Easter brings together two apparently opposing human experiences; painful suffering and death followed by glorious new life and joy. On Good Friday we recall the unjust treatment and crucifixion of a compassionate and loving man, whom Christians believe was the incarnation of God. Christians believe that when Jesus died on the cross he entered fully into the human experience of ...

Four years ago the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman, instituted an annual “prayer breakfast” for churches in Brisbane. QCT and several of its member churches are represented on the steering committee. The event has broad denominational links. In 2009 the Prayer Breakfast will take place on Thursday, 7 May, arriving at 6:15am for a 6:45am start. The venue is ...

A HARD-WORKING mother of a bright, energetic eight year old girl went to work one day, and never came home. A tragic car accident suddenly left her daughter, Fiona, an orphan. Jo, the girl’s grandmother, went from part-time babysitter to full-time carer. In addition to dealing with the loss of her daughter, Jo now had the challenge of raising her granddaughter. ...

SEVEN YEARS ago Pastor Craig Gross and Pastor Mike Foster decided that part of their ministry to young people needed to deal with the issue of pornography and addiction. “I just noticed this common theme amongst kids that they were caught up in this and there was no outlet, no place that told you the other side of the story, ...

Lifeline Community Care Queensland is supporting the Victorian Bushfire Relief Appeal by donating profits from a day’s trading from all its 155 Lifeline Shops across Queensland. On Friday February 27 all Queenslanders who purchase goods from their local Lifeline Shop will be doing it in the knowledge that all the day’s profits will go directly to the Bushfire Appeal. Lifeline ...

South Korean Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, who has died aged 86, is being remembered as a campaigner for human rights and democracy when his country was ruled by the military four decades ago. "In the days of military dictatorship, he raised a voice of protest. He kept soldiers out of [Seoul’s] Myongdong Cathedral, where students were holed up during their ...

The general synod of the Church of England has voted by 322 votes to 13 to ban its clergy from membership of the British National Party, which advocates the voluntary repatriation of immigrants to their countries of origin. A motion on 10 February by Vasantha Gnanadoss, a lay member of the synod – the Anglican church’s parliament of bishops, clergy ...

Religious beliefs have a profound influence in shaping men, including their sense of masculinity and sexuality, members of an interfaith panel have said at a gathering promoting positive masculinity held in Georgetown, Guyana. Religious institutions prescribe boundaries, impose sanctions and affirm identity, the panellists said. Thirty-five pastors, church leaders, theological students and lay persons from Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, South Africa, ...

U.S. and British Jewish groups say they are shocked by a decision of Pope Benedict XVI to overturn the excommunication of a British bishop who has said the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust had been exaggerated. The move is "a serious blow for Jewish-Vatican relations and a slap in the face of the late Pope John Paul II ...

The Archbishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church has selected a short list of three candidates from among its ranks to succeed Patriarch Alexei II, who died last month after leading the church through the post-Soviet era. Prayers for the repose of Patriarch Alexei’s soul marked the opening of the Archbishops’ Council on 25 January. The Synod of Bishops met ...