Tag Archives: lifeline,

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 ...

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 ...

Since 1999, the Queensland Synod has recognised the outstanding and invaluable commitment of volunteers to the Uniting Church’s mission in community services through the Moderator’s Community Service Medal. The medals are coordinated by UnitingCare Queensland and were today presented by CEO Anne Cross and moderator Rev David Baker. “This year we received 41 notable nominations—all of which exceptionally deserving—so I’m ...

SPOILER ALERT: The following article contains spoilers for the Disney Pixar animation Inside Out. Disney Pixar’s latest animation feature Inside Out offers purpose to all personified emotions, addressing the guilt and shame of Sadness. Ashley Thompson writes. Critically acclaimed for offering a “strikingly intricate and satisfying conceptualisation of a pre-teen’s psyche”, Director Pete Docter’s candy-coloured visual bonanza Inside Out explores ...

Years ago you wouldn’t be caught dead in hand-me-down clothes, but today upcycling an old garment is considered both ethically conscious and fashionable. So why isn’t it mainstream? Ashley Thompson explores. Emerging in the early 1900s, “charity shops” or “bazaars” were first set up to give labour opportunities to the disadvantaged and simultaneously fundraise for charities. It wasn’t until the deprivation ...

All giving should be rooted in relationship, writes Ashley Thompson. Last year your aunt gave you ice tongs for Christmas. You didn’t want or need them. In fact you weren’t even aware ice needed tongs! So today, like many other misguided gifts from relatives, they live in a spare cupboard waiting to be re-gifted. You’re positive you’re not the only one who’s been ...

The trouble with the Uniting Church is that we have taken too literally the biblical principle of not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing. Not only that, we are not good at blowing our own trumpet in the community. On the one hand, in Blackall a part-time youth worker is supported by his congregation. Scott ...

Dianne Jensen talks to Dave Andrews, Charles Ringma, Lin Hatfield Dodds and Sue Hutchinson about why they keep working for social transformation. “Many people start out with the fire in their belly to set the world alight when they are young; but very few people still have the fire in their belly when they are old,” says Dave Andrews. The ...

Life is about to get tougher for young Queenslanders in trouble with the law. Dianne Jensen reports. “Tough on crime” has a reassuring ring to the outraged householder who discovers a smashed car window or graffiti on their freshly painted wall. It’s time these kids faced up to the consequences of their behaviour, right? The Queensland Government is currently considering legislation ...

Dianne Jensen talks to Lifeline Darling Downs rural mobile counsellor Brian Steele, the only men’s counsellor in the Western Downs region. The telephone call came on the weekend. A young man who had only just made an appointment to see the sole men’s counsellor in the Western Downs region had committed suicide. Lifeline Darling Downs rural mobile counsellor Brian Steele ...