Tag Archives: Brisbane

Now that the subject of euthanasia is back on the national agenda, Dianne Jensen looks at Christian perspectives on this challenging issue. We all hope for a good death. A peaceful passing surrounded by and reconciled with those we love. And in this era of personalised medicine, it seems right that we should be able to avoid the suffering and ...

Watching cars pull over outside Moggill Uniting Church is proof that a strategically placed coffee van and a big red “Open” banner can be unique tools for shaping the Kingdom. Add in friendly faces and the opportunity to catch up with neighbours, and you’re on the road to creating community. Dianne Jensen reports. Rev Melanie Wheeley and the Moggill congregation ...

Gratitude has poured in from Rakiraki, Fiji as communities rebuild their lives after Cyclone Winston—thanks to goods donated by various groups within the Queensland Uniting Church. Journey reports. It claimed the lives of 44 people and destroyed the family home of Fijian native and Brisbane Congress Congregation minister Rev Saimoni Davui, but those affected by Fiji’s strongest tropical storm on ...

Dianne Jensen talks to Val Webb about keeping the faith in a challenging world. If Uniting Church theologian Dr Val Webb has one message for Christians, it’s that asking questions is good for your faith. “There are so many people who think there’s only one way to think theologically, and if they can’t stomach that particular doctrinal package they have ...

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, ...

Each week hundreds of Christian, Baha’i, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim volunteers provide religious instruction to students in Queensland state primary schools. Should objections to one particular program lead to unprecedented intervention from Education Queensland? Mardi Lumsden explores. In early June, religious instruction (RI) at Windsor State School in Brisbane’s north was suspended for the third time since 2014. Principal Matthew ...

Dianne Jensen reports on how a partnership between the Christian church in China and the Uniting Church in Australia is flourishing at the grassroots level. An aged-care facility in a regional town in Shandong province in China seems a world away from the Wesley Mission Brisbane (WMB) Jacobs Court Aged Care Community in Sinnamon Park, Brisbane. But thanks to a ...

Lifeline Bookfests attract crowds eager for a bargain on their books but there’s a wide array of the weird and wonderful to browse. Journey reports. While the Australian book industry continues to acclimatise to consumer trends favouring digital publishing, lovers of the printed page know Lifeline Bookfests are the must-attend event to celebrate their passion. With a massive volume of ...

International student pastor Noah Kim talks to Dianne Jensen about his call to ministry in the Uniting Church. Noah Kim knows first-hand that the call to God’s service can take you far from home and well outside your comfort zone. The South Korean-born Christian received the nudge from his pastor to attend Bible college in Australia eight years ago—and has ...

Every young person reaches the point where they decide to sign up to their faith community or to drift away. Dianne Jensen talks to Heather Watson, former chair of UnitingCare Queensland, whose service to the church was shaped by the opportunities she received as a young Christian. Heather Watson has a clear recollection of when she made a personal faith ...