Queensland Synod News

Churches in India have joined in widespread denunciation of a series of bomb blasts that killed at least 76 people and left more than 400 injured in Assam state, in north-east India, and that also damaged a Baptist centre. "We strongly condemn such heartless violence unleashed to common people," said the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI), ...

Blue Care remains committed to providing aged care services throughout Queensland and Northern News South Wales with a number of new developments underway and in the planning stages, UnitingCare Queensland CEO Anne Cross confirmed today. “Blue Care has not stopped building new aged care facilities as reported in the media this morning and will continue to support and provide care ...

Recently elected leaders of China’s officially-sanctioned Protestant churches have said they care about house churches that sometimes operate underground and that they are willing to provide them with Bibles. "For those house churches without registration, we will try our best to be with them, to recognise them and to help them, so long as they have an orthodox faith, don’t ...

Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s most venerated sites, poses a safety hazard to visitors, the Israeli Tour Guide Association has said. "The number of tourists visiting the church is increasing and there are days when it is impossible to move in the church, with so many people," said Roby Harly, the director of the tour guide ...

Church leaders and activists have hailed as "courageous" the decision by a young Roman Catholic nun to publicly recount how she was raped by Hindu extremists in India’s eastern Orissa state, and who has reiterated her demand for federal police to investigate the case. More than 20 television crews and many more photographers had flocked to the Jesuit-run Indian Social ...

The Vatican’s top official for Christian unity has criticised a Roman Catholic statement published in 2000 that described Protestant denominations as not being churches, "in the proper sense". "I took exception to it – not to the document’s contents, but only to its language. In my opinion, this was inappropriate," said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for ...

Roman Catholic bishops from throughout the world have ended a three-week gathering at the Vatican by underlining commitment to the unity of the Church and by suggesting that women be given the right to preach in Catholic parishes. In a final message to the world’s Catholics, the 253 bishops urged that bonds with other Christian communities be reinforced. This should ...

Evangelicals from more than 100 nations have met in Pattaya, Thailand, for the opening of the main governing body of the World Evangelical Alliance with a call to seek a fresh vision of Christianity based on the Scriptures and with the issue of poverty on its agenda. "We need a fresh vision for and commitment to the work of the ...

Representatives from the Uniting Church in Australia have met with the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for the first time, speaking with him on issues of climate change, human rights and the death penalty. Meeting with the Prime Minister in Canberra on 21 October were the UCA President, Rev Gregor Henderson, National Assembly General Secretary, Rev Terence Corkin, and National Director ...

Lifeline Community Care Queensland has released a report that exposes Queensland as the only state or territory in Australia whose government provides no funding for generalist financial counselling services. The report entitled A Perspective: Lifeline’s experience of financial counselling in Queensland, highlights astonishing funding gaps and calls on state government and the corporate sector to financially support the community sector ...