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 ...

Looking for contemporary Christian music that everyone can sing to inspire your worship? Journey suggests five modern worship songs that will get your foot tapping and your heart pumping. “Hootenanny” by Tim Neufeld and the Glory Boys (2016) Saddened that worship music is generally bereft of banjos? Then Tim Neufeld and the Glory Boys are for you! The multi-award winning ...

The news can seem awash with story after story of terrorism and warfare but how can today’s Christians respond to the carnage in the spirit of Jesus’ teachings and other passages in the Bible? Rev Dr Peter Hobson explores how the church and its followers can respond to violence and terror. In the years that have passed since the September ...

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Uniting Church, we also celebrate the many culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities with whom we have united on the way. Ben Tupou was at Sunnybank Uniting Church in Brisbane to witness the welcoming of a Cook Island community into this vibrant cross-cultural church. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and ...

As the conflict continues to unfold in northern Iraq, volunteers are at the heart of the humanitarian services delivering aid. Dianne Jensen talks to members of Operation Hope, a group of Uniting Church people bringing hope to shattered lives. Monday: I worked in a small container today just inside the entrance to the U2 camp … Three doctors, three interpreters, ...

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 ...

Religious faith draws in people from a wide array of cultural, economic and ethnic backgrounds but what makes humans attracted to religion in the first place, and why does religion feature heavily in human societies? Nick Mattiske reviews Rodney Stark’s latest book Why God? to look for the answers. As religion supposedly declines in the West, those on the outside ...

When the Uniting Church formed in 1977 three distinct denominations came together but the focus has largely been on the Presbyterian and Methodist perspectives due to their larger sizes and influence at the time of union. Rev Dr Bruce Upham—one of the Congregationalist Church’s representatives on the commission which drew up the Basis of Union—reflects on his experiences leading up ...

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 ...