Rise Ministries

9 May 2021 by Rev Dr Sarah Agnew in: Letters, Thoughts, News

Rise Ministries

From Rev Dr Sarah Agnew
Chaplain - Rise Ministries


Dear friends,  
I hope you are well. 
 
I write to share my joy at a new (voluntary) role I am taking on within the leadership team of a fresh expression of Christian community - Chaplain with Rise Ministries.  
 
My friends, many of you know of, and some have travelled with me through, my own experiments with the shape of church - Black Wood Jazz, The Esther Project - and leadership - Sarah tells stories. I learnt much during those 15 years, and I’m delighted to be able to bring that experience and learning to Rise Ministries in a capacity that suits my own gifts much better than 'founding entrepreneur' ever did! 
 
Uniting Church member Lauren Harkness is the founding entrepreneur of Rise Ministries, which is passionate about creating soul stirring spaces to encourage flourishing in life, faith, and business.
Lauren started Rise Retreats three years ago, out of a desire to hold space for women to be still and seek the Sacred together. 
Lauren is also a skilled event manager and network builder, gifts she expresses through Rise Events. 

Lauren found me through Pray the Story, which many of you will know is a weekly offering of poetic prayers I have been composing since 2017. Lauren asked for (and I readily gave) permission to use some of these prayers in an online month of mindfulness she led for the Rise community early in the Covid-19 lockdown last year. 
In October we met in person, and quickly found a deep connection through our commitment to contemplative, healing, prayerful community building. 
 
We are grateful for enthusiastic support from the Canberra Region Presbytery, who are partnering with Rise Ministries. We are about to give St Aidan’s church, Narrabundah, here in Canberra, a facelift to turn it into the Rise Ministries Sanctuary. 
 
Here will will gather and equip Rise Ambassadors to lead Rise retreats and support women around the country, and beyond. We will gather women in business to facilitate their support of one another, especially small business owners for whom such a vocation is often a lonely one. We will welcome practitioners to the Sanctuary who will nurture the wellbeing of women through music, meditation, creativity, story, and prayer. 
 
I am excited! 
 
It’s a partnership, so Rise Ministries will need to contribute to the running costs of the building, as well as meeting other running costs. 
It’s a new endeavour, and its founder and director needs a salary after simply covering costs for its early years of vision and taking the risk. 
Rise Ministries is developing, growing in the depth and breadth of its connections, relationships of support, nurture, healing. 
 
This is certainly exciting, and it is also daunting, with the financial underpinning required for such innovative community building. 
 
Are you excited by the possibilities for Rise Ministries to encourage flourishing in life, faith, and business? 
 
Would you like to help? 
 
We are inviting individuals, congregations, groups to become benefactors with one-off or regular donations. Please consider becoming a Rise Benefactor if you are able, and/or do please extend this invitation to your congregation, group, friends, and networks. 
 
Please find that invitation attached HERE, and if you have any questions about Rise Ministries, how we can support you, how you can be involved, or about becoming a benefactor, I would love to hear from you.  
 
Sarah 
 
Rev Dr Sarah Agnew
Chaplain 

Rise Ministries
riseministries.com.au