Watching cars pull over outside Moggill Uniting Church is proof that a strategically placed coffee van and a big red “Open” banner can be unique tools for shaping the Kingdom. Add in friendly faces and the opportunity to catch up with neighbours, and you’re on the road to creating community. Dianne Jensen reports. Rev Melanie Wheeley and the Moggill congregation ...

Brisbane medical specialist and Uniting Church member Dr Ian Airey, chairperson of Wesley Mission Queensland’s Art from the Margins, talks to Dianne Jensen about the healing power of the creative arts. Anaesthetist and former intensive care specialist Dr Ian Airey is no stranger to ministering to people undergoing trauma or dislocation. Yet walking into a Brisbane park with other Albert ...

Dr Paul Inglis and his wife Robyn from Dayboro Uniting Church had done plenty of research on what to expect on a YWAM medical outreach in Papua New Guinea, but the adventure was still full of surprises and challenges. Dr Paul Inglis reports. Things got busy as soon as we joined our daughter Emily, son-in-law Jason, grandsons Hugh and Monty ...

After the Brisbane Times recently explored whether the current classification system for movies, television and video games is really working for parents, The Scoop sat down with Digital Youth Discipleship project officer Steve Molkentin to discuss movie ratings, parenting and top tips for family-friendly entertainment.   Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) honorary chief executive Barbara Biggins recently ...

On 24 June the Queensland Synod’s Multi-Cross Cultural Reference Group celebrated the Uniting Church’s 40th anniversary with a party highlighting the rich cultural diversity within the church. Akesa Racava reports.  Turning 40 has been equally important across all cultures in the Uniting Church. For our multi-cross cultural congregations it required a celebration of colour, music, dancing, feasting and worship. Beenleigh Regional Uniting Church ...

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 ...

With all the talk within the church about birthdays recently we thought what better time than now to ask staff members what were the best and worst birthday presents they’ve received. Here’s Ben with his memories.  The best I should probably list something that was romantic or sentimental from a significant other or family member but (and I’m sorry for the ...

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 ...

Volunteering with the Boys’ Brigade has provided Uniting Church member Rod Hurman with the opportunity to mentor youngsters outside the regular church community. Dianne Jensen reports.  When it comes to racing billy carts, organising camps and mentoring young men, Rod Hurman from Broadwater Road and St Marks Uniting Church Mt Gravatt has plenty of runs on the board. Rod has ...

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.  Ticket to the west if you pass Bible test RT covers news from Sweden of a Bible quiz being given to Christian asylum seekers escaping religious persecution. While many have slammed the idea as complicated, irrelevant and conflating knowledge with faith, the country’s migration agency has defended the testing with Carl Bexelius—Swedish ...