The April 2015 edition of Journey is now available to read and download. Lest we forget This month marks 100 years since the landing at Gallipoli; a critical moment in Australia and New Zealand’s history that is burned into the national psyche of both countries. Dawn services will take place around the world, paying tribute to the sacrifice made by those a ...

Lent is a season binding Christians together no matter their church tradition, but it is observed very differently depending on where you go. What does it look like for the Uniting Church to observe Lent? Rohan Salmond explores. For more than 1000 years Christians everywhere have observed Lent, an annual 40-day time of fasting and reflection in preparation for Easter. ...

They say memory may not be housed just in our brains. I remember that some of my training talked about “anchoring”, that a memory, idea, thought, theme or plan, can be physically anchored in another part of our bodies—just as a noise, song or smell takes us back to a memory of life, so also one of these may be ...

It’s much easier to be a young person in a church full of other young people, and it’s no secret that some Uniting Church members are gravitating to younger, cooler denominations—or leaving church altogether. Rohan Salmond talks to some young people who have made the choice to stick around. It’s a statistical oddity that one of Australia’s youngest denominations—the Uniting ...

Sick of giving people socks or undies for Christmas? Mardi Lumsden explores gifts that give more than once. Christmas gift giving can be a stressful and expensive exercise, especially if purchasing for people who already have so much. A number of organisations provide alternative Christmas ideas and ways to help others when it comes to gift giving. Here are a ...

All giving should be rooted in relationship, writes Ashley Thompson. Last year your aunt gave you ice tongs for Christmas. You didn’t want or need them. In fact you weren’t even aware ice needed tongs! So today, like many other misguided gifts from relatives, they live in a spare cupboard waiting to be re-gifted. You’re positive you’re not the only one who’s been ...

The desperate woman who pushed through the crowd to tug at Jesus’ robe took a chance that his minders were too distracted to notice. There are better ways to make your voice heard at the G20, as Dianne Jensen reports. Raising your concerns directly with world leaders such as US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Chinese President ...

Relationship, not finance, is king in church partnership. Ashley Thompson talks to UnitingWorld and Maleny Uniting Church about their unique relationship with the church behind the Kangra Girls’ Hostel ministry in northern India. “[He said,] ‘We don’t want your money. Please don’t just go back home to Australia after your time here and send money to us’,” Paul Moore of ...

I had a delightful conversation with a senior student from one of our Uniting Church schools. He is considering spending a gap year to support a community in a developing country. He thinks he would like the challenge of a cross-cultural experience. Together we chatted about options for volunteering with an Indigenous community, UnitingWorld or another community organisation. He explained ...

Small congregations face a unique set of challenges, and don’t always have the resources to participate in ministry in the same way as large churches with big budgets and a large talent pool. But small churches are still an important part of the fabric of our community, and their intimate size offers opportunities that aren’t available to big communities. Here’s ...