Dear Friends,
As many of you know, Anglicare has recently merged with Anglican Retirement Villages to create a larger, more agile organisation that is better able to meet the real needs of people and regulatory requirements of the government. As time goes on, it appears that there are greater expectations on both sides of this equation and the new organisation is better placed to manage care and ministry into the future.
They explain their mission saying, “Whilst our services keep expanding across greater Sydney, we still uphold our original values by reflecting God’s love through care, and sharing the great wisdom of Jesus. And more importantly, our caring and compassionate approach will always stay the same.”
At the local level, we see Anglicare as a Ministry Partner and our relationship with them continues to thrive.
In contrast to a Mission Partner (who we support financially so they can grow their work; eg. CAHSM, BCA, Moore College, CMS), a Ministry Partner is an organisation who works with us (using their resources) to grow our ministry in the local area. For those with long memories, you will know Anglicare has taken various approaches to partnerships with parishes, but right now, they are keen to support, encourage and grow local work.
We see this happening in Campbelltown in a myriad of ways.
- Provision of food hampers for people who are socially or financially disadvantaged. Some weeks we give away 2-3 hampers a day and we hope to grow the ministry opportunity connected with this.
- A Mobile Food Pantry that visits St Andrew’s every second Wednesday offering low cost groceries and ministry connection opportunities for our church.
- A Playgroup is run at St Andrew’s by Anglicare staff with additional church volunteers to connect with local parents and this provides opportunities to care and share faith.
- Provision of low cost Counselling through staff at Anglicare Campbelltown.
- We are in discussions about a Mental Health Support Group that would provide regular care for church members.
- The Anglicare Shop in Dumaresq St provides an opportunity for church volunteers to connect with local people and for us to advertise what we are doing at church.
- We host the Toys’n’Tucker Distribution for our area in December each year.
- We are planning to reinstitute our Training Seminars to help people grow in various ways – you may have noticed the Tuning into Teens sessions coming up.
Anglicare help us to extend our work and make Gospel connections with people we do not easily make connections with. If you would like to be involved in any of the activities above, please speak to a member of staff.
In Christ
Nigel