Queensland Synod News

The National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC) 2007 will be in Perth, Western Australia, 3 – 9 January 2007. The theme is Agents of Change and registration is open to all young people between the ages of 16 and 30 as of 3 January 2007. It is about transformation – inner and outer. What are the agents that change us, and ...

Catholics on one corner of the street, Uniting Church on the other, Anglicans down the road? This year on 3rd June Queensland Churches Together wishes to demonstrate that though the buildings may still remain, the barriers between their occupants are visibly crumbling. Each year just before Pentecost, in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, members of different churches come ...

In an uncertain world, religious education (RE) can support students in their quest for positive values and sources of spirituality. This is the view shared by the members a task group of Queensland Churches Together (QCT) and its 11 member churches, which has been following the development of new RE legislation (see: “God of Choice”, Courier Mail, April 15-16). “QCT ...

Sometimes misunderstood and often not known about, Chrysalis weekends introduce young adults to Christianity as a lifestyle. The highly structured three day experience is designed to strengthen and renew the faith of young Christians and, through them, all those with whom they come into contact. Queensland Chrysalis committee member Andrew Johnson told how people often won’t say much about what ...

The United Church of Christ (UCC), often described as one of the socially critical Protestant denominations in the United States, has turned to television commercials and the Internet hammer home its message that it is an inclusive church. At the same time, the denomination’s president has accused the Institute on Religion and Democracy advocacy group of promoting a "neo-conservative agenda" ...

Rev. Hermann Saud, the retiring Moderator of the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua, has appealed to the Uniting Church to raise concerns throughout the world concerning escalating violence in West Papua. A series of demonstrations against the giant Freeport Mine near Timika turned ugly during the third week of March and four Indonesian security personnel were attacked ...

Religion scholars say the recent release of the "Gospel of Judas", an early Christian text favourable to the disciple reputed to have betrayed Jesus, can contribute to understanding about the world of early Christianity. But some have also expressed scepticism about what they see as media hyperbole surrounding the manuscript’s release. "I think the massive media interest in the ‘Gospel ...

Centenary Uniting Church youth worker Jason Bray launched his debut film at the Palace Centro cinema, New Farm, in February to a full house and with endorsement from Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce. Breathless is a documentary dealing with the issue of chemical sniffing, known as chroming, that is plaguing homeless, low-income and Indigenous youth in Queensland. Told through the voices ...

War-time letters published for the first time are shedding light on why Britain refused to support an internal German resistance movement seeking to topple the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler during the Second World War. Correspondence in 1942 between Bell and the then British foreign minister Anthony Eden is included in "Bishop George Bell – the Greatest Churchman – a ...

2006 marks the 60th anniversary of one of Queensland’s longest serving and most popular campsites, Alexandra Park. Purchased by the Youth Department of the Presbyterian Church, Alex Park was officially opened and dedicated during an evening dinner on Good Friday, 19 April 1946. Located directly opposite the Alexandra Headland surf beach, the camp originally consisted of 173 acres of natural ...