br />
Rectors Report continued<br />
Swanepoel, Mark McGuire and Terry Raymond are looking to set up our<br />
own not for profit organization to increase our focus and maximise our<br />
ability to attract community support.<br />
<strong>2015</strong> saw a timely return to Dapto of trainees. Stuart Jansen and Gabi<br />
de Vries served as YouthWorks trainees and Linda Thompson started as<br />
a women’s trainee through Mary Andrews College. We aim for 20<br />
trainees to have been trained by the end of 2020.<br />
A number of people stepped up as Lyndall became ill. Hilary added the<br />
bereavement ministry to her coordination of weddings and baptisms.<br />
Stephen and Nikki Sullivan picked up a lot of carols organization. It was<br />
exciting to see Carols back on the showground as 4,500 people showed<br />
their support. Dave Langley has started volunteering in the<br />
management of our organisational systems. I look forward to extending<br />
that position in 2016.<br />
Parish Council laboured hard this year to clarify our core values and<br />
establish priorities for the next year including: The installation of solar<br />
power should occur at the Moombara centre in 2016 following an initial<br />
report by Rob Grimmett. The Op Shop will be moving into temporary<br />
storage and sorting in the lower hall as our whole parish undergoes a<br />
radical reorganisation of our storage requirements. The Café has turned<br />
around its trading results from 2014 and in the process has extended its<br />
training and development functions. It is exciting to see the work of<br />
April Eames as our first full time trainee and Jill Pearce has been<br />
honoured for her training work by Campbell and Page with a grant of<br />
$7,500 for 2016.<br />
Our church services have continued to honour God with great heart,<br />
creativity and accomplishment. Thank you to Dianne Whittaker who<br />
orchestrates our efforts along with our dedicated teams of service<br />
leaders, musicians and welcomers. Carol Stumbles aids in<br />
communication with the rosters and the Dooleys with coordinating<br />
hymns and prayers at 8 and 9.30.<br />
Finally I wish to thank our many members who minister across the great<br />
diversity of Dapto Anglican. The large and growing band of workers in<br />
ministry across all ages and stages is humbling to lead and inspiring to<br />
witness. God has placed us in extraordinary times with extraordinary<br />
resources and talents. Let us look with great expectation to what God<br />
will do in our midst in the future.<br />
- Stephen Semenchuk<br />
3
Wardens Report<br />
It was another year of encouragement and<br />
challenges in ministry at DAC. On the<br />
financial side, we ended 2014 with a deficit<br />
in our General Fund of around $11,200. It<br />
was with some concern that at the end of<br />
<strong>2015</strong> we also had a deficit, and it was closer<br />
to $11,800. However from 2014 to <strong>2015</strong><br />
our overall budget increased by 12.5% (or<br />
about $100,000). So in financial terms the<br />
size of what we do grew by 12.5% but the<br />
deficit grew by much less. Of course we<br />
cannot continue to operate under a deficit<br />
and the goal for the 2016 budget is to<br />
recover the deficits of the previous 2 years.<br />
However under God's grace our goal is to<br />
spend as much on ministry as we possibly<br />
can. The Micah Movement demonstrated<br />
that there are ample ideas and<br />
opportunities within our parish and<br />
beyond, and in many cases one key<br />
limitation is funding.<br />
One feature of our finances has been the<br />
need to refinance our building loan. It was<br />
held by the Glebe Administration Board,<br />
and was required to be<br />
renewed this year. The<br />
Glebe Board, an<br />
organisation run by the<br />
Diocese, also informed us<br />
that it was no longer<br />
handling these type of<br />
loans. As a result we<br />
applied and successfully<br />
refinanced the loan<br />
through Westpac.<br />
Through contributions to<br />
our building fund, from<br />
parish members, we have<br />
paid approximately $350,000 off the<br />
balance of the loan in the 3 years since it<br />
was first taken out. The outstanding<br />
balance is approximately $1.5M. Some<br />
more encouraging news is that the<br />
repayments have reduced from $15,500 per<br />
month to $9,735 per month, a reduction of<br />
$5,765 per month. We would love to retain<br />
the existing level of support to the property<br />
fund so that we can get ahead of<br />
repayments, reducing our interest and<br />
building up a buffer for the future. We are<br />
constantly thankful to God for the blessing<br />
of the new building and the opportunities<br />
for ministry that it opens up.<br />
As an ongoing part of our ministry at DAC<br />
we have said hello to some staff and<br />
goodbye to others. In all cases we have seen<br />
God working in the lives of the staff,<br />
teaching them and leading them to new<br />
challenges and opportunities.<br />
In <strong>2015</strong> the following people joined the<br />
team: Stuart Jansen (Ministry Trainee), Gabi<br />
De Vries (Ministry Trainee), Jamie McKenzie<br />
(Student Minister), April Eames (Café<br />
Trainee), Ian Morrison (Childrens' Minister),<br />
Linda Thomson (Women’s Ministry Trainee).<br />
Additions for 2016 include: Kelsie Hall<br />
(Ministry Trainee), Rick Miller (Assistant<br />
Ministry – Part Time), Jason McPhail<br />
(Assistant Minister).<br />
We also said goodbye to Scott Goode, Gabi<br />
De Vries and especially sadly, Lyndall Bailey<br />
who passed away earlier this year.<br />
-Simon Webb, Jim Bailey & Jason Bell<br />
4
Creative Arts & Special Services<br />
Creative Arts Ministry is a chance for us to<br />
explore the truth of who God is through many<br />
different art forms that stir our emotions and<br />
our soul. Dapto Anglican Church has had a rich<br />
history of the Creative Arts through music,<br />
dance, drama, videos, interactive activities and<br />
performances.<br />
In <strong>2015</strong> our music teams continued to serve<br />
God and his people and have recruited more<br />
people to step into serving and leadership<br />
roles. It is a wonderful ministry area that<br />
people can explore the gifts God has given<br />
them to encourage the Church through music.<br />
It is always exciting to see new musicians step<br />
into serving and older, wiser musicians decide<br />
it is time to serve God again.<br />
We are deeply saddened and excited by one of<br />
our key ministry team – Brendan Langley –<br />
moving to Sydney this year. He has been a vital<br />
part of our ministry area drumming at all<br />
services and many major events. He leaves a<br />
legacy of drummers that he trained to take his<br />
place and serve God.<br />
In <strong>2015</strong>, we continued with our special events<br />
aimed at sharing the truth of Jesus with our<br />
community in a relevant and interesting way.<br />
Good Friday:<br />
We focused on coming ‘Back to the Cross’<br />
completing our ‘Back to Church’ series where<br />
we encouraged our congregation to invite<br />
people who once had tried and experienced<br />
Church to come back and give it another go. It<br />
was service mixed with prayer, music and<br />
communion to encourage Christian and notyet-Christians<br />
about who Jesus is and why the<br />
Cross is so vital to our faith.<br />
Lake event to<br />
the Moombara<br />
Site as we<br />
focused on<br />
‘Super Saviour’.<br />
It was so<br />
exciting to see<br />
stalls, jumping<br />
castles,<br />
balloons and the Moombara site booming<br />
with activity that people from the Mall came<br />
over and asked what was happening. As<br />
always, wonderful to see the Preschool come<br />
along and perform at our Outreach event.<br />
23 rd Dec event:<br />
‘The Inside Out of Jesus’ – Bouncing off the<br />
children’s movie ‘Inside Out’ which came out<br />
on DVD in Nov <strong>2015</strong>, we focused our<br />
Christmas event on how different emotions<br />
(Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust & Fear) might<br />
react to Jesus’ life. The big book (Bible)<br />
dictated how the story flowed and showed<br />
not only Jesus’ birth at Christmas but His life,<br />
death and resurrection.<br />
Every Sunday and all of these events could<br />
not run without a committed group of gifted<br />
people in the Church who give of their time,<br />
energy and money to shine Jesus. Thank you<br />
to those who serve and see the value of<br />
Creative Arts Ministry in Church life.<br />
- Di Whittaker<br />
Easter @ the Lake: Due to rain leading<br />
up to Easter day, we moved our Easter at the<br />
5
Marriage<br />
Enrichment<br />
Report<br />
<strong>2015</strong> saw us run two 7<br />
week Alpha Marriage<br />
programs. Funding<br />
was obtained through<br />
the Federal<br />
Government’s<br />
Stronger Relationship<br />
trial which covered the<br />
cost of the entire<br />
course and made<br />
marriage enrichment<br />
accessible to anyone<br />
who wanted to come.<br />
8 couples attended a<br />
course mid year, run<br />
from The Café with a<br />
three course romantic<br />
meal. During term 3<br />
another 3 couples<br />
attended the 7 week<br />
course at the Goodes’<br />
home for a more ‘low<br />
key’ setting.<br />
St. Luke’s Cemetery Trust<br />
St. Luke’s Cemetery, continued to operate under the care of Lyndall<br />
Bailey. 18 Services were held, including included burials and ashes<br />
interred.<br />
Parish Council passed a motion to remove Lyndall Bailey from the<br />
Cemetery Trust when her health began to be a serious issue and placed<br />
Hilary Brown on the Trust.<br />
2016 will see the Trust meeting and some<br />
additional help from volunteers, to maintain the<br />
cemetery and assist with placement of<br />
memorial plaques and ashes.<br />
- Hilary Brown<br />
Dapto Schools Scripture Board<br />
The DSSB (Dapto Schools Scripture Board) is a combination of people<br />
from the different churches in Dapto. We exist to help facilitate SRE in<br />
our local high school.<br />
Last year we had a one day a week SRE in teacher (Jaimie Cass) in<br />
Dapto High and by halfway through the year we expanded to 2 days a<br />
week. We also held termly seminars for the whole school.<br />
There is currently no SRE in Kanahooka High and<br />
a number of meetings have been held to ensure<br />
SRE is established for 2016.<br />
- Pete Gold<br />
- Scott Goode<br />
DAC Getaway<br />
For the 6 th year in a row we returned to Lake<br />
Tabourie to run our annual DAC Getaway. The<br />
magic behind this weekend away is found in<br />
the ‘low key’ program that enables folk to<br />
choose their own accommodation needs, relax<br />
with their families and connect to one<br />
another. We held a church service each day<br />
with Jason and Paula McPhail talking to us<br />
about world mission and a<br />
Mission Simulation Game on<br />
Saturday evening was a real<br />
highlight. About 100 people<br />
attended this years event.<br />
- Scott Goode<br />
6
The Café Report<br />
The Café is the place to be! This is evident in<br />
the ongoing attendance with Mothers Groups,<br />
Probus, Preschool Families, ARV Group and<br />
Men’s Morning Tea Group, and the many<br />
other people who come into The Café either<br />
from our community or our own church family.<br />
We truly are blessed with such a wonderful<br />
facility, and The Café has a great reputation for<br />
its location, relaxed feel and food.<br />
In amongst this reputation is the ongoing work<br />
that The Café does with training Work for The<br />
Dole. I can’t stress the importance of this work<br />
that Jill and her team give to those long term<br />
unemployed. To build confidence, to teach and<br />
explain the importance of procedures and to<br />
help them understand how and what full time<br />
work looks and feels like is of such a huge<br />
significance. The downside of this training is<br />
that, many become employable and some<br />
become employable very quickly, so no sooner<br />
are they trained up than they seek<br />
employment and leave us. And the cycle<br />
commences again. What a great celebration<br />
and problem to have!<br />
The Café has also been a training and work<br />
experience for clients from Greenacres,<br />
Essential Employment & TrainingTafe Illawarra<br />
AMEP students, Campbell Page as well as for<br />
our own church family who want to learn<br />
about hospitality.<br />
Staff changes occurred in <strong>2015</strong>. April Eames<br />
had been volunteering in The Café from<br />
February through to June and it wasn’t hard to<br />
see her potential! In July April was offered the<br />
position of Trainee. This means April has on<br />
the job training while she completes her<br />
Certificate 3 in Hospitality. Jill has a handful of<br />
casual staff that are employed that continue to<br />
assist Jill in keeping the whole Café Team<br />
ticking over. Although there is minimal paid<br />
staff, The Café would not be able to operate<br />
without the help of our church family. We<br />
urge you all to prayerfully consider how you<br />
can help The Café.<br />
The Café has backed several fund raising<br />
activities including Sydney Children’s Hospital<br />
Randwick, Cancer Councils Biggest Morning<br />
Tea, September Gold Ribbon Childhood<br />
Cancers, Movember and others.<br />
The Café continues to do an outstanding job of<br />
catering for our church family functions as<br />
they arise, they also cater to private functions<br />
held in house and at other venues. So<br />
remember to keep it in mind if family and<br />
friends are having special events where they<br />
need catering.<br />
At this point we would encourage you to keep<br />
this ministry in your prayers before God.<br />
Thank God for:<br />
Opportunities to train up the unemployed<br />
To provide a friendly safe environment for<br />
many community groups to meet together.<br />
The great facilities we have been blessed<br />
with<br />
The opportunities provided to host events<br />
A ministry area in which to serve God and<br />
His people<br />
Jill Pearce and her team<br />
Ask God for:<br />
Refreshment for Jill and her staff team and<br />
volunteers.<br />
Provision of ongoing church members to<br />
step up and assist in this ministry area<br />
Ongoing opportunities to train the<br />
unemployed<br />
- Hilary Brown<br />
7
Dapto Community Carols<br />
Dapto Community Carols returned to Dapto<br />
showground in glorious sunshine in <strong>2015</strong>. We<br />
were blessed with a beautiful day, many<br />
selfless volunteers and a great God who made<br />
it all possible.<br />
Praise God that the people came, and let’s<br />
pray that the seeds that were sown will grow<br />
and bear fruit. 2016 will be even better – we<br />
need you to join us!<br />
- Nikki Sullivan<br />
We had around 5,000 members of our local<br />
community come to see Carols and hear about<br />
Jesus at Christmas. Our vision for Carols is for<br />
members of our local community to provide an<br />
event of high quality, which will do the<br />
following for our community audience:<br />
Provide quality entertainment<br />
Provide a safe community atmosphere<br />
where they can gather with friends<br />
Fulfil their desire to sing/listen to<br />
Christmas Carols in a manner that appeals<br />
to them<br />
Remind them that Jesus is the reason for<br />
Christmas<br />
The feedback received was that we achieved<br />
our goals. We had one of the best ever Dapto<br />
Carols, the Dapto community spirit was<br />
celebrated, the show was a success, the<br />
fireworks were brilliant and most importantly,<br />
the name of Jesus was proclaimed.<br />
We had our share of challenges with handover<br />
of key organising roles as well as significant<br />
hurdles both prior to and on the day. But our<br />
spirits remained high and God was good.<br />
8
Dapto Anglican Church Op Shop<br />
Committee Members: Stephen Semenchuk, Lyndall<br />
Bailey, Annaliza Wilkins, Mary Johnston, Carl and<br />
Lyn Cheetham.<br />
On behalf of our wonderful and dedicated team of<br />
volunteers (in excess of seventy), we are pleased<br />
to present the Op Shop Report for <strong>2015</strong>.<br />
Although our sales were marginally down from<br />
2014 and well short of our budget target, we have<br />
had a successful year and continue to support the<br />
various ministries and organisations as per our<br />
budget. We are grateful for the quality goods<br />
which we receive from a generous community.<br />
Praise the Lord!<br />
Our Shop again participated in the Patchwork,<br />
Papercraft and Art Show during September. Thank<br />
you Wendy Eagleton, Margaret McCauley, Lynne<br />
Newton, Leigh-anne Semenchuk, Margaret Sharp<br />
and Deborah Southwell for enabling us to raise<br />
additional funds and be involved in an event which<br />
is becoming increasingly popular in the Dapto<br />
community.<br />
A highlight for the year was an afternoon in The<br />
Café for our volunteers. Those who attended were<br />
treated to fine food and drinks and were able to<br />
further relationships with fellow volunteers.<br />
During the afternoon Stephen Semenchuk<br />
announced that Daphne Chapman had resigned<br />
after many years of selfless service to our Shop.<br />
We thank Daphne for her assistance and<br />
friendship in the past, present and future. Ron<br />
Sinfield has capably stepped in to replace Daphne<br />
as Roster Co-Ordinator and has helped some of<br />
the ladies to “man” the Shop. Thank you Ron.<br />
Due to ongoing problems at our sorting facility,<br />
our Church has decided to relocate the Op Shop<br />
sorting and storage to existing areas in our<br />
Ministry Centre. Under our Lord’s guidance, we<br />
seek to accentuate the positives and overcome<br />
the negatives of this move so that the Op Shop<br />
remains a valuable asset to our Church.<br />
We thank all staff, particularly Lyndall Bailey who<br />
has always been available and willing to help with<br />
sound advice. This morning we were informed that<br />
Lyndall is now with her Lord. Jim, Sarah and<br />
Matthew and their families are in our prayers as<br />
they celebrate a life of incredible service. Lyndall’s<br />
loss to the Op Shop and our Church is<br />
immeasurable.<br />
Our thanks to Gwyn and Ruby Davies who remain<br />
our sounding board for shop problems. Thanks to<br />
Jim Braddock, Trevor Walker, Danielle Frazer, Jim<br />
and Julia Legassick, Sharon and Karina Langley who<br />
all perform duties which we greatly appreciate.<br />
We give thanks for our dear friend Edna Furbank<br />
who is now with the Lord. Edna gave many years of<br />
service to the Op Shop when she was physically<br />
able.<br />
A big thank<br />
you to<br />
everyone<br />
who has<br />
prayed for<br />
us and<br />
offered<br />
assistance<br />
and<br />
encouragement this year and we look forward to<br />
working with Stephen Swanepoel in 2016.<br />
Please give thanks:<br />
For the continued supply of quality goods.<br />
For the life of Norma Weeks who succumbed to a<br />
long illness during <strong>2015</strong>. Thank God for her<br />
commitment and service to our Op Shop.<br />
Please pray:<br />
For the health and safety of all our volunteers.<br />
That we will continue to reach out to our<br />
community with the love and good news of Jesus.<br />
For a smooth transition of our sorting team from<br />
our current location to the Ministry Centre.<br />
For a greater connection with the young people<br />
of our Church.<br />
- Carl & Lyn Cheetham<br />
9
Youthworks Year 13<br />
DAC supported Amanda Murphy to<br />
attend the Youthworks Year 13 Mission<br />
Trip. This trip has a huge impact on the<br />
students who attend, it is so worthwhile<br />
for building missional relations, sharing<br />
the gospel and learning how others live.<br />
Amanda ran a Fiji Fundraiser to support<br />
her trip.<br />
March Mission Month<br />
March Mission Month was held in-house in <strong>2015</strong>.<br />
Every morning the team would go out to local<br />
train stations to hand out donuts, coffee<br />
vouchers as well as a DAC Newspaper which was<br />
produced by members of our Young Adult<br />
congregation and formatted by Christine Lane.<br />
The Young Adults also went on a Cafe crawl<br />
where they had opportunity to invite their<br />
friends to attend as an outreach event. It was<br />
very successful and there were quite a few new<br />
faces.<br />
An Easter Bun drop was also part of the mission<br />
program. Bags were made up with hot cross buns<br />
and pamphlets advertising events at our church<br />
and general information about DAC. These were<br />
handed out to the parents of the preschool as<br />
well as other folk who were new to our church<br />
- Stephen Swanepoel<br />
Gift Wrapping<br />
<strong>2015</strong> saw 65 people volunteer to bless our community through gift wrapping Mother’s Day,<br />
Father’s Day and Christmas presents. Many of these volunteers were signed up for more than<br />
1 timeslot.<br />
We were able to reach many people through this ministry. To give you an example, one of our<br />
volunteers was able to share the message of the<br />
Gospel with a community member who was very<br />
interested about church and why we would give<br />
up our time so freely. Wow! What an<br />
opportunity!<br />
Our relationship with Dapto Mall continues to<br />
grow and we look forward to going back this<br />
year armed with wrapping paper, ribbon and a<br />
smile.<br />
- Linda Thomson<br />
10
Catering at Funerals<br />
Once again, a very caring and small group of women came<br />
together to cater for the five funerals that we had during <strong>2015</strong>.<br />
The funerals were few this year, having two at the beginning of<br />
the year and the other three towards the end of the year. The<br />
funerals we catered for were all people well known to us and so<br />
we rejoice that we can help our Christian families at this time.<br />
We give thanks to our Lord that when someone is either sick or<br />
not available, someone will always step in to give a helping<br />
hand. We also wish to thank those who have helped out over<br />
the past year and we are always very grateful for the food<br />
donations given to us when we hold a funeral.<br />
All the work and donations for the funerals are voluntary and<br />
the money collected is given annually to Anglicare, the Church<br />
Freezer Bank and also a donation to the Church Building Fund -<br />
we give praise to the Lord that we are able to do this.<br />
- Suzanne Burrows<br />
Growth Groups<br />
Growth Groups at Dapto Anglican continue<br />
to be a vital way to see people learning<br />
together about Christ and connecting with<br />
one another in meaningful ways. Growth<br />
Groups also feature as vital ways in which<br />
pastoral care is expressed for every member.<br />
These groups generally follow the termly<br />
teaching program set by the staff and leaders<br />
are encouraged to attend leaders meetings at<br />
the beginning of each term. There remain<br />
between 45-50 groups that meet throughout<br />
the week with 2016 seeing 2 further groups<br />
started.<br />
Over the years we have prioritised Sunday<br />
afternoon newcomer groups as a point of<br />
entry for newcomers and of covering the basic<br />
of Christianity. 2 of these groups were also run<br />
in 2016.<br />
Furthermore, more specialised programs have<br />
been run in <strong>2015</strong><br />
including a ’12 steps<br />
recovery program’<br />
and a relationships<br />
recovery group for<br />
those processing<br />
separation and<br />
divorce.<br />
- Scott Goode<br />
11
Baptism Ministry<br />
Services of Baptism<br />
and Dedication prove<br />
to be as popular as ever by our local<br />
community as well as our own church<br />
members. We held 30 services in <strong>2015</strong>!<br />
We praise God for the wonderful opportunity<br />
to share the gospel with our community in<br />
preparation for these services and thank God<br />
for our Visitation Team, who go out and meet<br />
and greet community families and explain the<br />
gospel to them.<br />
Commitment Sunday<br />
One Baptism Service was held as part of Café<br />
Church for Women, several baptisms and<br />
dedications were held on our Commitment<br />
Sunday, 6 of our church family infants and<br />
children were baptised either at 10am service<br />
or at St. Luke’s Brownsville.<br />
Our beautiful church at St. Luke’s continues to<br />
be a popular choice of venue for baptism as<br />
many of our community have links with the<br />
church building from weddings and previous<br />
baptism services.<br />
- Hilary Brown<br />
An important part of belonging to Christ and<br />
his people is to express that in the biblical<br />
rite of baptism and/or the denominational<br />
opportunity of confirmation/membership.<br />
In addition to the many children who were<br />
baptised throughout <strong>2015</strong>, this year we<br />
celebrated Commitment Sunday in<br />
November that saw members of our church<br />
either baptised, dedicated, confirmed or<br />
received into membership<br />
across 3 of our Sunday services.<br />
Two membership courses were<br />
offered prior to give<br />
opportunity for people to<br />
explore the significance of their<br />
faith and their allegiance to an<br />
Anglican expression of that<br />
faith.<br />
- Scott Goode<br />
Confirmation<br />
Last year we saw Brett Wilson, Matt Barker,<br />
Chloe Pearce, Benjamin Goode and Aimee<br />
Lee decide to confirm their faith in Jesus.<br />
Every year I am impressed by the desire of<br />
the confirmation candidates to learn more<br />
about the Christian faith and how they can<br />
put what they learn into practice.<br />
Each year we take the candidates out for<br />
breakfast and help them work through their<br />
testimonies. This time we enjoyed the sun by<br />
the beach at Stuart park.<br />
This group in particular<br />
were eager to share their<br />
testimonies with each other.<br />
Each person had a unique<br />
way of looking at what<br />
Christ had done for them. I<br />
look forward to seeing what<br />
God does with each of their lives.<br />
- Lachlan Davis<br />
12
Wedding Ministry<br />
Last year we had quite a slow year with wedding bookings. Preparing<br />
for marriage five couples and conducting just five wedding services.<br />
One of these weddings was for a couple from our 7pm service with the<br />
rest being community contact couples.<br />
The responsibilities for marriage preparation and services are shared<br />
around between Stephen, Stephen and Scott.<br />
2016 will see a big difference with thirteen weddings already booked<br />
in to our diary.<br />
- Hilary Brown<br />
St Luke’s Village<br />
The partnership with St Luke’s Village has<br />
continued to be strengthened throughout<br />
<strong>2015</strong>. Philip Brown’s leadership at the Village<br />
has been vital to this. Formally we continue to<br />
run weekly services including a Communion<br />
Service and a hymn-a-long meeting. During<br />
the month of March our mission focus<br />
extended to door knocking independent units/<br />
villas to offer Easter Buns, invitations to events<br />
and offer chaplaincy services.<br />
During Christmas we organised for the young<br />
adult community to sing carols in the village<br />
and give out gifts to the residents (in<br />
partnership with patchwork and cardmaking<br />
groups at DAC).<br />
The real engine room to our village ministry is<br />
the many volunteers who assist in formal<br />
capacities and visit and connect with the many<br />
residents throughout the village. We continue<br />
to build the partnership and synergy between<br />
village and church which has marked our<br />
parish for so long.<br />
With Scott leaving the parish in early 2016, the<br />
Rev. Rick Miller will assume responsibility for<br />
coordinating chaplaincy.<br />
- Scott Goode<br />
13
Pastoral Care<br />
Pastoral care continues to happen across the entire parish in many<br />
forms. Growth Groups remain a vital means of caring and connection.<br />
Many volunteer within St. Luke’s village to visit and care for one<br />
another.<br />
Each community within Dapto has its own unique way of<br />
ensuring members are cared for and growing in Christ<br />
Jesus.<br />
Additionally, there are a number of committees and teams which focus<br />
on specific congregations in order to ensure the sick are visited, help is<br />
offered, newcomers are followed up, and people grow in their sense of<br />
belonging and contribution to Christ’s church here in Dapto.<br />
-Scott Goode<br />
Anglican Aid<br />
This year Anglican Aid was well supported by our church. We<br />
thank you for the continued donations from our congregation<br />
and would particularly like to thank the two members of our<br />
church who donated through Anglican Aid to our StreetCrew<br />
ministry. The two gifts were for the substantial amounts of<br />
$20,000 and $34,000.<br />
David Mansfield and some of his staff attended our Passover<br />
Meal at Easter to promote the Reading Tour. Members from<br />
our congregation participated in reading chapters from the<br />
Bible.<br />
We thank you for your continued support of StreetCrew<br />
through Anglican Aid.<br />
- Stephen Swanepoel<br />
14
Children’s Ministry<br />
God was good to our church in <strong>2015</strong> through<br />
the different changes, challenges and<br />
successes that we experiences in Children’s<br />
ministry.<br />
<strong>2015</strong> saw Ian Morrison come and lead the<br />
children’s ministries at Dapto Anglican,<br />
working with a great team of volunteers<br />
aiming at teaching the good news about Jesus<br />
to the children of our church and the children<br />
of our community.<br />
Connect Kids / Juniors<br />
Connect Kids continued to run on Sunday<br />
mornings alongside out 10am Family service.<br />
We made a conscious effort to follow along<br />
with the teaching program which was being<br />
run in the 10am service in the primary<br />
program, with the goal being to create good<br />
links for parents and children to easily discuss<br />
what they learnt. This also made it much<br />
easier to connect our family spots in church<br />
with the teaching program – making them<br />
more engaging for the whole 10am Family.<br />
Eliza Batten once again did a tremendous job<br />
in leading Connect Juniors and the team she<br />
served with in the mornings.<br />
<strong>2015</strong> also saw the reintroduction of our termly<br />
Children’s Ministry training. As the year went<br />
on, it was encouraging to see the confidence<br />
and ability of our volunteer leaders grow, to<br />
the benefit of the programs and the children<br />
attending. We will be continuing this into<br />
2016, while also adding the SMBC Children’s<br />
Ministry Training day to our program for those<br />
who can attend.<br />
15
Children’s Ministry continued<br />
Connect Guys / Girls (Thursday)<br />
Connect Guys and Girls continued on with similar<br />
average numbers to the previous year. We saw a<br />
change in the type of teaching that the program<br />
ran after term 1, and in terms 2, 3 and 4 covered<br />
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Parables and<br />
Heroes of the Faith. Connect Girls struggled with<br />
numbers of leaders in terms 2 and 3 but term 4<br />
saw great promise with Cassie Gold and some<br />
other teen leaders with her keen to serve in 2016<br />
and beyond. Stuart Jansen took leadership of<br />
Connect Guys from term 3 and has continued to<br />
grow in his skills in leadership.<br />
Connect Fridays<br />
Connect Fridays saw a change in teaching<br />
program in <strong>2015</strong> with the group learning about<br />
Luke’s Gospel in term 1, a bible overview in term<br />
2, Joseph in the Book of Genesis in term 3 and<br />
Jesus’ miracles in the book of John in Term 4.<br />
Numbers remained steady throughout the year,<br />
and with a bunch of new leaders joining the<br />
team in <strong>2015</strong> their confidence and ability grew as<br />
the year progressed. Matthew Bailey has shown<br />
dedication to Fridays and has stepped up to lead<br />
the team in 2016.<br />
SRE – Scripture Teaching <strong>2015</strong><br />
<strong>2015</strong> saw Dapto Anglican Church continue to<br />
teach scripture in the 5 Public Schools that we<br />
have in Dapto, Dapto, Hayes Park, Koonawarra,<br />
Mount Brown and Lakelands. We taught<br />
Kindergarten and Year 1 in individual classroom<br />
settings, and years 2-6 were taught in the 5<br />
schools in 2 separate assemblies, years 2-4 and<br />
years 5 and 6. Janice Vesey did an amazing job<br />
coordinating the teaching at Dapto and Mount<br />
Brown Public schools, and Kathy Crossing did a<br />
stellar job coordinating the Scripture at<br />
Koonawarra and Hayes Park. There has been an<br />
incredible team of over 25 people serving in<br />
scripture and much of the success of the<br />
program is due to their efforts.<br />
Scripture is an amazing opportunity in our<br />
schools with over 1200 children each week<br />
getting the opportunity to hear the good<br />
news of Jesus Christ’s death and<br />
resurrection. Much of the connection with<br />
our Thursday and Friday children’s programs<br />
has come through these scripture<br />
connections.<br />
<strong>2015</strong> – Holiday Club – “Knights of<br />
the King.”<br />
Our <strong>2015</strong> Holiday Club, “Knights of the<br />
King,” saw 165 children come and be a part<br />
of our 3 day program. We taught the<br />
children about Jesus - the King, and figured<br />
out what it meant to follow Him in our lives.<br />
The week was a great success with many<br />
different people from the preschool to the<br />
Café, to the parents of our children and the<br />
leaders putting in amazing efforts to make<br />
the week happen. The Super Sunday which<br />
followed was a great success with many of<br />
the children returning with their families to<br />
celebrate the week on the Sunday.<br />
16
Children’s Ministry continued<br />
run on Tuesday afternoons. This is an amazing<br />
opportunity to reach families for Jesus. Please<br />
pray it succeeds.<br />
We will also be running 2 “Family Fun Days” in<br />
February and August aimed at teaching and<br />
encouraging families to read the bible and pray<br />
together. This is an exciting opportunity to<br />
teach and train our parents how they can be<br />
more proactive in being the primary spiritual<br />
instructors for their children.<br />
<strong>2015</strong> – Pupil Free Day Program –<br />
“Lego Day.”<br />
<strong>2015</strong> saw us introduce a new program to<br />
Dapto Anglican – the Lego Day. The day was<br />
aimed at providing a service for Families who<br />
were at a loose end on the Staff development<br />
days in NSW public Schools. We ran a program<br />
that was Lego themed, and used Lego to teach<br />
the good news about Jesus’ death and<br />
resurrection. Over 200 children attended the<br />
day and good connections were made into our<br />
schools and community. Due to the success of<br />
the day, we will be repeating the event again<br />
this year, and adding another Pupil free day at<br />
the start of Term 3.<br />
- Ian Morrison<br />
Due to the success of the Lego Day, we will be<br />
running an extra pupil free day program in<br />
Term 3 – Connected to our Holiday Program<br />
aiming to continue to get more and more<br />
children through the doors of Church to teach<br />
them about Jesus.<br />
Also, our good relationship with our Public<br />
Schools has borne fruit with Koonawarra,<br />
Mount Brown, Lakelands and Hayes Park<br />
agreeing to let us run after school programs<br />
aimed at teaching the bible on their school<br />
site. Hayes Park, Mount Brown and Lakelands<br />
have agreed to a once a term program, while<br />
Koonawarra has agreed to a weekly program<br />
17
Playpatch<br />
St. Luke’s Preschool<br />
St Luke’s continued its long tradition of providing<br />
quality, Christ-centred, Early Childhood Education<br />
and Care in <strong>2015</strong>. We were blessed with a staff team<br />
and management committee who worked tirelessly<br />
for the children and families within our centre and<br />
the community. Each person was supported in their<br />
own journey of learning throughout the year as they<br />
took on new areas, which in turn enriched the<br />
preschool.<br />
In <strong>2015</strong> Playpatch grew in numbers and<br />
saw many new relationships built! We<br />
have seen a shift in who attends with<br />
the children, we now have many<br />
grandparents bringing along their<br />
grandchildren and we have brought<br />
Heather on team to help us know better<br />
how to serve and connect with these<br />
grandparents. They often stay for lunch<br />
in the cafe and continue to connect!<br />
A huge praise point has been families<br />
from Playpatch coming along to 10am<br />
church regularly! And many playdates<br />
have been had, extending relationships<br />
from just Playpatch time!<br />
Each week we have been able to share<br />
God’s Word with the families and teach<br />
the children songs that praise God! We<br />
have sent home bibles with some<br />
families who were interested in<br />
continuing to read the Word with their<br />
children.<br />
In 2016 Belinda Monkman will be<br />
stepping down from leading and Sarah<br />
Doughton will be stepping up to lead.<br />
We will be looking at new ways to<br />
further relationships by linking with<br />
Women’s ministry!<br />
- Sarah Doughton<br />
The preschool went through assessment and rating<br />
under the national regulatory body for the first time.<br />
We were awarded “Exceeding National Quality<br />
Standard” in the 7 areas assessed and then were<br />
awarded overall “Excellence”; the highest possible<br />
rating! We are the first centre in the Illawarra to<br />
receive this and one of only a handful in NSW. We<br />
are thankful for the support of the DAC family in this<br />
process and the years of partnership that have<br />
helped St Luke’s to be where it is today. We<br />
continued to evaluate and reflect on practices to<br />
ensure we are continually implementing “Best<br />
Practices” for the children, staff and families.<br />
The preschool would like to thank the DAC<br />
community for your ongoing support and<br />
partnership with us; we feel blessed to have this<br />
relationship. The management committee offered<br />
great support and guidance for Julie and the whole<br />
team and their input in the service is invaluable. We<br />
continued to implement and trial new initiatives to<br />
help bridge the connection between the church and<br />
preschool families. We enjoyed offering social events<br />
in The Café space, as well as connection events and<br />
Picnics. Thanks to Jill and The Café team for their<br />
support of these events and for welcoming staff and<br />
families into the space day in and day out. Families<br />
continued to enjoy attending Holiday Clubs, Easter at<br />
the Lake and the Dapto Community Carols; thankyou<br />
to the Children’s ministry team for their inclusion of<br />
us within these opportunities and for joining us for<br />
our combined Christmas Party.<br />
- Eliza Batten<br />
18
Youth Ministry<br />
FRIDAY NIGHT<br />
In <strong>2015</strong> on any given Friday night we saw somewhere<br />
between 80-120 young people come to our program. Our<br />
program each Friday night was filled with fun activities,<br />
great food and time spent in small groups talking about the<br />
bible.<br />
We saw our numbers grow by making great connections<br />
between our lunchtime group programs, StreetCrew and<br />
SRE that is run in all our primary schools as well as in Dapto<br />
High, with hopes and prayers to get into Kanahooka High.<br />
Through these great connection points we saw close to 300<br />
different young people at some point come on a Friday night<br />
and connect with our church and sit in small groups to hear<br />
about JESUS and for many of them it was the very first time.<br />
<strong>2015</strong> was a year of firsts for us, including a fireworks night<br />
that is definitely going to be repeated this year.<br />
Throughout the year we received great support from the<br />
café providing great food and a safe and friendly place for<br />
out young people to spend time and hang out.<br />
We look forward to another exciting year in 2016 as more<br />
and more young people are presented with the message of<br />
JESUS.<br />
5pm Service<br />
The 5pm service, is our Youth Service that is run on Sunday afternoons, which is followed by a<br />
meal in The Café, provided by a great bunch of volunteers who cook dinner. (The 5pm Dinner<br />
Team is always looking for new volunteers).<br />
Our service aims to have young people serving and training in almost all areas and components<br />
that make a service happen. It is also an area where<br />
some of our youth leaders get a chance to preach<br />
and develop their speaking skills.<br />
We have seen attendance grow from roughly 60<br />
people to hitting a new record of 106 people<br />
just the other week.<br />
- Pete Gold<br />
19
Youth Ministry…. continued<br />
Youth Camp<br />
In July last year we took close to 100 people away on our annual<br />
youth camp. It was a great few days spent in community as we<br />
looked at what God’s heartbeat for the city of Dapto was. There<br />
were paint wars and volleyball competitions, an obstacle course<br />
and of course the camp ‘hoodie’ (jumper) as always. Camp is a<br />
great time as we are removed from many of the distractions of<br />
the world. It was an exciting time as we saw 6 young people give<br />
their lives over to JESUS.<br />
In 2016 we look to expand our camp by a whole extra day as we<br />
head off on the June long weekend from Friday to Monday.<br />
Please pray for the planning and organisation of camp this year.<br />
- Peter Gold<br />
Uplink<br />
Uplink has made a few changes over the<br />
past year to improve our community<br />
connections and to refocus our events on<br />
sharing the gospel and encouraging Christcentred<br />
community. It has been a slow everchanging<br />
process that we hope to see come<br />
to fruition this year.<br />
Uplink had multiple large events last year<br />
where we got to be in community with<br />
people from different age groups, different<br />
services and with people who don’t have<br />
other connections within the church<br />
community. We saw a large number of<br />
people attend our LAN day and built some<br />
solid connections.<br />
We also formed a stronger online presence,<br />
integrating video and social media to better<br />
reach more people from our community and<br />
connect them to each other.<br />
This year we are making a big effort to have<br />
large events with a range of different<br />
activities to accommodate the large variety of<br />
interests within our community, we also seek<br />
to connect with other local groups with<br />
similar interests to expand our reach in the<br />
community. Our online presence will grow<br />
more this year to include video interviews,<br />
small talks and discussions to help share how<br />
the gospel affects our interests in gaming and<br />
our online connections.<br />
- Nathan Benn<br />
20
Youth Musical<br />
“The Last King of Israel” was Dapto<br />
Anglican Church’s 5 th musical.<br />
I don’t think I’ve written an AGM report<br />
for each one of those musicals but I know<br />
I have written one for at least the last<br />
three. The biggest struggle for me has<br />
become finding something new to say.<br />
The bragging rights are there, I suppose.<br />
In many ways we outdid any of our<br />
previous musicals. For most of the cast I<br />
have never seen such a disciplined group<br />
of youth who took such responsibility for<br />
learning lines, showing up to practices and<br />
persisting in improving their<br />
performances. The live band was the best<br />
we’ve had by far, even though we only<br />
had one song with the mouth organ in it.<br />
Our show stopping number “Mr<br />
Cellophane” caused such a stir that some<br />
ladies were escorted from the building.<br />
Our overall production quality is amazing,<br />
which you would hope for now that we<br />
have the gift of experience under our<br />
belts. I was encouraged to have people<br />
unconnected to our church take to<br />
Facebook to wholeheartedly endorse the<br />
event, and, I had more conversations than<br />
ever before with people who don’t love<br />
Jesus about how incredible, and thoughtprovoking,<br />
our story was.<br />
I could go on and on (and believe me, I do)<br />
but the best thing about the musical is the<br />
thing that hasn’t changed in the 10 years I<br />
have done it. It’s something that a spectator<br />
of the final product misses and can never<br />
understand. As the people who are involved<br />
in the musical we know we don’t just walk<br />
away with a final product. This is why we<br />
have young adults who have been in every<br />
single musical, and I’m sure would serve in<br />
the next one too. It’s why we cry at the end<br />
of the final performance, even though we saw<br />
each other every day for the last two weeks<br />
and we’ll see them at church again tomorrow.<br />
It’s why the words “belonging” and “family”<br />
get thrown around so much. We gather<br />
together in God’s name and there He is with<br />
us. The musical is one of the best<br />
experiences of Christian community this side<br />
of heaven. If you could understand the way<br />
our young people serve each other,<br />
encourage each other, pray together and spur<br />
one another on you wouldn’t come to see the<br />
final product either. You’d come to watch the<br />
practices.<br />
- Elise Semenchuk<br />
21
High School Ministry<br />
Our local High Schools ministry has been a huge success over the past 12 months. Our team of<br />
volunteers has grown as well as the number of students attending different programs.<br />
Scripture Seminars<br />
Scripture seminars were a hit this past year.<br />
Unfortunately we have not been able to<br />
participate at Kanahooka High school but<br />
Pete Gold and the Gener8 Ministries group<br />
are in the negotiation process to<br />
recommence our seminars at Kanahooka<br />
High School. Dapto High school seminars<br />
are still active.<br />
We saw students from years 7-12<br />
participate in our scripture seminars<br />
including our Easter and Christmas<br />
seminars. We explored the historicity of the<br />
bible and had an ex-rugby league player<br />
attended as our guest speaker. He spoke<br />
about how is life was changed by Jesus’<br />
amazing compassion and grace in his life.<br />
- John Batten<br />
Breakky Club<br />
Breaky Club at Dapto High School is always<br />
met with great appreciation every<br />
Wednesday morning by staff and students<br />
alike. We provide cereal, toast and fresh fruit<br />
with the odd occasion of a hot breakfast such<br />
as bacon and egg rolls or pancakes. We see<br />
this as a great ministry to Dapto High as we<br />
are making great connections with staff and<br />
students as well as meeting a high need for<br />
our students to help them succeed in their<br />
schooling.<br />
- John Batten<br />
Lunchtime Groups<br />
EPIC, our lunchtime Interschool Christian<br />
Fellowship group has had a few changes over<br />
the past 12 months. Kanahooka’s group has<br />
grown to an average of 15-20 students each<br />
Wednesday lunchtime.<br />
We have been exploring many different areas<br />
of the Christian walk including the Gospels,<br />
what it means to have a Jesus-Centred Life,<br />
“Take Love”-a practical term on showing<br />
Christ’s love, “Know God – Know Life”-<br />
exploring what it means to have life to the full<br />
and answering any questions they may have.<br />
Jamie Cass, our High School Scripture Teacher<br />
Working alongside our High School scripture<br />
teacher, we have seen younger students make<br />
great connections with Scripture in school.<br />
Please pray, as legislation has changed around<br />
ISCF groups with permission and in-school<br />
participation.<br />
- John Batten<br />
22
Young Adults Ministry<br />
This was our second Young Adults retreat. It was an exciting<br />
opportunity to fellowship and build community among the<br />
Young Adults. The weekend was held in November. There were<br />
approximately 80 young adults who attended the weekend<br />
away at Currarong Beachside Tourist Park. Some camped while<br />
others shared cabins together.<br />
It was a fun time with plenty of leisure activities to be involved<br />
in such as swimming, water park, mini golf and canoeing. Some<br />
young adults even had their own inflatable island in the ocean.<br />
On the Saturday morning two sessions were held led by myself<br />
to impart the 20/20 Vision which will take place over 5 years.<br />
This year our focus was on our second part of the vision which<br />
was ‘Believe’.<br />
Some of the main points of the 20/20 Vision are:<br />
Believe in Jesus<br />
Believe in us<br />
On Saturday night an evening of fellowship was held which was<br />
enjoyed by all.<br />
It was a great time of building community.<br />
We are looking forward to another Young Adults Retreat in<br />
2016 where we will be discussing our third part of the vision<br />
which is ‘Grow’.<br />
- Stephen Swanepoel<br />
23
Women’s Ministry<br />
Women’s Ministry in <strong>2015</strong> held a couple of<br />
events as usual, such as the Brunch which<br />
kicked off the year as well as a meal at the<br />
Leagues Club.<br />
We also experimented with a couple of other<br />
ideas where we sought to provide support for<br />
women in difficult circumstances, for example,<br />
a group of women met to support one another<br />
through marital struggles.<br />
We will continue to look for opportunities to<br />
provide support and friendship for women<br />
throughout the parish and reaching out into<br />
our local community.<br />
- Leigh-anne Semenchuk<br />
Women’s Ministry rejoiced with the<br />
opportunity to offer a trainee position with the<br />
help of Anglican Deaconess Ministries and<br />
Mary Andrews College and so Linda Thomson<br />
began in a part-time capacity halfway through<br />
year.<br />
Café Church for Women<br />
Café Church started <strong>2015</strong> with the celebration of 10 years of meeting<br />
together as a fortnightly service. We were joined by many who<br />
returned specifically for the celebration and stayed on for lunch<br />
afterwards. We revisited some memories from our 10 years together<br />
and spent time thinking about the distinctive of the Café Church<br />
ministry which extended across the teaching of first term.<br />
We have seen our numbers grow throughout the year and have started<br />
2016 with many new faces as women have invited their friends to join<br />
us. We have also seen the Women’s Ministry pathways travelled as<br />
some women from the Patchwork group have come along as well as<br />
visits from Playpatch mums.<br />
We have introduced some new faces to our team and tried some new<br />
things with music as our attendance changes and those able<br />
to contribute musically take up other challenges in their lives.<br />
We are excited about the future of Café Church as we see<br />
many women searching spiritually and we look forward to<br />
being able to provide a place to help in this search.<br />
- Leigh-anne Semenchuk<br />
24
Patchwork , Papercraft & Art Groups<br />
Mid Week Quilting Day—with two quilts to choose<br />
from.<br />
A visit from Maru Soto from Material Girls<br />
Christmas in July<br />
10th ANNIVERSARY SHOW<br />
We planned to make this our BIGGEST SHOW EVER—<br />
displaying all the quilts we have ever made. They were<br />
displayed in our ‘quilt bomb’ in the Auditorium. New<br />
quilts were displayed in the Café and Main Hall.<br />
Patchwork, Papercraft & Art Group are<br />
everyday women coming together each<br />
fortnight on Fridays throughout school terms<br />
to create, sharing our crafts and enjoying the<br />
company and friendship at these groups. Our<br />
interests vary but our love of fellowship and<br />
our hobbies join us together in this wonderful<br />
welcoming environment.<br />
We have been running our Patchwork group<br />
at Dapto Anglican Church for 10 years. It<br />
started in someone's home with 6 ladies. It<br />
has now grown into a group of 40 women<br />
who meet fortnightly in our church hall. We<br />
have been developing great friendships and<br />
share joys and sorrows as well as quilting and<br />
sewing wisdom. Although we do have the<br />
occasional man come along and join in with<br />
the Art Group.<br />
Term 1 saw the team busy ‘Brain Storming’ to<br />
come up with a program that will be full of<br />
fun, learning new techniques, food and much<br />
more.<br />
These are just some of the special events held<br />
throughout the year.<br />
Hand Quilting and Candlewicking with Sandy<br />
Bell<br />
Bus Trip to ALL our favourite Quilt Shops<br />
and a lovely lunch together.<br />
Bus trip to The Sydney Craft and Quilt Show<br />
19/6/15<br />
Introducing—Compassion Saturdays<br />
Belly Buddies<br />
UFO Day – for finishing up those projects<br />
sitting in the cupboards<br />
Compassion Quilt Challenge<br />
Our Compassion Quilt Ministry is growing almost<br />
faster than we can make quilts. It’s a wonderful gift for<br />
someone needing some love in their life. One little<br />
quilt can and does make such a huge difference in a<br />
person’s life. We may think nothing of giving this quilt,<br />
but for some it’s their first peaceful night’s sleep. It is<br />
an absolute delight to give these away.<br />
So here is how our Compassion Quilts started:<br />
A friend from church landed in hospital with a mystery<br />
illness and was not getting any better. She had to stay<br />
for many months and so we were looking for a way to<br />
cheer her up and say we loved her. A couple of<br />
women from our Patchwork group went to visit and<br />
took a quilt to give to her. She loved it and was<br />
overwhelmed by the gift. On another visit the other<br />
people in her hospital room saw the quilt and hoped<br />
to buy one for themselves. We took several quilts<br />
back into the hospital and gave them out. They all laid<br />
their quilts on their hospital beds and found great<br />
comfort in the gift.<br />
As a group we've been able to make compassion<br />
quilts for people who are victims of domestic violence,<br />
anyone ill in hospital, people struggling with cancer<br />
and their family members who care for them. It has<br />
been a wonderful<br />
experience for us to know<br />
we can use our skill to make<br />
quilts and give them to<br />
men, women and children<br />
going through hard times<br />
- Wendy Eagleton<br />
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MU continues to meet at St. Luke’s<br />
Brownsville on the fourth Tuesday of each<br />
month. We have an average of 26 people who<br />
meet together.<br />
During last year we enjoyed the four Bible<br />
Studies which had been prepared by MU and<br />
they were on “Being the disciple Jesus wants<br />
us to be”.<br />
MU Dapto<br />
We devoted one of our meeting to the Street<br />
Crew Ministry in our church. We enjoyed<br />
hearing from Rev. Stephen Swanepoel as he<br />
updated us on this ministry and we were able<br />
to give a donation to them.<br />
We welcomed three new members into our<br />
group.<br />
- Joan Tasker<br />
Men’s Karting<br />
by Picton Kart Track and this informal time<br />
gave guests and also DAC members from<br />
different services a chance to get to know each<br />
other. Jason McPhail was also on hand to be<br />
interviewed and to relate some of his<br />
experiences, as a missionary, to the racing<br />
action of the day.<br />
For the second year 24 enthusiastic thrill<br />
seekers turned out to compete in a team<br />
karting challenge at the Picton Kart Track<br />
hosted by DAC Men. Competitors were<br />
arranged into teams of 4 where experience<br />
and weight was used to balance the team’s<br />
performance so that over the course of the 4<br />
races each team had a similar chance of<br />
accumulating more points and becoming<br />
victorious. This format proved successful with<br />
camaraderie developing between team<br />
members as they watched each other’s races<br />
and offered suggestions for improvement.<br />
At the end of the day, the podium was filled<br />
with many new faces, giving a new batch the<br />
thrill of taking home a trophy.<br />
- Warren Southwell<br />
Of the 24 competitors, 17 were from DAC and<br />
7 were guests and 4 were women.<br />
Refreshments were provided by The Café and<br />
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The Best Is Yet To Come<br />
Luncheons: Two luncheons were held during the year. In<br />
March, Rev Peter and Elizabeth Smart were our speakers.<br />
They were short term missionaries in Syria. The luncheon in<br />
November was a Christmas luncheon with music from the<br />
Sway Group and lots of Christmas goodies to eat.<br />
Day Coach Trip: We went to Penrith for a river cruise on the<br />
Nepean Belle, with a buffet lunch included.<br />
3 Day Coach Trip: This was a great trip and enjoyed by all.<br />
We went to Cooma and the Snowy Mountain area, and really<br />
enjoyed the snow at Charlotte Pass. We went to some<br />
interesting attractions, and had a great guide for a whole day,<br />
which made the trip very interesting.<br />
Day Train Trips: These included going to Watsons Bay and a<br />
fish and chip lunch; the Vivid Festival in Sydney was a<br />
highlight; we also went to the Great Jewish Synagogue, and<br />
to St. Mary’s Cathedral.<br />
The committee purchased a Defibrillator for the church and<br />
this has been placed on the wall. A training day was held for<br />
a large number of people.<br />
We want to thank Maureen and Ron Litchfield, who have<br />
been a part of this committee since its inception. They have<br />
decided to step back from the committee but will still be<br />
involved as members and organise our day train trips. Also<br />
thanks to Wal Sharp who has stepped down from the<br />
Committee. Rick and Lorraine Miller will be on the<br />
committee and will look after the organisation of our<br />
luncheons.<br />
We are going to have 2 one-day coach trips this year as well<br />
as our usual three-day coach trip. The first outing will be to<br />
Jervis Bay for a Dolphin Watch Cruise, and the second one<br />
will be to Campbelltown area and Warragamba Dam area.<br />
Our three-day coach trip will be to Cowra in October.<br />
There will also be two luncheons during the year.<br />
- Carol & Neville Stumbles and Ron and Maureen Litchfield<br />
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