Rural Chaplains Gather

The Rural Chaplains of NSW Network meets twice a year (my editor, Sue, tells me that the correct word is “biannually” but I can never remember if that is every 6 months or every two years!) in different places, and this time we were hosted by the Salvation Army Rural Chaplains in West Wyalong. There were chaplains from the Salvation Army, the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church and of course, the Uniting Church.

These meetings are always great times of fellowship, sharing and developing ways we can work together. This time we had a focus on natural disasters and how we can coordinate recovery and pastoral efforts across the denominations. We had sessions with the Ministry for Police and Emergency Services and the Rural Fire Service that helped to broaden our understanding of how the various systems work and how Chaplains can be effective at these times. We also talked about where various denominations were putting their efforts after the fires in January, places that are not currently being covered and how we could coordinate what we were doing

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As always I came away from the meeting praising God for faithful people from all the denominations who are as passionate about those living in the bush as I am, and who are just as committed to be the People of God in whatever places we find ourselves.

Nolene and Les Barrass, Salvation Army Rural Chaplains based in West Wyalong