Scoop

Rev Jenny Coombes—Longreach Uniting Church minister—reflects on what Christmas means for the Longreach region of the outback and what people around the state can do for those impacted by drought. It’s a time when communities manage to come together regardless of how good or bad the year has been. Christmas lights and decorations start to appear on houses in town; ...

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.   Red Cross without the cross leaves some seeing red The Christian Post reveals calls for some Belgian branches of the iconic organisation Red Cross to remove the red cross from its buildings due to fears the Christian symbol could offend non-Christians. The Provincial Committee of the Red Cross in Liege asked ...

Journey asked three young Uniting Church members for their radical game-changing idea to create a vibrant contemporary Christian community. Here’s what they said.  Joshua Harbort My name is Joshua Harbort, I attend Rosewood Uniting Church and I am a PhD student at the University of Queensland in the field of biophysics. Besides my interests in the future of church and ...

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.   Bringing the Good Book by hook or by crook The Christian Post profiles a 33-year-old Vietnamese Christian man who has allegedly distributed over 100,000 children’s bibles to families throughout Vietnam putting him at great risk in a nation which is very hostile towards Christians. Finding God amidst a suicide crisis, the ...

It is arguably the most famous item in Christian iconography but Robin Jensen’s book The Cross attempts to uncover the history behind the crucifix and the controversy behind the symbolism. Nick Mattiske reviews. We associate the cross with Christianity, so it is surprising to note, as Robin Jensen does in this elegantly produced book, that for the first decades, even ...

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.   If the numbers go down a new nickname for town? The Advertiser crunches the numbers of religious Census data and suggests that Adelaide’s reputation as the “city of churches” may need to be reconsidered given traditional religions are declining in popularity in South Australia. While mainstream Christianity is declining, Sikhism, Hinduism, ...

For many Australians former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was a love-him-or-loathe-him figure and his career as leader of the Labor Party was anything but smooth sailing with infighting and leadership challenges eventually engulfing the later years of his parliamentary career. Nick Mattiske reviews his autobiography.   You’d be forgiven for thinking that the title, Not for the Faint-Hearted, refers to ...

The Queensland State General Election will be held on 25 November so before you head to polling booths have you had a chance to consider the key issues at stake and who will best represent your values in parliament? David Weddell and Sue Hutchinson offer these suggestions and questions to get you thinking about your vote. Approach your local candidates ...

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.   A foreign third loving the Word ABC News reports that more than a third of Australian churchgoers were born overseas and that first and second generation migrants are making up “an increasingly significant segment of the churchgoing population”. The Uniting Church is featured prominently in the article: Rev Fie Marino is ...

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.  Doomsday call wrong, religion wrap still going strong Although David Meade originally claimed the world would end on 23 September, we’re writing this so looks like that prediction didn’t quite work out. Now, according to Time magazine, Meade is saying the 23 September date was merely the day which would “set into ...