CHURCH NEWS  

With Monday, 1st June being a public holiday, the church, parish office, and bookshop will be closed.

Epray Daily is now available again following recent upgrades. Please note that the old

Epray app no longer works and you should delete it from your devices. The new version

is accessed by visiting https://daily.epray.com.au

You can save it to your phone or home Screen so it works like an app. If you would like assistance or further information please contact Wendy in the parish office.

We are celebrating Pentecost at all of our services this weekend. You are encouraged to wear red if you are able.

The parish of Christ’s Church Mandurah has a wide-ranging and far-reaching ministry in the community of the City of Mandurah. To maintain this, we are grateful for all those who volunteer their time and talents to support the work we do.

We currently have volunteers working in ministry in Parish Council, Wardens, Safe Church, bell ringing, Bible studies, Bookshop, bread collection, card making, church caretakers, children and youth ministry, Cursillo, EfM, Fete, gardening and maintenance, knit and natter, men’s group, monster garage sale, Mothers Union, music ministry, nursing homes & retirement villages, Op-Shop, pastoral care, recycling, service rosters, Soul Singers, Sunday morning teas, Youth Care morning teas.

Thank you to all who are involved in one or more of these ministries.

We are also always looking for more people to step up and volunteer their time and talents. Be it in outreach such as the op shop, book shop or the pastoral care of visiting the nursing homes or hospital or those sick at home. We are always grateful for those who do so much towards the mission of the parish. We are always open to new people putting their names forward, or people who are currently involved offering to do more or to change how they are involved.

We thank God for those who take hold of these ministries and put their hand up to say, ‘I will do this.’

Yours in Christ, Fr Ian Mabey

Since our Annual meeting of Parishioners in March, we have had 3 of our 6 elected members of our parish council resign for personal reasons. We did not receive any nominations for the third warden. It is of deep concern that a parish of our size cannot fill its parish council. We would be delighted to discuss the positions with anyone interested in either role.

A brief description of each role is:

Warden: A lay person acts as a trusted leader and office of the Bishop within a local parish. They are in effect, the managers of the Church’s property, finances and legal administration, working closely with the Priest-in-charge.

Parish councilor: A lay person who is on the parish council, the governing body responsible for the financial, administrative and practical operations of a local parish in partnership with the priest-in-charge. It oversees property, approves budgets, ensures safe ministry compliance and supports the strategic mission and ministry of the church within its community.

Blessings, Karen Reeves and Bronwyn Jones

This year’s Lay Retreat will be held August 21 – 23 at the St John of God Retreat Centre, Shoalwater. The cost of the retreat is $345.

The Diocesan Lay Retreat team are offering a retreat with a focus on rest, refreshment, and returning people’s awareness to the deep love of God within their lives. All meals are provided, each room has an ensuite and the retreat centre is extremely comfortable with beautiful gardens and the beach across the road. Retreat registration forms are available at the back of the church

Unfortunately, our bell ringers were unable to ring last Sunday morning due to illness.

They will ring our church bells at half muffle from 8 am on Sunday, 17th, in honour of John. They will not be ringing at 9.30 am as many of the ringers would like to be able to attend John's funeral.

We are delighted that Michelle Collins will be joining us in the role of Lay Pastoral Care Worker from Monday, 18th May, for 16 hours per week. She will formally

become a part of our clergy team following her ordination as a deacon in late June.

A service honouring Ken's life will be held in our church on Thursday, 28th May, commencing at 2 pm, with refreshments in the church grounds following the service.

A men's fellowship evening will be held on Thursday, 28th May, in the Ken Barrett Room, commencing at 6 pm. It will be soup and toast night. The cost will be $10. Please put your name on the attendance list at the back of the church if you will be coming.

Pentecost this year falls on the weekend 22 - 24 May. Coming 50 days after Easter Sunday, it is the day we celebrate the descending of the Holy Spirit. Also considered the birth day of the church, it is also known as Whit Sunday. Red is the colour of the Holy Spirt and we are encouraged to wear red at services on this weekend.

There is a planned power outage for the Church on Wednesday 27th May between 9am - 5pm. Should this go ahead we will not have electricity into the church on that day. The office will be open but we will only be able to undertake limited activities.

The op shop provides a valuable and meaningful service to the community, but

We are in need of volunteers at the opshop on the following days: Monday mornings: Wednesday afternoons (urgent): Friday afternoon: and Saturday morning (urgent). If you would like to find out more about this opportunity, please contact Fr Joe or Isobelle through the church office.

With the assistance of the Diocesan Office, our parish wardens are currently negotiating the lease of a new premises to use as storage for the parish and to provide a venue for continuing our monthly garage sales once we are no longer operating the Anglican Community Centre in Leslie Street. More details will be provided soon.

John and Ken both passed to their eternal rest during this past week. Please uphold their families in your prayers at this time.

John's funeral will be held in the Bowra & O'Dea chapel, 460 Pinjarra Road, Greenfields, on Sunday, 17th May, at 10 am.

Our church bell will be rung half muffled this Sunday morning in memory of John, who was for many years a faithful supporter of the bellringers.

We will be holding an Ascension Day service in our church at 2 pm on Thursday, 14th May. All are welcome to join us in celebrating Christ’s ascension into heaven on the 40th day of Easter.

There will be an ordination service in the Cathedral in Bunbury on the morning of Saturday, 27th June. At this service, Michelle Collins will be ordained a deacon. At this stage, we do not know if there will be open seating or if this will be a ticketed event. If you would like to attend, seating permitted, please let the parish office know. We may be able to organise a bus if there is enough interest.

Bishop Ian Coutts has announced his retirement and will be laying up his staff at a service at the Cathedral on Saturday 29th August. More details will be provided as they come to hand.

Do you have family members or friends whose names you have given us for our prayer list? If so, would you provide an update to the parish office on whether it is appropriate for their name/s to remain on the list.

Bishop Ian will be retiring and “Laying up his staff” on 29th August 2026. Consequently, the Bishopric Nomination Committee has begun its work searching for a new Bishop. Parishes and Individuals are encouraged to submit the name of possible candidates in writing or by email to any member of the Committee or directly to the Diocesan Secretary, Jenny Duncan, at secretary@bunbury.org.au. The person’s name, their contact details, and a brief comment on why this person should be considered as a bishop should be included. Any Anglican Priest or Bishop (women and men) in good standing in the Anglican Communion are eligible for consideration.

The deadline for submissions is 14th June 2026.

During this time, you may care to use the following prayer:

Eternal God, shepherd and guide. In your mercy, give your church in this Diocese a shepherd after your own heart who will walk in your ways, and with loving care, watch over your people. Give us a leader of vision
and a teacher of your truth. So may your Church be built up and your name glorified; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (APBA 1995, p211, #35)

A memorial plaque has been installed on our Niche Wall, acknowledging Adrian's life and his time as a member of our parish. The plaque will be blessed in a short service at 9.30 am on Sunday, 31st May. All are welcome.

The Bookshop is looking for one or two new volunteers for one or two mornings per month. This could be you! Our Bookshop is small, but has a comprehensive range of material. We are open Mon - Fri 9 am to 12.30 pm on each weekday and Sunday morning between the close of the 8.15 am service and the start of the 10 am service. Training is available for you, and you would be with one of the volunteers for a few weeks before you are left on your own! We are an outreach Christian Bookshop in our community and the Bunbury Diocese. If you think you would like to be involved in this worthwhile Ministry, please let our parish Secretary, Wendy or the Bookshop Co-coordinator, Rita, know. We would love to hear from you.

Several of our parishioners have found it necessary to step back from their roster commitments for our services, and we are in need of assistance. We would also like to have a few people able to fill in from time to time. Please let Wendy know in the parish office if you can help with any of the following:

Saturday 5pm:
PowerPoint Operator, Reader

Sunday 7am:
PowerPoint Operator, Reader

Sunday 8.15am:
PowerPoint Operator, Welcomer,

Sides person
Sunday 10am: PowerPoint Operator, Welcomer, Sides person

On the afternoon of 16th May we will be hosting a visit by a group from St George’s Cathedral who are travelling down by train for a day in Mandurah. They will come to Christ’s Church for a prayer service and afternoon tea, with an opportunity to visit our bookshop, after which they will be travelling back to Perth.