Bulletin – 20 May 2012

Next Sunday: Pentecost Sunday Worship and Lunch
Next Sunday we celebrate Pentecost; the outpouring of God’s Spirit on the Christian Community. At Pentecost, even though there were many believers from different places, their own languages were not a barrier to understanding each other. As we have many people from different countries in our congregation, after worship we will have a light bring and share lunch and people are invited to bring along food from your own country to share with each other.

Manse Working Bee – Saturday June 2nd
We will be having a Working Bee on Saturday the 2nd June from 9 a.m. while the manse is vacant. There will be pruning of shrubs, cutting of a few trees, some minor painting and general maintenance tasks. Any help you may be able give, as well as any appropriate tools you could bring would be appreciated.

Food Pantry Conversation
Sunday 20th. May, 3-5pm
Over the past month you have been invited to respond to the paper on the idea that our congregation begin a Uniting Food Pantry. More papers are available in the foyer if you have not had the chance to read about it. A reasonable response has been made positively to the idea along with some good questions. At Gungahlin Uniting to way we discern our direction is to have open conversation about an idea as well as to consider leadership, costs, resources and needs. Usually the primary concern for us as a congregation has been our sense of responding to the leading of God, the need and the availability of key leaders. Today from 3-5pm, you are invited to come and participate in a conversation about the Food Pantry idea. This conversation is not just for those who think it is a good idea, but for all of us. It is not just for those who might want to be involved, but for all of us. It is not just for those who have responded so far, but for all of us. Please come along and help our congregation consider our mission life into the future.

Baptism Conversations!
– Have you ever thought of being baptised?
– If you have already been baptised, have you ever thought of reaffirming your baptism?
– Would you like to simply talk about these things?

If you are any age from teenage up and would like to talk about Baptism and what it means, or would like to remember your baptism and reaffirm your faith, then Rev. Mark will lead “Baptism Conversations” throughout August. As part of these conversations we will also provide the opportunity for anyone who would like to be baptised, or renew their baptism, to do so. If you would like to talk to Mark about this please feel free. Baptism Conversations will be held on Sunday’s from 4.30pm on 29th. July, 5th, 12th, 19th, August.

First Sunday Cafe – Today!

Grow One 2012 (Giving financially to your church!)
Each year we have an opportunity in this congregation to consider our giving to the church. This we have called Grow One. Your financial giving to the Gungahlin Uniting Church congregation is used in many different ways:

• To employ the Minister
• To support the work of the Uniting Church Presbytery
• To support the Synod. (Our congregation gives money each year to the Synod and the money we give goes towards Social Justice work, Multicultural church work, supporting students who study theology, and Hospital Chaplaincy.)
• To support the work of Agape Home in Thailand (an orphanage for children affected by AIDS)
• To enable our own work with children, the community, worship & the running and maintenance of our building & administration.

Asking members of the congregation each year what they think they can regularly give helps us draw up a responsible budget and helps us know how much we have to give to each of the areas above. All we ask you to do is to consider what you already give and to think about what you might be able to give in the year ahead. The table below helps us see what we give as a percentage of our income.

You can choose to give to Gungahlin Uniting Church in a number of ways:

• Direct giving (automatically through your bank to our bank)
• By using dated envelopes (one for each Sunday which you put in the offering bags)
• By putting lose money into the offering bags
• By making a donation

On Sunday 17th. June, you will be invited to participate in Grow One as part of our worship by simply writing on a slip of paper how much you feel you are able to give and how you would like to give it. Of course this can be done anonymously. Those slips of paper will be brought forward then as part of our offering.

Weekly Giving Chart
INCOME (approx)		15%	12%	10%	9%	8%	7%	6%	5%	4%	3%	2%	1%
Fortnightly	Annual
380	10,000	29	23	19	17	15	13	12	10	8	6	4	2
580	15,000	43	35	29	26	23	20	17	14	12	9	6	3
770	20,000	58	46	38	35	31	27	23	19	15	12	8	4
960	25,000	72	58	48	43	38	34	29	24	19	14	10	5
1150	30,000	87	69	58	52	46	40	35	29	23	17	12	6
1350	35,000	101	81	67	61	54	47	40	34	27	20	13	7
1540	40,000	115	92	77	69	62	54	46	38	31	23	15	8
1730	45,000	130	104	87	78	69	61	53	43	35	26	17	9
1920	50,000	144	115	96	87	77	67	58	48	38	29	19	10
2120	55,000	159	127	106	95	85	74	63	53	42	32	21	11
2310	60,000	173	138	115	104	92	81	69	58	46	35	23	12
2500	65,000	188	150	125	113	100	88	75	63	50	38	25	13
2690	70,000	202	162	135	121	108	94	81	67	54	40	27	13
2880	75,000	216	173	144	130	115	101	87	72	58	43	29	14
3080	80,000	231	185	154	138	123	108	92	77	62	46	31	15
3270	85,000	245	196	163	147	131	114	98	82	65	49	33	16
3460	90,000	260	208	173	156	138	121	104	87	69	52	35	17
3650	95,000	274	219	183	164	146	128	110	91	73	55	37	18
3850	100,000	288	231	192	173	154	135	115	96	77	58	38	19