Professional communicator and Uniting Church member Dr John Harrison talks to Dianne Jensen. Sons and daughters of the manse grow up living and breathing the mantra of mission and service. As adults they can end up living out their own Christian witness in surprising places. Dr John Harrison is Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Communication and Undergraduate Program Director at ...

This Anzac Day, remember those who continue to pay the price for serving their country. Dianne Jensen reports. “I still don’t see the people we killed in ambushes and stuff; I don’t see our guys who were killed or wounded yet I was there. It is like being in a car accident but you don’t remember anything about it.” Rev Jack ...

Lives ruled by faith and inspired by a love of adventure have their own reward, as Arie and Anneke van Klinken discovered. Dianne Jensen reports. Arie, 17 years, was picked up outside curfew by Nazi police in Emmen, occupied Holland. A few days later, en route to Gestapo headquarters, he escaped by jumping from the train while it was stationary. ...

The Year of Discipleship is part of the Uniting Church in Queensland's Vision 2020, focusing on the call to form active and accountable disciples. Catholic chaplain Gary Stone elaborates on his Norman and Mary Miller address to the 30th Synod. I was delighted to be able to come and share my story during the 2013 Queensland Synod. I was so ...

If you've grown up around churches or with some kind of spiritual heritage, you're probably uncomfortable with the idea of wanting more. It sounds greedy—and who wants that when you're trying to walk in the footsteps of the one who recommended giving away even the shirt from your own back? Is it ever okay to want more? Yes, it is. ...

Margaret Adsett, from St Andrew's Uniting Church in Brisbane CBD, can tell you how many choices of biscuit there are in the average supermarket aisle. "There are over 200 choices of biscuit alone, and they say there are 35 000 items in total in your average supermarket," says Ms Adsett. "Imagine that! Compare that to places where people have no ...

FIFTY per cent of the world's population are living on less than $2.50 a day. That's 3.5 billion people. A child dies from hunger every six seconds. That's six million children every year. As Christine Hunt, Campaign Leader for Maternal and Child Health at World Vision Australia says, "It's equivalent to ten buses fully loaded with children crashing every hour ...

THOSE who love travelling in Asia but feel concerned about the negative impact of tourism on local environments, livelihoods and cultural traditions can now turn to Responsible Travel, an initiative by the Commission for Mission of the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania. I always felt guilty at enjoying being a tourist while so many people lived in desperate poverty, and ...

PAST Director of Pilgrim Learning Community Rev Dr Rob Bos is taking up the challenge in his retirement of training ministers in the Solomon Islands. He has just left for a one month teaching stint at Seghe Theological Seminary in the Solomons, where he will focus on how Scripture can be used to respond to issues affecting Solomon Islanders today. ...

AUSTRALIA'S largest aid and development agency, World Vision, has created a special Brisbane-based office to spearhead an ambitious plan to double its investment in fighting poverty in the Pacific and Timor-Leste. The agency plans to increase its annual investment in the region from $15 million to $30 million in the next four years. Staff at the new office, based in ...