Queensland Synod News

The top official of the World Council of Churches says climate change represents one of humanity’s most dire threats and he has appealed to denominations around to world to speak with one voice to alert political leaders to tackle the issue. "Just as atomic weapons changed the very way we thought about life, so too the potential of major climatic ...

Women are playing a stronger role than in the past at the assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) where 45 per cent of participants are females, leaders from the world’s largest grouping of churches say. "The World Council of Churches provides a space for women," said Agnes Abuom, the WCC’s Africa regional president on 14 February, the opening ...

Measuring church growth takes more than a head-count across the top of the pews, reports world-renowned Australian researchers at NCLS Research. Busy preparing for another National Church Life Survey in the second half of 2006, NCLS has its eyes on the big and little pictures of congregation size, attitudes and beliefs. A key focus will be helping churches reflect on ...

Interfaith dialogue is high on the agenda for leaders of the world’s major Christian traditions gathering in the southern Brazil city of Porto Alegre for the once-every-seven-years assembly of the World Council of Churches. The meeting opens on 14 February and takes place against a background of an upsurge in tensions in faith communities triggered by the publication of cartoons ...

Women are playing a stronger role than in the past at the assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) where 45 percent of participants are females, leaders from the world’s largest grouping of churches say. "The World Council of Churches provides a space for women," said Agnes Aboum, the WCC’s Africa regional president said on 14 February, the opening ...

Pope Benedict XVI has pledged to continue working with the World Council of Churches – the world’s biggest church grouping – in promoting Christian unity. "We look forward to continuing this journey of hope and promise, as we intensify our endeavours towards reaching that day when Christians are united in proclaiming the Gospel message of salvation for all," said Pope ...

Christians and Muslims must work together to "put out the fire" created by recently published cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, the World Council of Churches’ top official has said. The Rev. Samuel Kobia said the WCC’s ninth assembly which runs from 14-23 February "may well have something to say" about the furore surrounding the cartoons. But ending the crisis, which ...

McKay Patrol’s Rev Garry Hardingham is flying high quite literally with a new engine/propeller refit for the Patrol’s Cessna 182 aircraft. The Patrol named after the late Rev Fred McKay, successor to Royal Flying Doctor Service founder John Flynn, covers an area of over half a million square kilometres across north-west Queensland and into the Northern Territory. The flying padre ...

The editor of a Norwegian Christian magazine that published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad which have sparked worldwide protests, some violent, has apologised to Muslims for the journal’s action in printing the caricatures. "I am deeply sorry that you as Muslims have experienced that your religious feelings have been offended through what we have done," said Vebjorn Selbekk, the editor ...

Noble Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has apologised to the global Islamic community over cartoons in a Danish newspaper caricaturing the prophet Muhammad, but urged Muslims incensed over the publication to exercise tolerance and forgiveness in their protests. "We would wish to send to the [Muslim] community the message of our distress, and hope they will be able … ...