Features

It’s 2016, the working world has changed and “traditional” marriage roles no longer exist. Ashley Thompson explores what it means to be today’s face of the minister’s partner. It was difficult to find people willing to speak to Journey about the challenges of being a minister’s spouse. Understandably, those who aren’t retired were not comfortable publicly voicing the strains ministry ...

Each week hundreds of Christian, Baha’i, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim volunteers provide religious instruction to students in Queensland state primary schools. Should objections to one particular program lead to unprecedented intervention from Education Queensland? Mardi Lumsden explores. In early June, religious instruction (RI) at Windsor State School in Brisbane’s north was suspended for the third time since 2014. Principal Matthew ...

Ten of the eleven victims slept soundly as fire engulfed their Slacks Creek home on a cold winter’s night in 2011. Five years on, Ashley Thompson visits the Lale family of Sunnybank Uniting Church to remember their loss and celebrate their future. Often described as Australia’s worst house fire, the exact cause of the blaze, which ripped through the Lale ...

The Uniting Church in Australia may be a leading light when it comes to gender equality in leadership but we still have some way to go. Ashley Thompson talks to five key church leaders at UnitingWomen 2016 about how we can fully annihilate the glass ceiling. Shift your thinking  Colleen Geyer is the newly appointed general secretary of the Assembly, ...

Former ABC broadcaster Julie McCrossin is a familiar voice to the Australian public. Ashley Thompson turns the microphone around to find out more about her unsung faith journey. A self-described “refugee from Sydney Anglicanism”, Julie McCrossin has found a home in South Sydney Uniting Church. Her appearance on ABC TV’s special all-Christian Q&A panel and facilitation of the UnitingWomen conference ...

How carefully do we think before we exercise our democratic responsibilities by voting? Do we simply vote for the party we have always voted for? It’s hard to avoid simply following the agenda laid out by political parties and played out in the media. How can we hold politicians and political parties to account for those equally important policy decisions ...

Enriching dialogue and diversity reigned at the 32nd Synod meeting (20–24 May) while future directions were confirmed. The Journey team was there to cover the event. The Alexandra Park Conference Centre on the Sunshine Coast was packed with hundreds of Uniting Church members from across Queensland. The tea urns were switched on and the blue and orange cards were ready ...

At the tail end of a two-month speaking tour of Australia, Ashley Thompson catches up with British author and poet Adrian Plass to reflect on his last 29 years of unintended ministry. It’s been almost 30 years since Adrian Plass broke through the silence of church niceties with brutal, hilarious honesty. Bracing for “evangelicals with pitchforks” upon the release of ...

Dr Livingstone, I presume? Forget images of formally clad white missionaries venturing into deepest Africa, the modern missionary could be easily mistaken for a local as they blend seamlessly into the culture of their hosts. Dianne Jensen reports. Anyone from a student to a mid-life professional to a retired tradie can become a missionary with UnitingWorld, the overseas relief and ...

Every weekend someone, somewhere is having a garage sale. And who can resist the allure of finding just what you need or a hidden treasure among the piles of household items? Journey asks churches for their tips for turning trash into treasure. Garage sales can be important fundraisers for local churches as well as great opportunities to connect with the ...