May 7 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Building Healthy Church Communities
A Residency with Rev Joan Wright Howie
4–8 May 2026 | Western Australia
Join the Uniting Centre for Education and Formation for a series of practical and reflective workshops with Rev. Joan Wright Howie, Uniting Church minister, spiritual director, supervisor, and PhD candidate. Joan’s research explores what spiritually informed care looks like in practice, and throughout this residency she brings these insights into conversation with the real experiences of church communities.
Being the Uniting Church: Exploring Spirituality and Religion
Thursday 7 May at Baylife Uniting Church, Busselton
Cost $15
As church congregations become smaller, an increasing number of people identify as spiritual but not religious. How can the Uniting Church community engage in meaningful conversations about spirituality and its connection with religion?
In this session, Joan will share insights from her research to help local communities reflect on what it means to be church and how we might shape a future where spirituality and religion inform one another.
Registrations
Registrations are available soon.
Members and leaders of Uniting Church congregations across Western Australia are warmly invited to participate in these sessions. Each workshop offers space for learning, reflection, and practical tools to support healthy church communities, pastoral care, and faithful engagement with the challenges of ministry today.
For enquiries contact the Uniting Centre for Education and Formation – [email protected]
About Rev Joan Wright Howie
Joan is a Uniting Church minister with 30 years of experience in congregational leadership, project development and educational settings. She is currently a PhD candidate exploring the attributes of spiritually informed care and developing a model of it. Joan has a private practice and has trained both supervisors and spiritual directors for many years. She lives with her husband, David, in Melbourne and has three independent children. Joan loves swimming in the ocean, gardening and going for long walks with friends.
Joan is a Uniting Church minister living in Melbourne.