ROSEWOOD Uniting Church turns 150 this year and everyone’s invited to its anniversary celebration.
Pastor Rob Duncan leads from the pulpit and congregation members are tasked with helping to make the celebration one worth remembering.
“We have a lot of legends in our church, both living and not, as the church in Rosewood has been an integral part of the community almost as long as it has existed,” he said.
“It’s not about celebrating the events but rather the people who have been part of it all this time.
“A lot of people think of the church as buildings but it’s the community that makes it what it is.
“As people have found little pieces of history, they’ve shared their experiences with church leaders.
“Someone even has the order for the Sunday school picnic, it was for loaves of bread.”
Pastor Duncan recites a verse from Hebrews Chapter 11, that talks of the heroes of the faith and lists Moses, Abraham and a few ladies too.
“It talks of pushing on towards the goal, and this anniversary is the goal we want to push towards as a congregation working within the community,” he said.
“I’m trying to make the event on the day fairly simple.
“I’ve read how previous anniversaries have had four day events.
“We don’t have the capacity or manpower to do that sort of thing.
“Our average age is around 75, so we need to recognise that.”
The plan is to hold an extended service in the morning. It is expected to be a little longer than usual to allow for participation.
“There will be a guest preacher, then we’ll have a special morning tea that’s more elevated than usual,” he said.
“We’ve ordered a special anniversary cake and it was really hard not to get Betty Perrin to make it.
“Betty is 97 and stepped down from our catering team last year.
“She did all the catering for many years, as part of service organisations too.
“We had to really convince her to not actually make the cake.
“She is our oldest member and instead of baking it, we want her to cut it.”
There will be a small exhibit displaying items relating to the church history.
“We have some of the old Baptism books and Orders of Service from different celebrations,” he said.
“We are going to have a slide show before and after the service in the hall and the church
“It’s of all the photos we’ve managed to rustle up over the years with captions to engage people in the memories.
“Hopefully people who haven’t attended church for a long time will come along and engage with others.”
The anniversary celebration starts at 9am on Sunday, May 25.
It’s at Rosewood Uniting Church in John Street.
Everyone is welcome, the church would appreciate an Rsvp for catering purposes.