Mrs Glenyth McKenzie, who is President of the Adult Fellowship Group of Ashgrove West Uniting Church, has sent us this great account of the ecumenical service held in Ashgrove West on 6 March for this year’s World Day of Prayer:

“There were 68 people  present at the service for our area.  It was hosted by the Adult Fellowship Group at West Ashgrove Uniting Church, Glory St, Ashgrove West, Brisbane.

Fifteen different churches were represented, and two people attended who were from no fixed church. People came from the following churches:  The Gap Uniting, Emmanuel Uniting, St Pauls Anglican, Toombul District Uniting, St Joan of Arc Catholic, St Finbarr’s Catholic, Pilgrim Congregational, River City Church The Gap, Ashgrove Baptist, Jubilee St Ambrose Catholic, Sacred Heart Port Moresby, The Groves Uniting and West Ashgrove Uniting. It was a joy to see us all together as sisters & brothers in Christ – just a foretaste of Glory.   

“We had 2 Ladies from PNG present and they sang, together with another worker from PNG, in Pidgen.  Just beautiful.   One of them told us something of the plight of the peoples of PNG and in particular of the women and children.  
Prior to the service we viewed a short video-clip from ‘Be a Hero’ on their trip to PNG and focusing on the children who live at a local dump. Heart-breaking stuff, particularly when it is happening virtually on our doorstep. 
       
Speaking at lunch with one of the PNG Ladies, we discovered that there is a great need for ‘love’ for women suffering from HIV/AIDS and various cancers.  They are unable to afford the treatment we so readily access in Australia, and when attending the clinics up there, they don’t even have the basics such as a washer, handtowel & soap.  We are still working on co-ordinating a call-out for assistance with these items and are hoping to send off a preliminary package of them when a PNG lady (here for cancer treatment) returns home at end of April. 

We all sat down to a truly lovely lunch and there were many comments made as to the sincerity and homeliness of our welcome.  We praise God for all His goodness.”