Local Church News

Whenever two or three people gather to eat and drink together as part of worship, café church is happening. Dianne Jensen talks to three Queensland congregations exploring fresh forms of this ancient model of being church. It’s family friendly, low key, and a lot harder to slip into the back row unnoticed. Café church is a contemporary reimagining of a ...

Logan Central Multicultural Uniting Church has launched an appeal to support Ilai Maloloi and his family after a fire devastated their family home last week, destroying everything. “Fire is the disaster that does not discriminate,” said Ilai, who is a Tongan elder at the church. “No matter where we live or the age and condition of our homes, there is ...

Sometimes life really is a picnic. Dianne Jensen finds out why Redlands for Refugees is bringing asylum seekers and ordinary Aussies together over sausages, salad and plenty of cake. It’s hard to imagine a better place to escape the city than Moreton Bay. And among those enjoying a Sunday afternoon of food and conversation are locals from Redlands for Refugees, ...

Rewarding opportunities can await ministry partners willing to venture beyond the city lights, as Dianne Jensen discovered on the moderator’s recent trip to the outback. Rev Jenny Coombes and her husband Peter had plenty of time to consider the pros and cons of moving to Longreach on the long drive to meet congregation members. Newly ordained, Jenny had asked for ...

Choirs are becoming less common in Uniting Church congregations, but some communities are continuing this proud tradition. Rohan Salmond writes. While church music is trending toward more band-focused music style, some congregations are maintaining their choirs because of the opportunities for community building, outreach and enriching worship on a Sunday morning. Adele Nisbet is choral director of Saint Andrew’s Uniting ...

On the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, church op shops are bridging the gap between congregations and the community. Ashley Thompson speaks with volunteers from the Mudgeeraba and Mooloolaba Uniting Church op shops. If you find yourself browsing through the eclectic treasure of Mudgeeraba Uniting Church Community Care Op Shop on a weekday morning around ten, it’s likely you’ll be invited into ...

A visit from the Dalai Lama brought Brisbane’s civic and religious leaders together in June at a multifaith service of prayer for world peace. Rohan Salmond reports. The moderator of the Uniting Church Queensland Synod has gathered with the Dalai Lama along with Brisbane’s other religious and civic leaders at St Stephen’s Cathedral for a multifaith service of prayers for ...

St Lucia Uniting Church minster Rev Peter Lockhart speaks with Ashley Thompson about the Uniting Church’s place in the crowded ministry of university chaplaincy. A mere five minute drive from the University of Queensland’s main campus, St Lucia Uniting Church is perfectly situated to minister to nearly 1200 young adults residing in Uniting Church–affiliated colleges: Emmanuel, Grace, Kings, Cromwell and ...

Lorna Rickert’s commitment to her local Eastern Downs congregation is so great she has served it almost as long as it has been open. Ashley Thompson writes. Born in Toowoomba hospital the year of the Anzac (1915), Lorna Jane Rickert grew up in the town of Nobby—a community of barely 400 people. “I married my neighbour—that is what kept me ...

Why do you do the things you do? Ashley Thompson talks to Ashgrove West and Deception Bay Uniting Churches about how to cultivate a mission-orientated church culture. Whether you realise it or not every church has a culture. Framed by the vision, values and systems of its members, this culture is often buried beneath the reflexive answer “That’s just the ...