Local Church News

Following early recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Queensland Synod developed and implemented its Interim Redress Scheme. During the first six months of this scheme, the survivors have been reporting positive outcomes, Journey reports. Designed to be a genuine alternative for survivors not seeking common law damages, the Queensland Synod’s Interim Redress Scheme ...

Rev Trevor Foote reminisces about the origins of the Uniting Church in the Ipswich area and how Glebe Road Uniting Church was born on the old grounds of the St John’s Presbyterian Church. Church union in 1977 saw the initial formation in Ipswich of one of the largest and most diverse Uniting Church parishes in Queensland, and possibly Australia. Seven ...

There’s more to creating a new congregation than adding a new time slot to the church sign and putting out the tea and biscuits. Dianne Jensen talks to Duncan Barlow, pastor at Toowong Uniting Church, Brisbane about what it takes to build a healthy Christian community. After seven years with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in Indonesia, Duncan Barlow and ...

After 40 years of running day camps, it’s clear that the folk at Redlands Uniting churches just love going bush. Journey ventured down the dirt roads of a campsite south of Brisbane to find out why everyone keeps coming back. It’s easy to see the attraction of the Karingal Scout Campsite at Mt Cotton, the site of the Redlands day ...

Sometimes little acts of hospitality go a long way to strengthening the community. Ashley Thompson talks to Granite Belt Uniting Church minister Rev Kaye Ronalds and Stanthorpe Uniting Church member Jean Pyle about their efforts to reach out to young families. Since Easter last year, the Stanthorpe congregation has been providing weekly hospitality to the parents and siblings of young ...

Hope was on the horizon when winter rains brought smiles back to the faces of western Queenslanders. Ashley Thompson checks in with Longreach Uniting Church minister Rev Jenny Coombes. Although 80 per cent of Queensland remains drought declared, the Longreach community has had their spirits lifted by the wettest winter on record. “Since the rain has come, morale has lifted ...

It may be a perennial party favourite but ping pong is at the heart of a nation-wide campaign to help end the exploitation and trafficking of young people throughout South East Asia. Ben Rogers reports on the Ping Pong-A-Thon and one Uniting Church teenager picking up the paddle to make a difference. In 2011, a group of Aussies endured a ...

A small congregation in one of Queensland’s iconic tourist destinations is demonstrating the power of the Gospel to draw people together. Dianne Jensen talks to members of the Magnetic Island Uniting Church. Christians from all denominations and none have found a church home at the Uniting Church on Magnetic Island, a tiny piece of paradise just off Townsville. There hasn’t ...

A partnership launch between UnitingCare Community and Redcliffe Uniting Church brought a children’s favourite to town. Journey reports on the event and what’s in store for the community’s families. Bob the Builder, the beloved children’s television icon, recently came to Redcliffe to help launch the Building Strong Families partnership-program between UnitingCare Community and Redcliffe Uniting Church. The event attracted hundreds ...

Zimbabwean-born Johnson Makoti often gets phone calls out of the blue from people who have heard about the new prayer and deliverance ministry at the Atherton Uniting Church. Dianne Jensen reports. After only a year in the job, Rev Johnson Makoti’s hands-on approach to spreading the word of God has created a stir in the North Queensland town of Atherton and ...