Features

For thousands of years before westerners arrived in Australia Indigenous people were living on the land using practices that are, in some places, still used today. Ena Koongotema, an Indigenous member of Aurukun Uniting Church in Far North Queensland, remembers how her people used to live off the land. “They used to go out; they used to walk (no vehicle ...

Journey continues exploring Brian McLaren’s 10 questions he says are transforming the church. This month we look at the ‘future’ question. Is the world getting better or worse? What is the Christian hope for the future? Does any of this matter to how I live my life? These are all questions to do with what is known in Christian theology ...

WITH ONLY three months until the biennial National Christian Youth Convention (ncyc11) begins on the Gold Coast, leaders from across Australia are warming up some challenging and interactive Bible studies. NSW Synod Youth Unit coordinator Rob Hanks and his team will be leading a “surfing” level Bible study for those just starting out in faith. “We promise to offer an interactive ...

THE 28TH Synod affirmed a five line Call for the Uniting Church in Queensland in discerning the future of the Church. This edition we continue our series of discussion starters exploring what each of the five Call phrases mean to different people. This edition we look at the second phrase: Acting with love. Rev Doug Foster has been a Police Chaplain ...

Land is a valuable thing, especially if you make your livelihood from it. Be it farming stock, crops or mining, land is often the most valuable asset. And living on the land requires a large amount of resilience and faith. Through drought, flood and community upheaval, rural communities battle on to provide the rest of the country with food, energy ...

National Church Life Survey (NCLS) research has found that despite considerable differences between key issues facing churches in rural and urban environments, across measures of health and vitality there is little difference between rural church attendees and the national average. Some 42 per cent of churches that took part in the 2006 NCLS were in rural settings (and more than ...

A prominent Sydney clergyman was once quoted as saying: “God cares for people more than sheep. So we need to send gospel workers where there are more people than sheep.” There were plenty of sheep and quite a few people in western Queensland sixty years ago when wool was a pound a pound and the church was a central plank ...

THE SEARCH for a bush themed devotional for a young couple led Gympie Uniting Church member Linda Watt to create her own. The result, Abundance in the Bush, is based on 31 days of life in the bush and was so popular that Ms Watt received orders while still writing it and sold 250 copies in the first month. “I ...

You don’t have to analyse National Church Life Survey (NCLS) data to realise that life in rural communities has different challenges from those of urban centres. In fact, the best way to understand what life is like further than 100km west of the coast is to talk to the members of our churches and agencies. In communities all over the ...

Megan McGrath has worked at World Vision for 8 years and is currently part of the Innovative Partnerships team. Earlier this year, Megan worked with World Vision North Sudan in Darfur. Since 2003 the conflict in Darfur, has displaced approximately 1.8 million people. Megan visited an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, which houses about 70,000 people. Within the camp, she ...