Creating Community with Connection and Kindness
“We have quite a lot of our lovely students running around wearing a school shirt, or a new school hat, or a warm school jacket in winter, with thanks to Salt Community Church,” says Lake Cathie Public School principal, Jock Garven. Photo | Ainslee Dennis
Creating and caring for community is the tenet on which Lake Cathie Public School and Salt Community Church collaborate to help people, and it is enriching the lives of many families during times of need.
Lake Cathie Public School opened its doors to students in 2015 and to Salt Community Church in 2016. Principal Jock Garven says the partnership is positively impacting the school community. How did it begin?
Marty Dures and the team came to me several years ago with the idea of forming Salt Community Church. It was the ‘community’ in their title that really brought home that there was an opportunity for a partnership. We are a community facility as a public school, and we provide the opportunity for community groups to use the facilities when we are not teaching the children between 8.30am and 3.30pm every day. We have two church groups who use the school, Salt Community Church and Camden Haven Anglican Church.
Salt Community Church members gather in the school hall every Sunday from 4pm for a relaxed but reverent service. Photo | Salt Community Church
How is Salt Community Church supporting the growing Lake Cathie Public School community of children and their families?
It's amazing to see the give back to our school community. Financially every year Salt Community Church provide quite a substantial amount of money to use at my discretion with our Wellbeing Team to support families who might need assistance with excursions, school supplies, and in particular, the simple requirement of a school uniform.
“It is important to help children to feel they are part of everything that goes on in our lovely school ...”
It is important to help children to feel they are part of everything that goes on in our lovely school, and that includes showing personal and collective pride in wearing the school uniform. Some families can't afford all of the extras that come along with the cost of schooling. We are a public school and do try to keep our costs down to a minimum, but sometimes it’s just not possible for some families to buy what is needed. We have quite a lot of our lovely students running around wearing a school shirt, or a new school hat, or a warm school jacket in winter, with thanks to Salt Community Church.
“Salt gives the school added resources … more hands and feet. We want to be on board with things they do to raise money. We are a team who are behind them and add to their power,” says Ness Dures. Photo | Ainslee Dennis
Obviously with bushfire activity last year and the impact of drought on our rural families, things were certainly very, very uncomfortable for many people. There are also a lot of families in our area where both children and adults are showing greater presentations of mental health concerns and experiencing a feeling of isolation from the community.
“That gesture of a Christmas hamper means the world, not for what’s in the basket, but for what the sentiment means. ”
One of the loveliest things that I get to do every year to help families is just before Christmas. Marty and the team ask me to think carefully on the families in our school who are doing it tough. I then get to make a lovely phone call to 10 families and say, ‘Hey, we've got this lovely group, Salt Community Church, that uses the school facilities and one of the things that they like to do is just touch base and make sure families within our wider community are OK, and this year, if it's OK with you, would you be happy to receive some Christmas cheer in the form of a lovely Christmas hamper delivered to your door, no strings attached, with the message, Merry Christmas?’
We have received a lot of teary responses on the phone when there is this lovely recognition that people are thinking about others … that gesture of a Christmas hamper means the world, not for what's in the basket, but for what the sentiment means.
Salt Community Church uses the school for its 4pm service each Sunday. Do its members contribute to the school community in any other way?
Principal Jock Garven (left) with Salt Community Church leadership team members pastor David McDonald, and Ness and Marty Dures. Photo | Ainslee Dennis
Anytime we have an activity that involves the general school community and wider community, Salt are on board - they will provide manpower, they've come and done gardening days for us, and taken part in fundraising activities.
As a community church they have a goal to provide more than just a religious connection to community, and we have a goal to provide more than just an educational connection to community - we hope to create connections that allow all of our families, who may from time-to-time feel a little bit lost, or children that feel isolated, perhaps due to a reliance on social media - to know we are thinking of them, and to encourage people to come out of their homes, and to join whatever is going on at the school, whether that is with Salt Community Church, the karate clubs, or the local cricket and netball clubs that also use our facilities … just come out and connect with community.
Marty Dures is animated and passionate when he speaks of the positive relationships that have grown from Salt’s collaboration with the school community. Photo | Ainslee Dennis
Marty Dures is part of the Salt Community Church leadership team. What do you value about the collaboration with Lake Cathie Public School?
Marty: When Salt started one of its big passions was to do stuff within the community that actually meant something to the community. We wanted to create something that was real, relevant, relaxed but reverent. We didn’t just want to be a little enclave of people that loved God and Jesus, we wanted to serve people, to be His hands and feet in the community, and Jock has given us that opportunity.
“We wanted to create something that was real, relevant, relaxed but reverent. ”
So while Jesus was doing things of God and eternity, he also addressed the practical needs of people, and some of the things we do are hopefully doing that. We are also responding to the conviction that church is more than just meeting together for an hour once a week, it's actually living in community as Christians and being relevant and responsive to the broader community as well.
Salt Community Church meets at Lake Cathie Public School at 4pm on Sunday. To learn more visit saltcommunitychurch.org.au
David McDonald is the Salt Community Church pastor, and author of ‘Hope Beyond Cure’, an intimate insight into his fight to survive Stage 4 lung cancer. Click to learn more. Photo | Ainslee Dennis
