Queensland Synod News

Queensland McKay Patrol Minister Rev Garry Hardingham, has been appointed as Secretary of the International Rural Churches Association (IRCA). IRCA is a world wide network of Christians with a passion for rural communities who share stories of struggle and hope. Over 100 delegates from 16 countries gave a world-view of the challenges and hopes in rural ministry at the International ...

African religious leaders have heard that gender-based violence is increasingly becoming a weapon of war in the continent’s trouble spots, with some saying holy scriptures are being used to justify violence in general. "The last two decades have marked the darkest period for women in the continent of Africa," said the Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa ...

Terrorist bombs tore the heart out of Bali in 2002 but, on the insistence of two Balinese Christians who had attended Pacific PeaceBuilding Initiatives training (PPBI), the Protestant Church in Bali (GKPB) decided to change its own sense of identity. Bali could not "forgive and forget". It was psychologically impossible, sociologically dangerous, and it is not the way of Christ. ...

Dialogue in the quest for Christian unity has proved to be immensely valuable in the United States and globally but may have hit a plateau, a Roman Catholic cardinal has said during the commemoration of a US ecumenical milestone. Theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles made his remarks at a conference convened by the US National Council of Churches in Oberlin, Ohio, ...

Christian women activists have expressed anger at what they say is an alarming crisis due to female feticide in India, after two dumps of illegally aborted female foetuses were found in the world’s second most populous nation this week. "This is a dangerous situation and, if it continues, there will be the extinction of female children," lamented T. Sabitha Swaraj, ...

AFTER A long and proud history Margate Uniting Church Conference Centre on the Redcliffe Peninsula will close its doors on 31 December. The decision made late last year by the former Finance and Property Board was announced at the recent Synod at Alexandra Park. Synod Property Services Manager Mark Lee said the decision had not been taken lightly. “We conducted ...

A symbol of 1980s-style televangelism, Tammy Faye (Bakker) Messner will be remembered for the heavy black mascara that ran down her face because she cried so easily when invoking the name of Jesus, and for soliciting money from viewers. She will also be remembered for the sex and corruption scandal that brought down her multi-million dollar "Praise The Lord Network" ...

Roman Catholics in Ukraine have appealed for international support after a U.S.-owned company began converting a church into a casino. "The authorities are laughing at us, thinking we can do nothing as they take the church to pieces under our eyes," said the Rev. Jan Sobilo, vicar-general of the Catholic church’s Kharkiv-Zaporizhia diocese. "We have to do something. This is ...

The leaders of Australia’s two major political parties have agreed to speak live to Christians across the nation. Christians will gather in their churches on 9 August to watch a live web-cast of Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd addressing church leaders. ‘Federal Election 2007 – Make it Count’ will be hosted by the Australian Christian Lobby ...

A recent Alice Springs based summit on preventing Indigenous child abuse convened by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christian Alliance (NATSICA) has detailed an effective alternative to the Federal Government’s emergency response plan. The two day historic summit held on the 18-19th July was attended by the nation’s major Church denominations who worked together to devise an innovative ...