My June column was about the opportunities and challenges presented by reflection on the church turning 40. If it is a time to give up that which no longer helps us live life in all its fullness, and to take with us that which still provides such a life, what should we take forward? What should we let go? There ...

I’m sure you are well aware that the Uniting Church turns 40 this month (was the cover a clue?) and it is a major milestone for this uniquely Australian church that came together to live out God’s call to Christian unity. Forty may be reasonably young in the grand scheme of history but it’s still a major milestone and I’m ...

The word might be in the church’s name but “uniting” carries a profound sense that there is still work to go before a “united” destination. Should we still be uniting with other denominations? Rev Janet Staines offers her perspective. When the Uniting Church inaugurated in 1977 there were great aspirations to continue the work of “uniting” with other denominations as ...

The number 40 is mentioned in Holy Scripture over 100 times and its use seems to have less to do with an actual number and more to do with signalling a time of completion and fulfilment, or trial and testing. The following seven stories from the Old and New Testaments where the number 40 is prominent illustrate ways in which ...

While the Basis of Union is the foundational document of the Uniting Church, another key text from 1977—the Statement to the Nation—provided a vision for how the newly formed church would respond to the Australian society in which it belonged. Rev Dr John Squires, director of education and formation at the Western Australian Synod, explores the 1977 statement and its ...

The number 40 is mentioned in Holy Scripture over 100 times and its use seems to have less to do with an actual number and more to do with signalling a time of completion and fulfilment, or trial and testing. The following seven stories from the Old and New Testaments where the number 40 is prominent illustrate ways in which ...

When we use the term “youth”, to whom are we really referring? I’ve had discussions with people in the church who would consider those under 40 as “youth”, others seem to think the under 20 brigade best fits the term. For what it’s worth the United Nations defines “youth” as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24. Whatever ...

As the Uniting Church celebrates its fortieth anniversary Ben Rogers revisits the excitement, challenges and hope behind the historic union of Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians in Australia in 1977. For younger members of the Uniting Church in Australia who have only ever known its current incarnation, the period surrounding church union in 1977 is past history. Visiting Wikipedia’s rundown of ...

Rev Craig Mischewski began his ministry in a remote cattle camp in the Northern Territory, and he is still more than happy to leave the city lights behind. John Harrison talks to the new Uniting Church minister serving the isolated communities of western Cape York. New Zealand-born Rev Craig Mischewski is a big man with a big heart and an ...

The Basis of Union may have been completed in the late sixties but it provides an ongoing instrument of renewal and encouragement. Rev Dr Andrew Dutney reflects on the Uniting Church in Australia’s foundational document’s past and what it offers us in the present. It’s no secret I’m a fan of the Basis of Union. But I also realise that it ...