Gordon-Pymble Uniting Church (GPUC), located on Sydney’s North Shore, has been an integral part of the local community for over 40 years. The church has long focused on promoting social connectedness through faith and creativity, offering a wide range of activities such as art, craft, Mahjong, and current affairs discussions.
In 2024, GPUC launched the Creativity Centre to offer highschoolers a space where they can explore their identity and express themselves through creative mediums. The centre aims to provide a supportive environment that encourages young people to connect with themselves and others. At its core, the Creativity Centre believes that art can inspire, provoke thought, and serve as a powerful tool for self-expression and connection.
The Creativity Centre officially began in Term 3 with after-school tutoring sessions every Wednesday. Activities included hip hop dancing, art, singing, podcasting, and jazz, all taught by a talented team of tutors.
One of the more recent workshops in January 2025 featured “Character Design,” where students had the opportunity to create and design their own characters. Another popular session, “Sing Your Hearts Out,” led by tutor Joanna Murphy, allowed students to explore various musical genres such as Motown, musical theatre, folk, and pop. The highlights of the programme was the “Costume Making” workshop, which taught students the fundamentals of designing and creating their own costumes – how exciting!
Wren Thomas, the art tutor at the Creativity Centre, shared her approach to teaching: “My aim for my art classes was to create a pressure-free environment where our students could explore art and develop their skills at their own pace. During the first six months…, I worked with two sisters from Western Australia, helping them understand what they wanted to learn and their longer-term goals with art. We explored a vast number of techniques and materials like resin, jewellery, clay, fabric and much more. It was fantastic to see how enthusiastically the girls approached each new material and how much fun they had each week.”
Wren also recently took on the role of Creativity Centre Coordinator, where she hopes to continue developing the centre into a space where young people feel supported. “I’m excited to bring my ideas and passion to this role and look forward to seeing the centre grow,” she said.
Rev. Karen Mitchell-Lambert, Minister at Gordon Pymble Uniting Church reflected on the journey of the Creativity Centre: “The centre has grown in ways we didn’t initially expect. Although we envisioned a self-sustaining model, we’ve been guided to a group of young people who, despite financial barriers, deeply value the sense of belonging the centre provides.”
Looking ahead, GPUC has exciting events planned including Cosplay workshops in May and August for Supernova and Oz Comic Con. The Creativity Centre will continue offering primary school creativity days and after-school workshops for highschoolers. A student exhibition featuring emerging Aboriginal artists Beniah and Hazel is scheduled for 21st February.
GPUC’s journey with the Creativity Centre has been a path of growth, not without it’s challenges. Yet, despite the hurdles, Rev. Karen shares her inspiring advice for other congregations involved in mission work: ” Taking a step in faith is scary and doing mission is making mistakes, you are not going to know for sure if your assumptions are correct until you test them, but it is testing them and discovering your wrong that you learn so much more. That has certainly been the case for us, but it has also made it so much easier for God to lead us.”
For more details and to register for the Creativity Centre, visit here. For information on all other activities at GPUC, visit their website.
