Pacific Islanders prominent in the Uniting Church

Our Uniting Church birthday service was at St Andrews' East Geelong, led by ministers - Rev Sani (from Samoa) and Rev Ikani (from Tonga). The Pacific Islanders are keeping the church alive it seems! Five congregations gathered together. It was formal with the addition of a play, a gospel action chorus by the Uniting youth (a Samoan slap dance) a lovely choir piece by people from Leopold, and instead of a sermon the two ministers engaged in a conversation about the two lectionary readings. The organist who is about 95 played the excellent pipe organ, a Fincham ,and still knows which stops to pull out! Afterwards we had a shared lunch in the hall and there was lots of talanoa with catching up with friends.