Features

ULTIMATELY, IT matters little whether the Uniting Church in Australia is in fact the first ‘home-grown’, truly indigenous expression of Australian Christianity. The only question that should concern us now is, have we been faithful to what has been entrusted to us? Thirty years ago, the Uniting Church had the chance to liberate itself from the tyranny of ecclesiastical inertia, ...

“THE UNITING Church burst onto the Australian political and ecumenical scene with renewed energy for presenting a relevant Christian message in the Australian context,” said ethicist and retired Uniting Church Minister Rev Dr Noel Preston. While those who led the union of the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches were singing songs of praise in the streets of Sydney, not everyone ...

Dear friends in Christ, The 26th Synod of the Uniting Church in Queensland concluded on Tuesday of this week. We enjoyed great fellowship, inspiring worship, a wonderful Synod celebration marking the 30th anniversary of our Church, and the generous hospitality of the Alexandra Park staff. The Synod received a number of major reports relating to the future of Theological Education, ...

Rev Bruce Johnson currently minister of Broadwater Road Uniting Church in Mansfield, Brisbane has been elected by the 26th Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church to be its next Moderator. Synod members were highly amused that Mr Johnson was visiting the bathroom when his appointment was announced and greeting his belated entry to the auditorium with a standing ovation. Mr ...

The Uniting Church in Queensland has condemned practice of jailing minors in adult prisons. Uniting Church’s annual Synod meeting denounced the State Government for continuing to ignoring international conventions and its own commitments dating back to 1992. UnitingCare’s Queensland Director, Anne Cross said the practice of incarcerating seventeen year olds in adult prisons is a breach of our international obligations ...

Trinity Theological College Director of Studies in Systematic Theology Rev Dr Geoff Thompson was amazed by the enthusiastic response to a seminar analysing Richard Dawkin’s book The God Delusion. Over 100 people gathered to hear an expert panel analyse Dawkin’s controversial book and discuss its critique of contemporary religion. Theologian and Research Fellow at the University of Queensland Dr Ben ...

IN JANUARY 2007 I moved from Australia to Oxford to take up a Chair in Science and Religion. When I explain to people over here what I do, the conversation takes a fairly predictable course: ‘Science and religion? – uhmm, that’s an interesting combination’ or, ‘science and religion – how do they go together?’. In short, I encounter the kind ...

Moderator of the Queensland Uniting Church Rev Dr David Pitman spoke last night at a public forum, Australians against Capital Punishment. The forum was hosted by Just Rights Queensland partnering with Amnesty International and Lee Rush to launch a new national campaign to call for Australia to show more consistency and leadership in the abolition of capital punishment. Other speakers ...

There’s something tribal about worshipping with a few thousand other Christians on the pivot-point of the Church calendar. If ever you have wondered how hymns of praise sound when around 10 000 people belt them out, the Resurrection Sunday evening service in Toowoomba is not to be missed! The congregation sang, “How great is our God,”, as the Bible Society ...

Mission co-workers from the Methodist Church of Great Britain and Ireland Richard and Kathryn Jackson had been visiting schools in and around Sasamuqa on the south coast of Choiseul Island when the earthquake and tsunami hit and were able to give Uniting Church Overseas Aid Project Officer Jeff Kite an eye witness account of the devastation caused by the major ...