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Film review: Ghostbusters

(L—R) Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon star in the all-female remake of Ghostbusters (2016). Photo property of Sony Pictures.

I didn’t think I’d have to write this review because I was so sure everybody else would. But with an extremely generous Rotten Tomatoes score of 73 per cent and Mediacritic rating of 60 per cent, it is clear many Ghostbusters (2016) reviewers have assessed this film purely on its political merit and without regard for its forgettable narrative, tacky ...

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Expanded: Ken Ham in his own words

Ken Ham at the Ark Encounter in North America. Photo was supplied.

When you construct a gargantuan $100 million Noah’s ark replica in the heart of America’s “Bible belt”, chances are you’ll gain attention. Lots of it. Ken Ham is the controversial driving force behind the Ark Encounter and sure enough, the media has flocked to Kentucky, North America to cover his impressive feat of taking the specifications in Genesis 6:15 and ...

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Tips for reuniting agencies and congregations

Rev Linda Hamill. Graphic by Holly Jewell.

Following her Unchained session at the 32nd Synod exploring the relationship between congregations and agencies, Rev Linda Hamill outlines some practical ways to strengthen the ties. Relationships can be an emotional minefield for some, blissfully trouble-free for others. In particular many can relate to parents raising a child to be independent and then negotiating the evolving dynamics as the parent-child ...

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Five global issues close to young hearts

Close to 200 delegates from all over Queensland attended Heartbeat Conference including Yolanda (left) and Nicola (right) from Northside Uniting Church in Mackay. Photo was supplied.

Right before Australia hit the polls on 2 July, Ashley Thompson asked under 30s at Newlife Uniting Church’s Heartbeat Conference what policy decisions they would champion given the chance. Let them stay The plight of refugees and asylum seekers is a contentious issue in the Australian political arena but in the eyes of Grace (13) and Iram (12) it’s simple: ...

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Reflecting on women and the Uniting Church

Rev Dr Geraldine Wheeler: a Uniting Church minister in Queensland. Photo was supplied.

Journey’s recent focus on smashing the glass ceiling in the church has forced many to confront how issues of gender, equality and theology coexist in the church. Rev Dr Geraldine Wheeler reflects on her past brushes with prejudice before Queensland inducted its first female moderator in 2011. In the Journey article “Seven ways to smash the glass ceiling” (July 2016 ...

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What the church needs to learn from Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO is taking the world by storm. Photo: Pokémon GO YouTube channel, Niantic

The augmented reality app sweeping the world is sending a lot of people to church. Mardi Lumsden offers some lessons the church needs to learn from the phenomenon. Your buildings are landmarks, but you need to get out more PokéStops, gyms etc. are decided by a database of user-supplied data created for a previous game by the same company. It uses players’ ...

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Film review: Chasing Asylum

Still from the movie Chasing Asylum. Photo by Joel van Houdt/Chasing Asylum.

Chasing Asylum exposes the barbarity and secrecy surrounding the Australian Government’s asylum seeker policies, Sue Hutchinson gives her take on the controversial documentary which is destined to become one of the year’s most talked about films. The federal government has demanded absolute secrecy around the offshore detention of so-called boat people, so Australians have had very little idea of what really ...

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Pokémon GO: Western suburb Uniting Church’s transform into Pokémon gyms

Augmented reality game Pokemon Go. Photo property of Gilang Grimoire YouTube channel, labelled for reuse.

Released in July 2016,  free-to-play augmented reality mobile game “Pokémon GO” has taken the streets of Brisbane (and world) by storm. If you find a crowd of teenagers to thirty-somethings loitering on your church property staring at their phone, you may be amused to find your church has become a “Pokéstop” or “Pokémon gym”. A Uniting Church teenager has named Indooroopilly, ...

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Confronting Revelation

Fire from the Book of Revelation. Photo from Lightstock images.

The Bible presents some uncomfortable depictions of women, particularly in the Book of Revelation. Ashley Thompson speaks with North American Biblical scholar, Dr Tina Pippin about what to do with the duality of the “women of the apocalypse”. In June, Grace College hosted Dr Tina Pippin as keynote speaker for their second annual Women’s Theology Conference—a gathering of over 40 ...

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Expanded: Rev Dr Geoff Thompson and disturbing the Basis of Union

Rev Dr Geoff Thompson at the recent launch of his book, Trinity Theological Library, Brisbane. Photo by Mardi Lumsden.

Here in Queensland to promote his new book, Disturbing Much, Disturbing Many: Theology provoked by the Basis of Union, Rev Dr Geoff Thompson sat down with Journey to delve deeper into issues of faith, society and the Uniting Church in Australia’s foundational document, the Basis of Union. Journey: If there’s one takeaway from the book, what is it? Geoff: The ...

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