Page 3183 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
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The church is one of the oldest organisations in the relatively young Gungahlin district. Whilst Gungahlin was on NCDC plans for many years, it was not until the 1990s that Gungahlin was truly born. The church, founded in 1993, had its early days meeting in a house in Palmerston, with a core group including the Heywards, Pitchers, Browns and Reverend Robert Holland, who acted as the honorary priest. In the early days the rector was Vicki Cullen, and at the 21st birthday celebration she recalled the challenges and opportunities of those early days. She recalled the church office in the house she and her husband had purchased when they moved to Palmerston. She also recalled the move of the Sunday service to the Ngunnawal community centre.
Vicki also discussed the ongoing campaign that she, the congregation and the diocese ran for an Anglican school to be established in the growing district. In l998 this dream became a reality and the foundation stone for Burgmann Anglican School was laid in November that year by Bishop George Browning, who was also in attendance at the 21st birthday celebrations. Several months later, in February 1999, the school commenced and the Gungahlin Anglican Church moved their Sunday service to the new school classrooms at what was to become the Valley campus of Burgmann.
Several years later, in 1999, Reverend Malcolm Richards became the rector and he, working alongside the founding school principal, Paul Browning, brought the Sunday services to the school. For several years the church shuffled between classrooms as the congregation and school grew together.
In 2005 the school finished construction of the Grace Chapel and that would become the new home of the church. Soon after, Malcolm Richards took up a position with CMS NSW and Michael Dasey became the senior minister of the church. Several years later, in 2011, the school commenced operation of their campus in Forde, which allowed for an additional Sunday morning service to be established in the north of Gungahlin.
Today, the rector and other staff of the church work in close cooperation with the principal of Burgmann, Steven Bowers, and the rest of the school community. Of course, there are so many people and tasks required to operate a modern and growing church. In addition to the ministry and staff, there are people who help with communion, music, packing up and setting up, welcoming teams, people on cleaning rosters, home group leaders, administrators, pastoral carers, website operators, audiovisual operators, and many other roles.
I would like to pay tribute to the leadership of Michael Dasey, Andrew Taylor and Tracey Jacob; wardens Neil Kaines, Heather Millard and Stephen Gale; parish councillors David Brooking, the treasurer, Andrew and Christine Ford, David Rajasekaram, James Bradley and Daniel Griffiths.
I would like to thank the church for the role they play in our community. I would also like to commend them for the lovely celebration they hosted at the Forde campus of Burgmann. We heard some wonderful musical tributes and encouraging and informative words about the development of the church. I wish the church community all the best for their future. For more information about the church, please visit their website at www.gungahlinanglican.org.au.
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