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ON MONDAY 17 October Playgroup Queensland staff visited the Indooroopilly Uniting Church Playgroup to help celebrate their win of the 2011 Playgroup Excellence Award (Community Playgroup) for their two groups. A fun filled morning was had by all and volunteers, Gaylynn Bailey, Erica Henley, Jill and Terry Mudie, Jann and Rex Niven and the parents were thrilled to receive a ...

 THE WORK of 11 remarkable individuals was celebrated in October with UnitingCare Queensland’s Moderator’s Community Service Medals. The awards were presented at the 29th Synod at Alexandra Headland on Sunday 9 October by Moderator, Rev Kaye Ronalds. Beryl Roylance, Carole Lyall, Dulcie Turner, Iuma Apelu, Lyn Paynedoc, Margaret Sear, Pat McMurtrie, Wendy Kent, Clyde Nicholl, Joyce Rieck, and Jeannine Moye ...

OF ALL the Christmas carols, ‘Cantique de Noël’ or ‘O Holy Night’ is perhaps one of the most loved. For me, it’s the only one I really enjoy. It has a soaring melody, a mood of hopeful anticipation and an unforgettable finish. There are, however, two things that are impossible about this song. The first is the impossibility of everyone ...

IF I DECORATE my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family – I’m just another decorator. If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to ...

I’M READING one of those books that is an oldie, but a goodie – The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Aimed primarily at those in long term relationships, it takes the reader through the diff erent ways that love can be expressed by people. What struck me particularly was the no-nonsense way the author dismissed the concept of idealised, ...

“FREETOWN IS very different to our home town of Chinchilla in Queensland,” say Russell and Robyn Porep, who have just finished six months of service as volunteers with Mercy Ships in the West African nation. Robyn worked as a physiotherapist on the Africa Mercy, the world’s largest charity hospital ship which has six operating theatres, a 78-bed hospital and equipped with ...

THIS DECEMBER, nearly 250 000 post cards from Uniting Churches will be making their way to communities throughout Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. The theme of the cards (Faith, Hope, Love) comes directly from the Uniting Church in Queensland’s Call: Uniting in Christ, acting with love, living with hope, witnessing in faith, working for justice. In the Synod office we are ...

UNITING CHURCH Minister, Rev John Saunders, is on active service as a Chaplain with the Australian Army in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, where he has been since mid-June this year. When he arrived in the Middle East it was the height of summer with temperatures between 40- 50C. By the time he leaves he will have been through a winter with ...

QR CODES (or Quick Response codes) are twodimensional barcodes that can store more information than a regular barcode. They allow people to link to digital content such as websites or open certain functions on your phone, for example your contacts section to import data from a digital business card. They work by using your smart phone’s camera to scan the ...

THE FRESH Expressions movement is creating a buzz of excitement in the Uniting Church around new kinds of mission and outreach. In essence, the movement isn’t doing anything new at all. It is almost taking mission and outreach and the activity of ‘church’ back to its fundamental roots: being Christ in the community. In 2005 the Church of England established ...