This week sees the launch of Uniting Leaders, a portal for learning and community among UCA leaders. Hosted by Uniting Church SA, this site is offered as a resource to the church nationally.The aim is to enable all kinds of leaders to connect - from Ministers and lay preachers to chaplains, youth workers, ministry leaders and others.
There are two sections to the Uniting Leaders site: Courses and Community. Information in the Courses section is for students undertaking accredited courses through the Adelaide College of Divinity. Occasionally information about non-accredited courses will also be available. The aim is to enhance distance learning; students can learn at their own pace with the benefit of interactivity and multimedia.
The Community section is where anyone can be involved. It’s a bit like Facebook – you register and create a profile for yourself. As well as providing a space for discussion and encouragement, the groups enable users to upload resources that can be shared with the wider community, such as prayers, songs they’ve written, service orders, photos, sermon material and helpful links.
Initial group topics include preaching from the lectionary, fresh expressions, youth ministry, Christian education and discipleship. Often lay leaders, ministers, chaplains or youth workers will find themselves trawling the internet for ideas and advice. However it’s easy to get lost or find material that’s
unhelpful or doesn’t quite suit our Australian Uniting Church context.
If you’re involved in ministry and leadership in the Uniting Church, log on to unitingleaders.org.au today to create your profile and see what the buzz is about.
(part of the above adapted from New Times, April 2010. Download it here (7.7 mb PDF).
Comments