Opinion

Exactly two years, two months and two days after the terrible floods of January 2011, the people of Laidley, west of Brisbane, were inundated once again. But while the flood waters swept away so much, they couldn't take the community's spirit. Laidley Uniting Church minister Euan McDonald reflects on the months that followed. Our church still has many reminders of ...

The Year of Discipleship is part of the Uniting Church in Queensland's Vision 2020, focusing on the call to form active and accountable disciples of all ages. Mel Perkins reminds us that we are all 'works in progress' on the discipleship journey. Life throws up many challenges that get us thinking about faith, and sometimes being a disciple is hard. ...

I visited Alex a few times after I had conducted his wife's funeral. He recalled being in school one hot afternoon in Rockhampton when a man came running through the grounds announcing, "The war is over! The war is over!" The man continued on his way, jumping over fences and running through back yards to let everyone know that the ...

One of the things I love about the Uniting Church is the long-standing commitment of its members to support the marginalised and to work for peace and justice. These values are woven into the fabric of the Uniting Church in Australia. We see this in the formation of services like Lifeline, which celebrated 50 years in March (page 14). After ...

Uniting Church Army chaplain John Saunders was out jogging at Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), en route to Afghanistan, when he heard an imam singing the call to prayer. The sun had not yet come up over the desert horizon when I heard the call. It was then that a plan dropped into my head ...

The national apology for past forced adoption, held in Canberra on 21 March, was a day of high emotion, says Trevor Jordan. I never met the woman who gave birth to me. She had died two years before I located my sister, who looked after her for the last eleven years of her life. I still have not brought myself ...

As I have thought about our nation and the devastation experienced by so many from droughts, fires, floods, storms and cyclones I have been wondering what does resurrection look like for those people? The signs of ruin abound – cracked earth of outback properties, scorched earth blackened and sheds melted and mangled, paddocks strewn with debris, the once productive orchards ...

The Year of Discipleship is part of the Uniting Church in Queensland's Vision 2020, focusing on the call to form active and accountable disciples of all ages. Easter has much to do with discipleship, says Chris Walker. Who will we decide to follow when it really counts? The heart of Christianity is Easter. This is seen by the space each ...

For me, the season of Lent is about making space and time to reflect on my life with God. In some ways this runs counter to the pace of life around us. Most organisations have just resumed meeting after the long break over the summer holidays. They are building momentum, working on the goals for the year, reviewing strategic plans ...

UnitingForChange is a new online engagement project launched by UnitingCare Australia. Below is the first article in The Things that Matter series, by UnitingCare Australia National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds. One of the persistent causes of poverty in Australia in recent years is the steep rise in electricity prices. In this election year, a priority for UnitingCare Australia is to ...