Features

Father’s Day seems to bring a certain licence for Dads to relax and admit they like cars and a chat; not necessarily in that order. On Mother’s Day most Uniting Churches present chrysanthemums to pin on tops. Father’s Day presents a rare opportunity to present sausages and sauce to spill on shirts. Big boys toys and a barbecue will greet ...

JOURNEY CONTINUES its exploration of Brian McLaren’s 10 questions he says are transforming the church. This month is the church question. Adulterous liaisons, wealthy church members showing off, the personality cults of leaders in sharp suits, and the rest of the community shaking its head as factions break up a growing charismatic church: it’s the tale of woe from a fast ...

AROUND ELECTION time there is often the conversation about whether we expect normal moral standards in our elected leaders. It would seem reasonable to expect the same values of honesty, loyalty and integrity in our national and state leaders as we look for in ourselves, our friends, workmates and family. Generally, we don’t. Voters are no longer surprised by expediency that ...

PEOPLE ON THE Gold Coast are more stressed in 2010 than they were in 2009, according to Lifeline’s annual stress poll. The latest poll, conducted by Newspoll, has 90 per cent of the population experiencing stress in their lives. That’s nine out of ten people, or 20 million Australians. The poll also identified that 43 per cent of Australians, or just under 9.5 ...

AFTER WEEKS of fundraising and intensive preparation, a UnitingCare Health team made its first visit to the Helena Goldie hospital on Munda in the Solomon Islands in April. Team members were selected from UnitingCare Health hos-pitals to take part in a project to support Helena Goldie involving a series of short visits to work alongside staff at the hospital – ...

LEARNING ABOUT medical missionaries when in high school was the beginning of a life-long interest and career in medicine for Albert St Uniting Church member and UnitingCare Queensland board member Dr Ian Airey, a specialist anaesthetist and specialist in intensive care. Dr Airey said it has been a satisfying and humbling privilege to walk with families through confronting medical trials. ...

IN HIS book The Four Big Shifts leading Australian social scientist Mark McCrindle said it is demography, not technology, which shapes the future. Mr McCrindle recently told a group of business, church and ministry leaders on the Gold Coast that they face an enormous challenge engaging staff, volun-teers and members as Australia fast approaches the point of peak labour. Census ...

IN MARCH last year US president Barak Obama lifted the Bush government’s ban on embryonic stem cell research. No such ban has applied to research in Australia. While the scientific community throughout the world welcomed the decision, it has reignited debate about the ethics of such research. Few medical issues are as layered with emotion and rhetoric as embryonic stem ...

FAITH IS not a popular topic in this country. Perhaps that’s because we don’t know how it works. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud was reported to say religious believers were either mad or severely neurotic. Neuroscientist Dr Peter Snow, formerly at the University of Queensland researching brain plasticity, recently told a network radio audience that while faith is related to hope, what ...

THE UNITING Church is full of highly skilled people in a number of scientific fields. Journey was privileged to speak with one such person, Kenmore Uniting Church member Dr Peter Scott. The geologist, award-winning retired teacher and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Queensland has literally searched for answers about earth’s history with ...