St Albans Uniting Church
OUR HISTORY
JOURNEYING IN FAITH
(24 years in the life and ministry of St. Albans Uniting Church)
The beginnings of St. Albans Uniting Church (SAUCA) can be traced from 25th February 1992 when five families gathered at the Brooklyn Uniting Church as an ecumenical fellowship. After three years, the Synod of Victoria in the Uniting Church received our congregation in the UCA on the 5th of February 1995. We have been on a pilgrimage worshipping in a succession of UCA parishes from Brooklyn, Gamon Street, Altona and Laverton before we got settled here in St. Albans, moving into our current new building with a sanctuary and social hall. On 29th October 2000, the congregation of St. Albans and the Filipino Uniting Church joined as one congregation to become what is now the St. Albans Uniting Church. On the 7th of September 2003, some families pioneered a worship service outreach in Caroline Springs and gave birth to what is now the Sydenham-Caroline Springs UCA.
Sisters and brothers from the Pacific Islands and Vietnamese in the Uniting Church started joining the growing SAUCA congregation to be what it is today.
We worship in English and Pilipino at St. Albans and Sydenham with a continuing ministry in Burnside. Our young people have established a thriving youth group cultivating a passion for music and are active participants in the Next Generation ministry of the Victoria and Tasmania Synod of UCA. They also animate the church bands that play during praise and worship preparing the congregation for worship. We also have the Shalom Choir with members coming from Sydenham-Caroline Springs that occasionally hold concerts during Christmas, Easter and other church occasions.
The members of the Vietnamese congregation worship at 3:00 pm every Sunday, while the Pilipino (Tagalog) services are held every 1st and 3rd Sundays.
There are home Bible study groups in Hoppers Crossing, Broadmeadows-Craigieburn, St. Albans, and Werribee which provides nourishment and fellowship in faith. We actively support Uniting World global mission, Share Appeal, Lentara Uniting Care, and three community-based projects in the Philippines in Tondo, Sampaloc and San Andres Bukid with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, United Methodist Church in the Philippines, and the IEMELIF Church community ministries. We try to be an active voice for justice especially on issues in the Philippines, and we continue to hold our home churches close to our hearts and support them in practical ways.
We are saying goodbye to the Reverend James Murray, who has served us as Minister-of-the Word since the last quarter of 2011 at a Service of Release on Sunday, 14th February 2016.
This year marks our 24 years of ministry and service. As we gather and celebrate, we give thanks to God for great is His faithfulness. We offer our thanks to God for opportunities in ministry as we grow in faith and service to the wider community and the world.
We say “Mabuhay ang St. Albans Uniting Church” as we continue in our faith journey blessed by God, our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
