Queensland Synod News

With titles like "Spirituality For Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Jesus", user-friendly books on sacred texts, major religions, meditation, and figures such as Jesus, the Buddha and Pope John Paul II are proving popular in the United States. "Many people in the United States today see spirituality as a tool to be understood and used in life," said ...

Roman Catholics in Japan are gearing up to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of St Francis Xavier, the Catholic missionary who brought Christianity to Japan in 1549. The Nagasaki Archdiocese of the Catholic Church of Japan launched a year of celebrations on 3 December 2005, the feast day of the saint who was born on 7 April 1506. ...

Welcome to "Sin City" was the headline in the Townsville Bulletin reporting today on the injection of more than $40 million into poker machines last year. The Bulletin reported that, Townsville punters pumped an average $3.6 million a month into pokies between January and November 2005, compared to $3.1 million a month for the same period in 2004. Uniting Church ...

The war is over and the children of Liberia are going back to school.  After 14 years of conflict, teachers and pupils in the poor West African nation face considerable challenges in getting education back on track. Educational programs developed by Mercy Ships are being used in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Education, during the current assignment by volunteer ...

Dear Friends in Christ, We come to celebrate once more the timeless message of Christmas. Sadly, yet again, we are conscious of the conflicts and struggles that divide our world and inflict suffering on so many people. Even here in the “lucky country”, in recent days, the ugly face of prejudice and racism has confronted us with the dark side ...

Australia’s number one whistle blower Tim Mander is set to make the transition from a career with the NRL to blowing the whistle on youth issues. Just months after being named the world’s number one referee and with a bible college degree under his belt Tim Mander will take on the role of CEO for one of Australia’s leading Christian ...

Riven by civil strife since the 1987 coup, Fiji’s major divisions are between the Methodist dominated Fijian majority and a Hindu Indian minority.  An ecumenical agency funded by Australian Churches through the Christmas Bowl appeal has been acting as an agent of reconciliation, and running programs for young people and members of the military. Director of the Ecumenical Centre for ...

The lives of eight Australian missionaries who died while serving in Korea will be forever remembered in a permanent memorial that was recently dedicated at Chang-Shin Christian College in Korea. The eight missionaries were part of a group of more than 120 who have served in Korea from 1889 to the present day with the Presbyterian and the Uniting Church ...

Three young adults are commencing a year of service to the church under the Queensland Synod’s traineeship program. Gavin Core has just finished year 12 as school captain at Emerald High School and has been anticipating taking up a traineeship for the last 12 months. Gavin will be working alongside the local high school chaplain as well as Emerald Uniting ...

A small group of young adults from the TEA Party project (Toowong Early Adults) have been road-testing some of the training activities from the Greenhouse project. Greenhouse project coordinator Mark Cornford has appreciated the opportunity to have a “real” group of young adult volunteer to try the Greenhouse process. “Greenhouse is about mission and the Toowong young adults were prepared ...