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Keen to hear the concerns of local people the Moderator of the Uniting Church in Queensland will be attending a community meeting in Imbil on Thursday night to hear the stories of people who may be affected if the construction of the proposed Mary River Dam goes ahead. Uniting Church minister Rev Iain Watt who provides pastoral and church services ...

It was just after ten on a blustery Beaconsfield night, seven or eight days into the dramatic saga of the mining rescue, when a young man stepped tentatively into the little, red-brick Uniting Church. I guessed he was a miner: a big, burley bloke with big hands to match his bulking frame. He had a few tattoos, working boots and ...

Almost 100 years after Queensland voters passed a referendum guaranteeing time for religious instruction in Queensland schools, the Queensland Government has announced that religious education in all State Schools will be offered on an “opt in” rather than “opt out” basis. The 1910 Referendum to enshrine Religious Education as part of Queensland State School programs was one of only two ...

Education Minister, Rod Welford, announced today that the Government would not be proceeding with proposed amendments to religious education provisions in the Education Bill currently before State Parliament. Mr Welford said there would be no change to current arrangements regarding religious instruction in state schools. "I have listened to the concerns expressed by a number of Christian organisations and it ...

Ten years on, the terrible events of Sunday, April 28 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people at Port Arthur, Tasmania still numb the feelings of many Australians. At the time waves of disbelief and grief washed over the peaceful and tranquil holiday isle of Tasmania. Dr Christine Gapes former faculty member of United Theological College, Australian Catholic University, ...

It’s considered good manners in this very polite and very Christian country for a visiting Palagi (Westerner, outsider) to attend Church on Sundays, so I’m standing outside the largest church of Tuvalu’s Te Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu on Funafuti Atoll, the nine island country’s capital, in my sandals, Sulu, white shirt and blue tie, watching locals in their Sunday best, carrying ...

PLANS FOR a church-based community centre for veterans, their spouses and families is just one of the new vision for mission initiatives of the Queensland Synod. The Uniting Church Veterans Family Centre will provide a range of professional services, community activities and personal support for veterans and their families, in the first church-based project of its kind in Australia. Borneo ...

A REPORT proposing major changes in non-ordained specified ministries will be one of the big items on the agenda for the 11th Assembly when it meets in Brisbane in July. The report from the Specified Ministries Task Group appointed after the 2003 Assembly is titled From time to time, and place to place, a phrase from Paragraph 14 of the ...

Fourteen thousand eager individuals wait for the band to begin playing. Chanting, clapping, cheering, the stage lights dim, the crowd jump to their feet and roar as the bright lights flash on. You thought the U2 tour had been cancelled? Which band could possibly stir up this much excitement? It’s the Newsboys. They have been on the cover of Rolling ...

Dear Friends in Christ, Easter is first of all and best of all a celebration of God’s love and grace. It offers us the opportunity to engage once again with the fundamentals of our faith. In John’s Gospel, we are given an extended reflection on the final hours that Jesus spent with his disciples. During that very personal time, Jesus ...