Tag Archives: Dianne Jensen

Everyone tells us that the country is a real picture in a good season. But as the moderator Rev David Baker, Central Queensland Presbytery minister Rev Brian Gilbert and their Uniting Communications sidekick meet with church members in Longreach, Barcaldine and Blackall, the talk is all about the iron grip of the drought. Dianne Jensen reports. Over three days barrelling ...

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 ...

Churches must tackle their own demons if the scourge of domestic violence is to be overcome, writes Dianne Jensen. The chilling stories take time to trickle down through the years, but the tragedy of abuse at the hands of family lingers across the generations. We all know this to be true. Domestic violence is not a fancy term for marital ...

A grand old house located at the Uniting Church Centre in Brisbane has undergone a transformation into the Wesley Hospital’s new Choices cancer support and wellness centre. Dianne Jensen reports. The massive front door is open for visitors at the heritage-listed brick residence at the heart of the Queensland Synod office and Raymont Residential College in Auchenflower, Brisbane. Drysllwyn, built ...

What might communities of faith shaped by contemporary culture look like? Dianne Jensen reports on the Queensland launch of Mission Shaped Ministry. Fresh Expressions is the trademark concept of Mission Shaped Ministry (MSM) and it means exactly that—creating new faith communities in non-traditional settings and re-imagining the shape of the contemporary church. The ecumenical program originated in the United Kingdom ...

Australians were glued to their screens last December during the Lindt café hostage drama. What can we learn from the way the tragedy unfolded? Dianne Jensen reports. We all remember those first images of hostages holding up a black flag with white Arabic writing in the window of the Lindt café. The crisis in Sydney’s central business district absorbed our ...

If there’s one principle that religion and quantum physics agree on, it’s that the search for truth requires an open mind. Physicist Dr Joel Corney talks to Dianne Jensen. Consider this: The only thing we can be sure about is that uncertainty is fundamental to the universe. University of Queensland (UQ) Senior Lecturer in Physics Dr Joel Corney is a ...

Townsville Central City Mission has partnered with our closest neighbours in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to deliver essential medical care. Dianne Jensen reports. The Uniting Church congregation at Townsville Central City Mission were quick to jump on board to assist with financial support and volunteers when YWAM (Youth with a Mission) Medical Ships came to Townsville in 2010. Since then ...

Telstra Business Woman of the Year 2014 Anne Cross is CEO of UnitingCare Queensland, the largest not-for-profit health and community services provider in Queensland. Anne talks to Dianne Jensen about her lifelong commitment to building a more compassionate society. What were the issues that really fired you up as a student? I was at university in the 1970s, a time ...

What would it take for your church to become a place of refuge? Think carefully, because God’s hospitality demands that we welcome the outsider with open hearts and minds. Dianne Jensen reports. Kieran is an ex-prisoner who went looking for a church where he would be welcome. He was a new Christian whose life had taken a radical about-turn in ...