The Daylesford Uniting Church has been involved in a deep discerning process over many months about what it is being called to do and be as a church by the Divine.
Through sharing in hopes and dreams, in speaking honestly about failings in the past and our strengths, in sharing over meals, in silence, in brainstorming and in prayer and in ongoing discussion, the congregation has now adopted its vision
Embracing Difference - Sharing the Hospitality of Jesus
This vision will be lived out in many ways, but one of the first was launched last Friday with ‘Mingle at the Mitchell’.
Each Friday morning between 10:00am and 11:30am, members of the congregation are creating a ‘cafe space’ at the little hall at church. Here there is good fair trade coffee and tea all for only a gold coin donation.
Magazines and newspapers are available to flick through, music is in the background and here is the opportunity to get to know other locals - to meet others and maybe even make new friends. This aims to be a non threatening space in which all are welcome.
Last Friday’s ‘Mingle at the Mitchell’ was full of laughter and the sharing of hospitality. It was great to be part of. All are very welcome to pop by… come for as long or as little as you like.
Mitchell Hall, 56 Central Springs Road, Daylesford.
Rev. Sally Douglas
Christmas Worship Times:
Daylesford: 9.00am
Ballan: 10.30am
Trentham: 9.00am
Come and celebrate with us. All are welcome.
The outstanding Australian Welsh Choir is coming to Daylesford for one concert on November 9th at 2:30pm.
This favourite of choirs will be singing songs from the Welsh tradition, as well as songs from around the world, including Africa, Russia and America.
All are welcome to come and experience this afternoon of stirring music.
Proceeds for this event will go towards supporting our community, at the local, national and international level.
Locally, funds will go towards emergency food relief in the Hepburn Shire. Nationally, this will support indigenous and non-indigenous people in outback Australia. Internationally, this funding will go towards supporting peace making in trouble spots in the Philippines.
When: Sunday November 9, beginning at 2:30pm.
Where: Daylesford Uniting Church, 56 Central Springs Rd, Daylesford
Cost: $20:00
All welcome.
For more information, or to pre-book tickets,
please call Marie-Louise Stafford on 5348 3087
Sharing our stories is one of the greatest ways we connect with one another.
As Pam Faro, international storyteller states: ‘Except perhaps for touch, storytelling, story listening and story experiencing is the most basic form of human communication.’
She goes on to say: ‘Storytelling is experience. When people experience story together, it can connect across multitudes of boundaries like nothing can.’
On Friday 24th October Pam Faro, together with well known and much loved local singer song writer Fay White, will be sharing stories and music from across ancient cultures and traditions: Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist.
All are welcome to come and enjoy this feast of story.
The event will take place at Daylesford Town Hall, and begins at 7:30pm, Friday October 24th.
Cost: $10 ($8 Concession). No need to book.
Hosted by the Network of Biblical Story Tellers (Aus/NZ) and Daylesford Uniting Church.
All enquiries: Rev. Sally Douglas 03. 5348 2119
In the quest for technological answers in the West: the quickest, the fastest, the most… it seems that we have lost something along the way and many of us ache for that elusive something more. We yearn for connection with that something which is deeper, wider, more ancient than ourselves. Yet the question is how to find it.
It may come as no surprise that as a Christian community we hold the faith that this something more has to do with God. However, the distance between knowing this at a level of intellectual conviction and experiencing this at a deeper level of being can be quite enormous.
Richard Rohr, a contemplative priest with a heart for justice, writes about this difficult distance and offers awakening insight. Rohr states:
“We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realise that God is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another it means that God is choosing us now and now and now. We have nothing to attain or even learn. We do, however, need to unlearn some things.” Richard Rohr Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, p. 29.
In this quest for something more I think we all need to unlearn some things about the nature of God, ourselves and reality.Across the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church through a variety of ways we are seeking to create space to seriously engage with this unlearning together in:Meditation at BlackwoodContemplation at DaylesfordCluster Faith Exploration GroupsCluster Prayer Exploration Group Regular Sunday Worship across the ClusterIf you would like to find out more about getting involved in any of these things please call the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church Office tel: 5348 2119.Blessings on your quest for the authentic,Rev. Sally Douglas
On Sunday March 30th the Highlands Cluster will be exploring a question which touches to the core of our being; what is Spirituality, and in particular, what is Christian Spirituality?
With Rev Joan Wright Howie, the Spiritual Formation Advisor for the Centre of Theology and Ministry, we will be exploring this question together in worship and in an afternoon workshop. If you would like to explore these issues in a non threatening space please join us.
10:30am Cluster Worship at Daylesford Uniting Church
In which we will commission our new elders - the vision keepers.
This service will be followed by a shared lunch.
1:00pm-3:00pm Spirituality Workshop at Daylesford Uniting Church
You are welcome to join us for as much or as little of this day as you would like to.
Enquiries, please call Rev Sally Douglas tel: 5348 2119
Within the Christian tradition this week, as we journey to Good Friday and Easter, is the hub which everything else revolves around.
You are invited to come and explore this mystery with us.
What happens at Easter? Faith discovers us….
Worship times across the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church:
Maundy Thursday (March 20)
Discovering ourselves in Jesus’ journey
6:00pm Trentham Uniting Church; shared meal
7:00pm Daylesford Uniting Church; foot washing
Good Friday (March 21st)
Discovering the Divine in the darkness
9:00am Trentham Uniting Church
9:15am Daylesford Uniting Church
11:15am Ballan Uniting Church
Easter Sunday (March 23)
Discovering hope which sustains
8:00am Little Hampton Uniting Church Breakfast celebration
9:15am Daylesford Uniting Church
11:15am Ballan Uniting Church
For more information and for regular worship and meditation times contact
Rev. Sally Douglas 03 5348 2119
All very welcome
Highlands Cluster Uniting Church invites you on a journey to the Bullarto Community Hall to celebrate amid stunning scenery; with refreshing worship, wonderful fellowship, and great music.Come together with the local community, the Highlands Cluster congregation and Minister Sally Douglas to explore the call of the Divine.
Be our guest on the Central Highlands Tourist train. The train leaves Daylesford 10.00am.
The train journey costs $7:00 for adults, and $4:00 for children. Worship commences at 11.00am.
BYO lunch will follow the service. Tea, coffee and cool drinks are available.
Music by Daylesford and District Municipal Brass Band.
Trains return: 2.05 pm and 3.20 pm (last train).
Download the Catch the Train to Church Flyer 
Sunday 16th December
Combined Church Carols at Daylesford Uniting Church 7:30pm
Friday 21st December
Little Hampton Uniting Church Carols and Supper 7:00pm
Sunday 23rd December
Blackwood Uniting Church BBQ and Carols 5:30pm
Trentham Uniting Church Carols 7:00pm
Christmas Day 25th December
Trentham Uniting Church 9:00am
Daylesford Uniting Church 9:00am
Ballan Uniting Church 11:00am
All welcome
For all enquiries call the Highlands Cluster Uniting Church Office 5348 2119
The Highlands Cluster is made up of 6 congregations. Settings are diverse; ranging from farming communities and tree-change towns, to the café latte set.
Whilst worship and community service vary across these settings, in each of these places we seek to create authentic space to encounter the Divine, an open place of welcome and the inclusion of all, and freedom for the questions at the heart of life and spirituality.
As a Christian community, made up of ordinary people, we seek to follow in the way of Jesus, whom we believe is the Wisdom of God.
