I’D ONLY been in town a few days and here I was driving to a house I had never been to, to meet a family I didn’t know, to arrange the funeral of a person I had never met. I asked myself, “What on earth am I doing?” The urge to turn around was quite real. Yet at the same ...

Wm B Eerdmans, 2008  RRP $27.95 Reviewed by Bob Warrick.  Since going on pilgrimages in Europe and Britain [by coach I should add!], I have had a curiosity about the ninth century medieval pilgrimage across the northern part of  Spain to Santiago de Compostela the traditional burial place of the apostle James the Greater.  The word ‘pilgrim’ is familiar to ...

By Robert Lentz and Edwina Gateley Orbis Books. New York , 2003 RRP $39.95   Reviewed by Marian Zaunbrecher , Associate General Secretary of the Queensland Synod.   Christ in the Margins would be marvellous for the liturgist or educator who regularly uses PowerPoint illustrations. It has over 50 icons painted by Mr Lentz and they are thought provoking yet ...

HarperCollins , 2008 RRP $29.95   Reviewed by Reg Collard, a member of the Uniting Church ‘s Lay Forum.   In 2004 Gretta Vosper became the chair and founder of the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity, within the West Hill United Church in Toronto where she actively ministers. Ms Vosper has set out her ideas in this powerful and provocative ...

Church leaders have taken to eating curry meals to support campaigns to overcome violence and racism against Indian students living in Australia. "Vindaloo against Violence" was a recent event where Australians were invited to have a curry lunch or dinner on 24 February as an act of appreciation and peace between local citizens and the Indian student community. The Rev. ...

I KNOW nothing about art. When I visited the art galleries of Europe I admit that I didn’t really understand most of the art works I saw, and sometimes wondered why they are called art and deserved a place in a gallery. However I remember the wisdom of a minister of my childhood, who said that a person who says ...

AROUND 50 Uniting Church members and staff gathered in February in response to a 27th Synod resolution to begin to discern a shared direction for the next 10 years of the Uniting Church in Queensland which enriches community; local, state, national and global. This is a grassroots approach that aims to inspire, renew and energise congregation members and Church and ...

OVER THIRTY years ago the Uniting Church in Australia embarked on what could have been a remarkable journey, but has it abandoned its original course? It is now a shell of its former self, like so much Liberal Protestantism throughout the West. The past decade has witnessed the Uniting Church rid itself of any prophetic vocation it might once have ...

FOR THE first time in the history of the National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC) the event will begin in December, meaning ncyc11 attendees will welcome 2011 with a special New Year’s Eve celebration. Confirmed speakers for the conference include Gillian Best, speaker and Youth Ministry coordinator for the Irish Methodist Church and Australian Christian comedian and magician, Christopher Wayne. NCYC ...

OVER 250 high school students and youth leaders from more than 50 Uniting Churches around Queensland celebrated a long weekend of discipleship training and fun at Summer Madness in January. Coordinator Tom Kerr said the biennial event had attendees from St George to Far North Queensland, Toowoomba to Gladstone and was a great success where young people had their faith ...