South African church cleric Allan Boesak is on the verge of giving up his church positions and returning to a leadership role in politics. Boesak, a leader of the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s, was sidelined by his organization, the now-ruling African National Congress, in the 1990s after becoming embroiled in an extramarital affair and a corruption scandal. He served ...

A Roman Catholic journalist has said her church should wait "at least one hundred years" before canonising a controversial pope, who one critic has accused of "sheer cowardice" but who the current pontiff recently said "spared no effort" in trying to save Jews from the Nazis. Fifty years after his death, the role played by Pope Pius XII during the ...

A FEW years ago the Jerusalem City Christian Church didn’t have its own building. They used another denomination’s facility, and shared everything they had, selling their property and possessions to give the money to the poor. They broke bread in their homes, praising God each day. Today the River Gum Ridge View Estate Uniting Church (Journey’s hypothetical church) is an ...

ENI-08-0736 Bangalore, India, 15 September (ENI) Churches in India have deplored a series of attacks on Christian places of worship in the southern state of Karnataka, and have called for measures to protect minorities in the world’s second most populous nation. "We demand an immediate stop of the eruption of violence in different parts of the nation in the name ...

DO YOUR eyes still light up when you recall the thunder of a Wesley hymn raising the rafters at Albert Street church in the 1950s? This writer remembers adults shaking their heads when we began using choruses from Scripture in Song at Aitkenvale Methodist church in 1974. They muttered about “Jesus songs” and “ditties” from the brown book. Lately my ...

FIFTEEN TO Twenty-five-year-olds seem to have a standard response to every question: “Yeah, whatever.” Generation Y seems to have reinvented the ‘Generation Gap’, a term first used as a headline in Time Magazine in 1967. “No western metropolis today lacks a discotheque or espresso joint, a Mod boutique or a Carnaby shop. No transistor is immune from rock’n’ roll, no ...

A FAITHFUL few marked the end of an era that saw thousands worship in the community church building at the Marsden Youth Centre in Kallangur, north of Brisbane. Built in the 1930s by Frederick Marsden and given to the community, the Congregational and then Uniting Church building served as a place of worship until the mid 1990s. Rev Evan Stenlake ...

“Honour older people as we do our own aged parents, and care for other’s children as one’s own.” (Ancient Chinese proverb) “It takes a village to raise a child.” (African proverb) THE ANCIENT wisdom of China and Africa can sometimes be seen and heard running up and down the aisles on Sunday or sitting in the comfy chair at home ...

I’m amazed by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. None of those ancient imperfect heroes would get a Blue Card let alone Father of the Year. Yet the great ‘I Am’ identifies himself as their God and ultimately they’re the forefathers of the Uniting Church. I’m also amazed that he’s the God of my parents, and now my daughters. ...

I can think of five key people who have been guideposts on my faith journey. Most of these were Uniting Church youth workers. People with energy and passion for connecting with young people and helping them explore their faith in a deeper way. Looking at youth and children’s ministry in the church, it is hard to see tangible evidence of ...