Magazine

Come 2 July, Australians will be making the journey to the ballot box to decide who will represent them in Canberra. It’s easy to be cynical about the process: throughout the community there’s a serious trust deficit with our political elite, to the point where cronyism, lies and corruption elicit a shrug and an apathetic remark, “well, that’s politics for ...

Welcome to the May edition of Journey and my first in the editor’s seat. I’d like to acknowledge the fine work of my predecessor, Rohan Salmond who produced a magazine that truly lived up to its core mandates: to inspire, to provoke and to engage. The major question I ask myself as I settle in the role is, “What kind ...

The award-winning film Spotlight left viewers wondering why the voices of those who were systematically abused by priests in the Boston archdiocese were not heard for so long. This is a reminder that mainstream voices can easily shout down those who do not fit our preconceptions of what is normal and desirable. This edition has a lingering theme of acknowledging ...

While Christmas is the time we celebrate God dwelling among creation, I would argue Easter is the ultimate expression of Emmanuel—God with us. I attended the Let Them Stay protest at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in February. That night it wasn’t clear if the immigration department would forcibly remove baby Asha from the hospital, and the demonstration was the largest ...

Lead and share I’ve been fortunate to have grown up in schools and churches that have taken deliberate steps to cultivate and mentor young leaders. It’s been a great help to me over the years. On page four the moderator talks about leadership in a non-hierarchical Uniting Church context. Far from absolving us of the need for strong leaders, it ...

The December 2015 edition of Journey is now available. Re-emphasising Christmas It feels good to get to the holiday season; after a long year it’s time to take a break over Christmas and New Year. You did a good job. Good on you—you deserve it. It’s a privilege that as Christians we are given time off to observe Christmas. You’ll get Christmas ...

The November 2015 edition of Journey is now available to read and download. Plant a little seed “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” It’s a “Greek proverb” that’s been doing the rounds on Facebook recently (so who knows where it really comes from) but I had to think about it ...

The October edition of Journey magazine is now available to download. The heart of community When I was in Sunday School, it was drilled into me that church is not a building, it is a community. Church can happen anywhere, “wherever two or three are gathered in my name”. It is a body and a family which grows and changes, reflecting Christ’s love ...

Jesus feminism The Uniting Church is unusual in a number of ways—one of them being its wholehearted embrace of women’s ordination. The Uniting Church has ordained women since union, as did its constituent denominations before that. We stick out among Australian churches in this regard; while other denominations ordain women, few Australian churches match the Uniting Church in their conviction ...

The real work Assembly has come to a close for another triennium, but really the work has just begun. The meeting resolved to undertake all kinds of tasks that will keep us well and truly busy over the next three years. Committees, working groups and task groups have been formed; regulations have been changed and now need enacting; awareness-raising campaigns ...