Another summer camp for the New Church in Australia has come and gone, and everyone who attended will carry the wonderful memories of this gathering for many years to come. Hosted by Rev. Julian Duckworth and the Roseville Society, the Elanora Camp set a standard of excellence for the new millennium. The camp also probably set a couple of records: one for the most New Church ministers per capita of any previous camp (8 ministers out of 95 attendees), and the second for the most dramas in one camp (in the good, not the negative sense of that word!). But more on that later.

Around 95 New Church friends from Australia, New Zealand and the United States gathered at the beautiful Elanora Conference Centre, Elanora Heights, NSW for 6 days and nights of worship, learning and fellowship. Located 21 kms north of Sydney, Elanora is situated near Narrabeen, one of Sydney's northern beaches. Also the site of the 1990 Family Camp, the Elanora Conference Centre provided excellent accommodations in a beautiful bushland setting. Although we were close to suburban dwellings, it seemed miles from hectic city life.

Family Camp 2000 Theme

The theme for this year's camp was "A New Beginning," chosen to reflect the new millennium and a renewed focus on the beautiful and distinctive teachings of the Lord's New Church. The program featured a wide variety of programs and special events offered by a slate of 8 ministers, most of whom attended with their wives. Camp staff included Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton from Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (with wife Henrietta); Revs Ian Arnold from Adelaide (with wife Margaret); David Ayers from Hurstville (with wife Darcy); Julian Duckworth from Roseville, Sydney (with wife Ruth); Trevor Moffatt from Perth (with wife Joy); Dick Keyworth from Auckland, New Zealand; Les Sheppard from Brisbane (with wife Bev); and Candidate/Leader Chris Skinner from Melbourne (with wife Margaret).

Daily Schedule

By Monday evening, most of the campers had arrived in time for the opening welcome session, when Julian welcomed everyone, loosened us up with some entertaining ice-breaking activities, and set the schedule for the week. The camp proper began on Tuesday morning, with every day until Sunday filled with educational, inspirational and recreational activities.

Every day began with the camp crier awakening everyone (almost - and this number dwindled as the week went on!) for breakfast. In case his gentle prodding didn't do the trick, we were all roused by the roving pot-banger summoning us to 8:00 a.m. breakfast. After breakfast, the morning continued with worship, followed by a Family Session. The ministers took turns leading the worship. Family sessions were led by Dick, who spoke on "Charity," Trevor who led a presentation on the "Languages of Love," Ian (with help from Les) on the "Story of Naaman," and Les on "Where is the Church?" After a break, groups organized by age filled out the morning. Adult sessions included sessions by Ian on the "Book of Revelation," Alfred on "The Laws of Divine Providence," Julian on "Celestial Matters," and Chris on "The Glorification." Dave led the older teens/young adults in a week-long study titled "Living With Eternity in Mind." The younger teen and pre-teen groups tackled a variety of topics led by Les, Chris, Alfred, Julian, Trevor and Dick. The younger children undertook a creative program run by Ruth Duckworth and assistants. Their work was displayed during the week on the walls of the dining area.

After lunch, campers were free each afternoon to participate in group recreational activities, or relax on their own. We reconvened each late afternoon in groups to read and discuss a work of the Writings. Included were groups led by Trevor on Conjugial Love, Alfred on Various Life Issues and the Writings, and Les on De Verbo. Based on his years of experience as an Air Force and Commercial Airliner pilot for Qantas, Rob Hart also offered a fascinating insiders' look at the Qantas airliner crash in Thailand.

Following dinner, evenings included a variety of activities. Tuesday - rehearsal for the Sunday Pageant Service; Wednesday - an accordion concert by favourite Helmut Lopaczuk; Thursday - rehearsal for Sunday Pageant Service, and free play; Friday - special play written by Norman Heldon and directed by Margaret Heldon; Saturday - talent show. Each evening closed with a simple vespers service. Afterwards, many tired souls found their way to their cabin bunks, while some of the more intrepid (and mostly younger campers) stayed up well into the night/morning.

Recreational Activities

This year featured a wide variety of afternoon group and individual recreational possibilities, including an Ultimate Frisbee demonstration, put on by John St. Quintin from the Roseville Society on Tuesday; a riverboat cruise on the Hawkesbury River on Wednesday; outings to Manly to sample the waterfront, shops, and attractions or Homebush to visit the Olympic Site and swim at the Aquatic Centre on Thursday; and a visit to the nearby Bahai Temple on Saturday. On Friday afternoon Joel Duckworth shared his budding interest in flying by teaching us how to construct hot air balloons, and then launching them over the next hour or so. On Thursday evening the annual Mini-Olympics was held, with teams pursuing victory in events such as the egg toss and tug-of-war. The winning team enjoyed prizes donated by the Bryn Athyn College of the New Church.

Those who wished to take a more leisurely and individual use of their down time could take advantage of the swimming pool, beach volleyball court and nearby bush walks. Of course the bunks were not far away for those who needed to recharge their batteries with a much-needed nap.

The Saturday night talent show was highly entertaining, with many people sharing their skills and talents. Without intending to leave anyone out, some of the acts included: guitar and vocal music provided by Merle Talyor and Dick Keyworth; a vocal performance by Tammy Keal; a cooking/poetry exhibition by Norm Heldon; keyboard, violin and vocal numbers by David and Julian Duckworth; an inspirational one-man drama about the plight of a South African black living under Apartheid by Blair Milan of Roseville; verse by budding poet Cor Visser-Marchant; more accordion playing by Helmut Lopaczuk; a hilarious skit called "Jimmy the Lizard" put on by Trevor Moffat and Dick Keyworth which offered a lizards-eye-view of campers and camp actitivities; and an equally hilarious "Antique Car" skit put on by David Booth, Len and Judy Robinson, Owen Heldon, Margaret and Chris Skinner, Joy Moffatt and Wayne Kasmar; a Marvellous Magician act by 7 year old Taylor Rogers and a recitation of humorous English verse by Margaret Skinner. This very successful show ended with a humorous camp song written and performed by many of the camp's young people.

The annual table tennis tournament was a hard-fought battle, with last year's finalists Cameron Robinson, Toby Gospodarczyk and newcomer/import Dave Ayers emerging as the three bracket winners. The three-way final was played early on Sunday morning, with Dave emerging as the winner (striking a blow for the older generation and the pastoral staff who were wiped out in earlier rounds last year!)

Click here to view pictures of Fun and Recreational activities at the Camp

Dramatic Performances

1. "A New Beginning"

If one were forced to pick one or two highlights of this camp, they must be the high quality dramatic events we were privileged to witness and participate in. On Friday night we watched the wonderful debut of "A New Beginning, " a play written by Norm Heldon, which was adapted from one of his short stories. This drama told the beautiful and touching story of a young woman dying of cancer, her friendship with a young male artist who had been disfigured in an accident and their reunion in heaven after death. Norman and his production team faced many challenges in staging "A New Beginning," but the results were outstanding. Margaret Heldon did her usual top-notch job in directing the play and coordinating the week-long effort leading up to the performance. The players included Angela Heldon, Joel Duckworth, Darcy Ayers, and Michael Zarb, all of who did a great job. Donna and Michelle Heldon produced some incredible original paintings for props and the scenic backdrop. Ralph Horner did a wonderful job of designing and building much of the set, and came up with ingenious methods of solving some major challenges. Luckily, the performance was captured on video, so we can enjoy it in years to come. Everyone who attended the one-time performance will not soon forget it.

Click here to view pictures of the play A New Beginning

Click here to read the text of the play A New Beginning

2. A Pageant of Drama and Song

The second drama was a Pageant Worship Service that involved the entire camp population. The service was the brainchild of Rev. Julian Duckworth, who envisioned dramatic representations of some of Swedenborg's memorable spiritual experiences that would provide a shared focus for the entire week, and form the basis for the closing service on Sunday morning.

Julian and Rev. David Ayers chose and scripted seven memorable relations, each to be depicted by a group of campers. The spiritual experiences included "Ideas of the Afterlife," "Those Wearing Hats and Those Wearing Caps," "The Spiritual Sense of the Word and How It Is Protected By The Lord," "Our Delights Are Changed After Death Into Things That Correspond," "A Marriage In Heaven," "If We Want To Know What Heaven and Hell Are Like We Should Enquire Into Our Delights," and "Examples of Self-Merit."

If that were not enough to involve everyone, Julian also composed eight original songs that were sung in between each dramatic depiction. These songs brought a powerful and beautiful unity to the service, and added immensely to what was already a moving worship experience. Julian is an immensely talented man, who combines his love of the doctrines with his passion for music. Thank you Julian. Your contributions made this a camp to remember.

Click here to view a picture of Julian and his wife Ruth

Family Camp 2001

Next year's camp will be held at the Arrabri Lodge in Warburton, Victoria. Located in the foothills of the mountains outside Melbourne, the camp was held there in 1997. This will be a special camp, as Chris Skinner will be ordained during the week. Details will follow in coming months. We hope to see everyone there next year!

Bishop Acton's Visit

Bishop Alfred Acton and wife Henrietta departed for Perth on 19 January after spending 11 days visiting the Hurstville Society. We were fortunate to have Alfred and Henrietta with us for so long, especially during Family Camp 2000. They made a great impact on the Society, and we are richer for having gotten to know them better. The Actons spent time in Hurstville as part of a larger circuit trip, which saw them travel first to Chinese Taipei, where Alfred was invited as a guest lecturer, to Hurstville, then on to Perth, Auckland New Zealand, Hawaii, Los Angeles and then back to Pennsylvania. Alfred was assigned to visit Australia as part of his duties as Assistant to Bishop Peter Buss. We hope to host both Alfred and Henrietta again some time in the future. Next year would be good!

Click here to view a picture of Bishop Acton and his wife Henrietta

New Distance Learning Courses Offered

The Academy of the New Theological School is offering two new distance learning courses for the Spring Term (March 13-May 22) as parts of its Masters of Arts in Religious Studies program. The new courses are:

* Theology 514: Doctrine of the Lord (Rev. Chris Bown)

* Education 525: History and Development of New Church Education (Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton)

Classes begin the week of March 13 and continue until the week of May 22 (the week before Memorial Day weekend in the USA). Sometimes e-mail is part of a course, but the basic weekly format is for distance learning students to participate in the classes as they meet in Bryn Athyn, by means of telephone conference calls (once a week for three hours, usually late afternoon or evening).

Contact Alaine York about enrolling in the M.A. program or for Spring courses. Tel: 215-938-2640 or e-mail: afyork@newchurch.edu

Young People's Camp 2000: Purley Chase, England

The young people of the Lord's worldwide New Church are invited to a week of Millennium celebration from 29 July - 5 August, 2000. Sponsored by the British New Church Federation, Camp 2000 will be held at Purley Chase, in the wooded heart of England.

Anyone interested in attending can contact

newchurch.coll@zen.co.uk or

Camp 2000 Committee
New Church College
25 Radcliffe New Road
Manchester, England M26 1LE

People News

Congratulations to Scott Lockhart and Kimberly Turner, who were married on Sydney Harbour aboard the three-deck Matilda II on 22 January. This was a memorable occasion in a beautiful setting with the service being conducted by Rev David Ayers. Scott and Kimberly will be living in Randwick, NSW. We hope to see them around!

Click here for a picture of the happy couple

Welcome back to Hurstville organist Konnie Kotowski, who returned from a month-long holiday with her family, where they travelled to Queensland and elsewhere in Australia.

Welcome to Kyra Hendricks, who is visiting Australia for the next six months. Kyra is a good friend of Carolyn Heldon, with whom she will stay in Loftus. Kyra is planning to spend a working holiday Down Under. We look forward to getting to know her better.

Murray Heldon is back to his globetrotting ways. Just back from a business trip to China, he is planning to visit Norway and Perth within the next month.

We enjoyed seeing Rebekah Horner and her son Koburn during January, especially as they were able to attend the entire Family Camp. They have both returned to Tamworth. Also attending camp with two youngsters was Sylvia Hicks who brought along grandsons Braden and Riley who proved to be a big hit with everyone.

Changes of Address

Mr Don Macfarlane, 50 Roberta St, Tumbi Umbi NSW 2261 (Central Coast) (phone number to be advised)

Search the Writings on the Internet

A valuable tool for searching the Writings is now available on the Internet. Anyone with a personal computer and an Internet connection can access the powerful search program Newsearch by pointing their browsers at http://www.ns98.org

Can't afford a set of Pott's Concordance? Don't worry Newsearch on the Internet is free! The results of a search for a word or phrase can be displayed in a choice of two English translations or Swedenborg's original Latin (and you can switch between them at the click of the mouse). The program is quite intuitive and can be mastered in only a few minutes of use. However if you need it there is a Help function to explain anything you can't work out easily. Anyone wishing to write a paper or article (or submit something to this Newsletter!) can easily copy and paste quotes into their word processing program and save retyping. Students at the Bryn Athyn College make regular use of this program in their religion courses.

Newsearch is also available on CD from the Bryn Athyn church for a charge of $US25 if you find yourself using the program for hours on end and don't wish to use up all your Internet hours. However the CD version only works on the Windows operating system whereas the Internet version works equally well on all personal computers.

Happy Birthday to Cybelle Liporoni (8th), John Hicks (9th), Carly Ayers (9th), Mike Lockhart (11th), Anne Lawrence (21st), and Kathryn Kennedy (24th).

Click here to return to Newsletter Index