Centenary connects with community and corps
Part of the Centenary team at Youngcare (left to right); Captain Narelle, Melissa, Josh and Craig (Credit: Photo courtesy of Centenary corps).
Serving the community took on new meaning for the Centenary Corps on Sunday 22 June, when both morning and evening meetings were cancelled for the first time and replaced with the inaugural ‘Service Sunday’.
About 50 people from the corps, in Brisbane’s south-west, ranging in age from six months to 82 years, came together to renovate and restore the gardens at nearby Youngcare, a residential facility that provides 24-hour care to people with disabilities under the age of 65.
“We basically did whatever was needed, from painting a wall, stripping back and painting benches, mulching a garden and planting flowers,” said Captain Sonia Whitehouse, Centenary corps officer, with her husband, Captain Derek.
“The staff at Youngcare thought it was fantastic and were so thankful. They have no money in their budget to do the things we did, so it wouldn’t get done otherwise.”
Captains Sonia and Derek are planning a Service Sunday every quarter. Those involved will go to different locations each time, in order to connect with more of the local community.
“We are trying to get the corps mission focused and actively serving in the community,” said Captain Sonia.
“Worship is more than just turning up to church on Sundays. Everyone worked hard and really enjoyed it. It gives people a sense of involvement and shows the younger ones what serving others is all about. Everyone is now asking when the next one is going to be!”
At the end of this month, “Connect Sunday”, another new initiative at Centenary Corps, also planned to take place each quarter, will be launched.
“We have morning family meetings and night youth meetings at Centenary, which are really two congregations, so it’s difficult to get everyone together,” explained Captain Sonia.
“Connect Sunday is about meeting together in a park for a very informal get-together to connect and build relationships.
“It’s a picnic and a chat, a few songs, a guitar and perhaps a short message.”
Cafe church is also becoming a regular feature at Centenary Corps, primarily in the school holidays when many people are away.
“Smaller numbers mean we can do an informal cafe church with just a couple of people sharing, worship from CDs, a few songs, a short devotional and good coffee,” said Captain Sonia.
“This is also a great opportunity for us to invite others to church.”
The Mini Musos program – songs and musical activities for children and adults to enjoy together – is the only program at Centenary Corps where the attendance consists almost 100 percent of people from the local community.
“We are trying to integrate these families into the corps, so on Friday night 20 June, we had a family night and specifically invited the dads to come along and join in the Mini Musos activities, doing everything with their kids that the mums usually do,” said Captain Sonia.
All the fathers came to the event and joined in the singing, games and crafts with their children before joining their families and people from the corps for a barbecue dinner.
“All the dads loved it and asked when the next one would be,” said Captain Sonia. “This is such a simple and effective way of involving families with the corps.”
This article first appeared in the August edition of Pipeline magazine.
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