When young people from the country get together to do everything from abseiling to bread making to learning about God, mad things happen. Steve Molkentin reports on Country Madness. Challenge, community and commitment were on the agenda for the more than 50 young people and their leaders who gathered at Seaforth Pines Outdoor Education and Conference Centre north of Mackay ...

For most of the members of the Uniting Church, our own personal 40th birthday is a distant memory! Some of us may wish that we were there again, wistfully believing that we’d do the years after 40 differently if we had that time again. If we don’t have some sense that we would have done things differently, maybe we haven’t ...

While the massive clean-up after Cyclone Debbie and the associated record-breaking floods is well underway, it will take some months to count the real cost to the community. Journey reports on how the Uniting Church is supporting those impacted into the future. Farmers, business owners and householders in north and central Queensland and northern New South Wales are still reeling ...

Uniting Church leaders appearing before the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse have pledged to survivors to make the church the safest place it can be for children. Journey reports. President Stuart McMillan assured the Royal Commission hearing in Sydney on 10 March that the Uniting Church would continue to apply the lessons learned from the Commission’s work. “As church ...

It’s been nearly 50 years since the Fortitude Valley Presbyterian Church in Brisbane established the Kalparrin Family Welfare Centre, a pioneering project in congregational outreach and community care. Marion McConaghy, daughter of founder and director Rev James McConaghy, looks back at how one man’s vision galvanised a community. When Rev Jim McConaghy began ministry at the Fortitude Valley Presbyterian Church ...

3D Movements (3DM) is gaining traction in Australia, and an upcoming workshop introducing it to Queenslanders will put further focus on discipleship in the church, one of the 32nd Synod’s strategic priorities. Journey reports. Originally devised in the United Kingdom by St Thomas’ Church, the 3DM approach emphasises discipleship and mission to everyday people through the prism of the two ...

Following her Unchained session at the 32nd Synod exploring the relationship between congregations and agencies, Rev Linda Hamill outlines some practical ways to strengthen the ties. Relationships can be an emotional minefield for some, blissfully trouble-free for others. In particular many can relate to parents raising a child to be independent and then negotiating the evolving dynamics as the parent-child ...

Each week hundreds of Christian, Baha’i, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim volunteers provide religious instruction to students in Queensland state primary schools. Should objections to one particular program lead to unprecedented intervention from Education Queensland? Mardi Lumsden explores. In early June, religious instruction (RI) at Windsor State School in Brisbane’s north was suspended for the third time since 2014. Principal Matthew ...

In his report to the 32nd Synod general secretary Robert Packer outlined how the church has been traveling against its Vision 2020 roadmap and identified priorities since the 31st Synod.  Robert reminded Synod members that this year is a key review point on the Vision 2020 roadmap and remarked it was, “Checking in to see how we are progressing towards ...

Every weekend someone, somewhere is having a garage sale. And who can resist the allure of finding just what you need or a hidden treasure among the piles of household items? Journey asks churches for their tips for turning trash into treasure. Garage sales can be important fundraisers for local churches as well as great opportunities to connect with the ...