Local Church News

WHEN MARJ Skinner first played the organ for Esk Methodist Church the congregation was swelled by soldiers based in the local showgrounds and saleyards. It was a sad day for Esk when they were shipped out to defend New Guinea against the Japanese. “The Sunday services were not the same after that,” she said. On 16 March Mrs Skinner celebrates ...

JO AND Matt Patrick serve the BBQ at the Wellers Hill Tarragindi and Yeronga Uniting Church’s Australia Day games day and BBQ. The event became the perfect opportunity to assist some of Brisbane’s flood victims and connect the church to the local community. The BBQ in Yeronga Park attracted 80 people. “Over the last few weeks we’ve all worked together ...

AFTER FORTY-TWO years of helping to create an environment of fun, friends and fellowship, the Camp Constable campsite at Mt Glorious has closed. A service of recognition for the outgoing Camp Constable committee was held at The Gap Uniting Church on 13 February to celebrate the many good times and achievements over the years. In the 1960s the three congregations ...

IN LATE February Broadwater Road Uniting Church, in Mansfield, Brisbane, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their Parent Support Group. The anniversary celebration on 27 February also honoured founder, Amy Wruck, who retired from the playgroup at the age of 80 after 15 years. “I started the group because I felt that we were an inwardlooking church and we needed to ...

THE Lockyer Valley received a special visitor to lend an ear to the pain and experience of flood victims. Reverend Bruce Johnson, the Moderator for the Uniting Church in Queensland, paid a visit to the Laidley community after touring disaster areas around Queensland. Based in Brisbane, he stopped for lunch at the Laidley Uniting Church after he visited to console ...

WHAT STARTED as a pipe dream at a craft market meeting has turned into a nationwide venture for the members of the Burdekin Uniting Church in North Queensland. The Burdekin congregation wanted to give away reusable shopping bags with the Uniting Church logo on them to patrons of their annual Craft Spectacular, which attracts around 1000 people. Buying 1000 bags ...

CLAYFIELD UNITING Church, in Brisbane’s inner-north, raised over $4000 for DRUG ARM (Drug Awareness, Rehabilitation and Management) last year through a series of events. The congregation has supported the work of DRUG ARM over the past few years. DRUG ARM is a not-forprofit organisation founded on Christian values and principles, committed to reducing harms associated with alcohol and other drug ...

Oxley Uniting Church members, in Brisbane, and ncyc11 volunteers (pictured right) took to the streets distributing bread and 400 bags of ice to those without power. Seven Oxley Uniting Church families were flooded. The congregation set up an impromptu creche/child drop-in centre for parents needing to clean flooded homes, offered food and drinks to the community and volunteers, and acted ...

The 12km line of single vehicle traffic snaked its way back up the Toowoomba range. Usually the ascent takes five minutes. This time it took an hour. The great scar, from the huge wave of water that had assaulted the main street of Toowoomba, continuing unstoppable down the range, was visible all around us. Who knows when things will be ...

After consistent rain for some months, and five inches that morning, the town of Esk, north of Wivenhoe Dam in the Brisbane Valley, was inundated with water at around 2pm on Monday 10 January. Sandy and Redbank creeks broke their banks, ripping up trees as they converged and tore through the railway bridge, sweeping vehicles into the street before flooding ...