Reaching out in Rosewood
News
Ipswich church reaches out to the wider community with a high tea, a cappella music and an antique quilt display
Like most parishes, we at St Luke’s Anglican Church in Ipswich realise that church attendance is no longer an automatic reaction for the significant proportion of people living in the communities that make up our parish, including those from Rosewood, Marburg, Lowood and Hidden Vale.
Several years ago, the parish appointed an action team to investigate and implement ways the parish can be more deliberately involved and ‘out there’. As a result, a number of events have been trialled, with some repeated. Most recently, a high tea was held on the first day of spring in the St Luke’s Anglican Church grounds.
About 80 women (parishioners with friends and members of local organisations), enjoyed a first-class high tea, which was admittedly largely prepared by some of the ladies in attendance. The men rigged out in formal wear, complete with bow ties, and ensured copious amounts of tea and coffee and ribbon sandwiches, vol-au-vents, scones with jam and cream, and various cakes and slices were distributed.
The Queensland University Musical Society inexhaustibly entertained us with a capella renditions of modern and traditional songs, as we enjoyed connecting with people from nearby townships.
Perhaps the most attractive contributions were provided by the Ipswich Hospital Museum. Museum secretary Jane Kingston spoke on the objectives and displays of the museum, which included several quilts which were loaned for display in the church building. The quilts had been embroidered by parish children in the Ministering Children’s League early in the early 1930s and presented to the Sunshine Children’s Ward of the hospital.
As an outreach, the high tea was ‘one small step’. The action team looks forward to future events with a greater awareness of our contribution to and participation in the community. A small step indeed, but a step in need.
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