Queensland Synod News

NOMINATIONS FOR the 2011 Moderator’s Community Service Medal close on 19 August so get in now if you know someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the Uniting Church’s mission in community service in Queensland. Logan volunteer and quiet achiever Viliami (Willie) Afeaki was presented with a Moderator’s Medal in 2010. He was nominated by Rev Dr Apichart Branjerdporn, ...

UNITING CHURCH members continue to be awarded for their efforts in flood-affected communities. Colette Crossley, a member of Vineyard Community of Faith and Knox Uniting Church in Moorooka, accepted an award for her work with the Acacia Ridge Community Support Incorporated ( ARCSI) celebrating their work co-ordinating and providing ongoing support to the Rocklea community on behalf of various levels ...

A NEW program called Luke14 was launched on 29 June in Brisbane and 30 June on the Gold Coast to encourage and enable churches to welcome and include people with a disability. An initiative of CBM Australia, keynote speakers at the launch, Jim Stallard, Mike Duggan and Dave Andrews, shared their experiences and wisdom and encouraged people to be truly ...

STAFF AT UnitingCare Queensland Corporate Office and UnitingCare Health in Brisbane shared their thoughts on what reconciliation means to them at a morning tea on 30 May held to celebrate National Reconciliation Week. Some staff brought giant puzzle pieces they had been given on Close the Gap Day and which they had decorated to illustrate their commitment to reconciliation with ...

“A BLOODY Business” is a rather emotive title for a television report – and such a title is guaranteed to create a lot of interest. The ABC TV program, Four Corners, (6 June 2011) documented horrific scenes from a number of Indonesian abattoirs where cattle from Australia were brutally treated during the slaughter process. Viewers were understandably horrified and it ...

TWO RETIRED ministers in the Lockyer Valley are tackling the Synod’s call to assist in sustaining communities which have faced the trauma of devastating floods. With support from the Synod’s Disaster Relief Funds, the congregations of Gatton and Laidley / Hatton Vale have commissioned Rev Geoff Pankhurst and Rev Bob Heathwood to exercise this important recovery ministry. Soon after the ...

ON 1 June 2001 a Local Covenant was signed between the Anglican Parish of Kilcoy, the Lutheran Redeemer Church, Woodford, the Stanley River Catholic Parish and the Kilcoy Uniting Church Congregation. The Covenant committed the four churches to work together in love, to pray and care for one another and to live together in fellowship to the greater glory of ...

BLUE CARE Indigenous Co-ordinator in Far North Queensland, Donna Corrie, has been appointed as an Ambassador with the Australian Government’s Indigenous Education Ambassadors program. Ms Corrie, a Torres Strait Islander based in Cairns, said she was overwhelmed when she received the letter from the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, the Hon Peter Garrett MP, confirming her appointment. ...

IMAGINE GIVING up a comfortable job as a nurse in a regional hospital to work for a charity, on a boat, for no pay. Bundaberg Uniting Church member, Ellen Venz, has done just that when, in June, she began a four month placement on Mercy Ships International Hospital flagship Africa Mercy. Ms Venz said she was excited to volunteer on ...

AS THE Together on the way, enriching community journey continues Church members from all over Queensland are reflecting on the future of the Church in their own context. In the light of the Church’s 2020 Call and Vision, five areas of priority for the next two years have been identified. Focus Group B is working on promoting prayer and spirituality ...