Opinion

Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’ regal entry into Jerusalem. “The whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The disapproving Pharisees petitioned Jesus, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” The ...

I hope all our readers had a blessed Easter. Thanks to the generosity of our donors we were able to sponsor 23 candidates across Queensland—from Toowoomba to Bowen, from Bundaberg to North MacKay—from the 2019 Easter Madness Appeal. This enabled free registration and accommodation for campers outside of the south east corner during the four day Easter Madness Camp held ...

Over the course of 2019, I want to unpack a simple mission framework in this column. The framework is represented by four words—Know, Notice, Discern, Act. Having begun with exploring the word “Know”, and connecting mission with discipleship, let’s move on this month to consider the second: Notice I know I can sometimes get caught up in my own busyness ...

In a new column for Journey, Rev Peter Armstrong—UnitingCare Queensland’s Associate Director of Mission—shares the inspirational stories from around the state of community partnerships and how congregations are living out the church’s call to make a positive difference in society. “There are times around here when the only people at a funeral are us and maybe the Police.” [A Bluecare ...

Pastor Chris Guise, the new bush chaplain for the Kennedy Remote Area, writes about his first experiences in the role. The Kennedy Patrol, established by Frontier Services in conjunction with the North Queensland Presbytery, covers the areas encompassing the Cape York Peninsula, the eastern Gulf Savannah and the Northern Goldfield regions. As I travel the roads in the Gulf Savannah ...

Pastor Cain Hartigan describes his first few weeks as the new bush chaplain for the Cunnamulla, Burke and Wills Patrol, run by The Downs Presbytery in partnership with Frontier Services. The patrol covers 450 000 square kilometres in southwest Queensland, with the eastern boundary from Mt Tabor to Bollon, extending west to Bedourie and south to Cameron Corner. The boxes ...

I’m still ruminating on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12) and feeling called back to them again and again. I was reflecting on them at Kings College’s Commemoration Service last month. Matthew certainly draws a picture of Jesus as the new Moses, the new law-giver for a new community, and what we have come to call the beatitudes are the opening statements ...

National Reconciliation Week is a time to reflect on how we are doing as a church, to follow Jesus’ call to love God and love others, writes Erin Mawhinney.   In our modern Australian context, it sits between the anniversary of the 1967 referendum (27 May), and Mabo Day (3 June). This year’s theme is “Grounded in Truth – Walk together ...

Does the “way” of Christ and his teachings constitute the authoritative Word of God or are other parts of the Bible (such as the Old Testament) also included as the authoritative Word of God? Journey sat down with three theologians from Trinity College Queensland and Uniting College to explore the issue. Dr John Frederick When difficult theological issues arise we ...

We have all read some passages in the Bible that make us uncomfortable. Do you treat the Bible as an all-or-nothing proposition in the way you live your life? If not, why is that? How did you come to that decision? Do you have an informed theology? Rev Prof Andrew Dutney explored questions like these in a presentation he delivered ...