ANY parent can testify to the impact of the arrival of a new member of the family. Add distance, broken relationships or health problems, and parenting can be a hard road to travel. Rachel Mudge, a new mother who worships at Aitkenvale Uniting Church in Townsville, has observed many of the issues first hand from her role as a teacher. ...

A group of 13 people representing Trinity Wilston Uniting Church, Brisbane, returned recently from our second visit to our partner church, the Church of South India. The party was made up not only from the church congregation but also from community members and local business people, giving a great opportunity for people from the wider Wilston community to see the ...

WITH 2013 as the year of discipleship, 58 young people from around Queensland submitted artwork for the 2013 Calendar Art competition exploring what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in the 21st century. Judges Moderator Rev Kaye Ronalds, artist Rev Geraldine Wheeler and Art from the Margins coordinator Tony Anderton were impressed by the thought and the creativity ...

MANY different faith communities left the car at home last week to walk, ride and even skateboard to worship. Ride to Worship Week is an initiative by multi-faith organisation Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) which was held last week across all states. In rural communities some biked kilometres up to 12 kms from home to worship. Many had ...

ONE person in four will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime. Church communities have a unique role to play in Mental Health Week, 7 to 13 October, explains Jane Frazer Cosgrove, a facilitator with the Nouwen Network, a grassroots support group that seeks to raise awareness in faith communities about mental illness. "This year's Queensland theme for ...

I once lived in a church, a red brick one, which disturbed the neat symmetry of the terrace houses lining a square in a genteel part of Islington in London. Converted in the 1980s to apartments, it had high ceilings, arched windows and metre-thick walls. I’ve never slept so soundly. More recently, I lived in an 1870s house in Fitzroy, ...

WHAT do you get when you mix 50 dozen scones, fencing wire, a Skype connection, and a stack of $20 notes inside a school hall? You get the Toowoomba Uniting Churches' combined celebration recognising 100 years of ministry in remote Australia, which began with John Flynn, the man on the $20 note. Members of the Lifeworks, St Stephen's, Wilsonton, Meringandan, ...

ATTENDING the Voices for Justice conference was an amazing experience of public action as part of how Jesus calls us to live. Two hundred and eighty Christians from different denominations around Australia came together in Canberra from 15 to 18 September for this national gathering of the Micah Challenge. As Christians, it is up to us to be agents of ...

"MY altar can as easily be a rock, a fallen tree, or someone down on their hands and knees making a table for a bride and groom to sign the marriage register on," says Pastor Dennis Cousens, deacon with Cunnamulla Uniting Church. "My gathered congregations are often in a pub, community hall, backyard or by a riverbank, which is the ...

Grandview Records, 2012, RRP $20.00 Reviewed by Wendy Scott, Kenmore Uniting Church. I hadn't heard of Indie music before, but this album is in a folk style, with guitar and simple instrumentals backing the husky whispering vocals of Greg Atwells. The hymns have been arranged as ballads, and Atwells gives clear enunciation of the all-important lyrics. All of my favourites ...