Side by side

 Have you ever heard of the analogy about porcupines being like family?

They need to be close to each other because they need to share the body heat each one generates in order to survive.

But if they get too close, it becomes a severely limiting factor because their needles would pierce each other’s skin.

The Uniting Church is very much a family.

And, like a family as it expands and grows, we conti nue to fi nd new ways of being, new ways of supporting each other and new ways to strike the right balance between being close enough to keep each other warm, but independent enough to allow us to grow.

As our congregations, schools, community services, synods and Assembly continue to change shape, we are supported in our shared journey by the family to which we belong.

We are side by side and in relationship with each other, holding hands and walking slightly diff erent paths but facing and moving in the same direction.

Wesley Mission Brisbane is very much a child of the Uniting Church in Queensland.

Borne out of the services Albert Street Methodist Church in Brisbane City offered the community more than 160 years ago, it has evolved into the organisati on it is today, offering support and assistance to every age group, working hard to provide the expert support people need.

It is because of the almost 2000 staff and 700 volunteers who tirelessly pursue a vision of a compassionate, just and inclusive society that the missional objectives of Albert Street Uniting Church continue to change the lives of Queenslanders in need.

And it is because of our Uniting Church family – the family we come from and who we walk with side by side – that we are in a position to continue setting audacious goals and meeting such enormous need in our community.