Opinion

The trouble with the Uniting Church is that we have taken too literally the biblical principle of not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing. Not only that, we are not good at blowing our own trumpet in the community. On the one hand, in Blackall a part-time youth worker is supported by his congregation. Scott ...

Just as people must trust each other in order to live, trust in God is essential in order to grow in faith, says Rev Noel Kentish. A woman waits on the Darwin hospital verandah, looking across Doctor’s Gully. The baby stirring within her will soon emerge into a hot tropical world. She trusts all will go well for the birth ...

In the midst of the Uniting Church Assembly’s consultation on marriage, Central Queensland Presbytery Minister Rev Brian Gilbert encourages the Uniting Church to pursue unity in Christ, even amongst differences. My wife Margaret and I have been married for over 36 years. In that time we have always agreed on everything—we live in perfect peace and harmony. Actually, this is ...

I had a delightful conversation with a senior student from one of our Uniting Church schools. He is considering spending a gap year to support a community in a developing country. He thinks he would like the challenge of a cross-cultural experience. Together we chatted about options for volunteering with an Indigenous community, UnitingWorld or another community organisation. He explained ...

Wesley palliative care is not new I read with interest your article entitled “Prepare to Meet your Maker” (Journey, July 2014, page 12). I found this enlightening and informative and was pleased to read of the work being undertaken in palliative care at the Wesley Hospital. However I and several ex-colleagues were somewhat taken aback by the opening comments in ...

Small congregations face a unique set of challenges, and don’t always have the resources to participate in ministry in the same way as large churches with big budgets and a large talent pool. But small churches are still an important part of the fabric of our community, and their intimate size offers opportunities that aren’t available to big communities. Here’s ...

It is possible to express genuine love for your enemies. Rev Amel Manyon describes how she lives out one of the hardest parts of Christian faith. I grew up in South Sudan, which has a lot of different people from different tribes with different beliefs and languages. Recently the Dinka and Nuer people in South Sudan have been in conflict, ...

The first cash I remember earning was the money we earned as children by picking ginger on the neighbour’s farm. It involved sitting all day in the sun snapping off the green stalks and the ropey roots from the tuber. By the end of the week we had some money that we could use any way we chose. It seemed ...

Sabbath is more than just time off; it’s a holy day that strengthens a relationship. But not everyone has the privilege of observing the Sabbath, writes Rev Peter Lockhart. It can be argued that the first story of the Bible is centred not on the act of creation but on establishing the importance of the Sabbath. The seventh day bears ...

Following the release of the Uniting Church census data, Rev Paul Clark offers some of what he has learned while ministering with churches that bucked the downward trend. In a previous parish an “expert” came through and said, “If you preach the gospel, the church grows”. I challenged him on that because it implies most churches are not preaching the ...