Tag Archives: Mardi Lumsden

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 ...

A new suite of resources to assist the church to be a safe place for children and young people was launched in March this year. Mardi Lumsden reports. The new Safe Ministry with Children resources are the result of feedback from congregations, collaboration between the Synod office, presbyteries and several committees, and a commitment that the church’s ministry with children ...

Ten years after the Close the Gap campaign began, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians still die younger and are less educated than non-Indigenous Australians. Mardi Lumsden reports. The eighth annual Close the Gap report (released 9 February) shows only two out of seven health, education and employment targets are on track. While halving child mortality by 2018 and better ...

This edition marks 30 years of Journey magazine. Mardi Lumsden explores the past, present and future of church communications. Leafing through newsprint is a fast-disappearing luxury. The dusty 30-year-old pages of the Journey archives are filled with stories of the church at work in the world, calling out injustice and celebrating global, national and local milestones. This is a record ...

There were plenty of passionate discussions around how the Uniting Church forms people in their faith at the 31st Synod in October last year. Mardi Lumsden explores how theological study deepens and even shakes your faith, and why that could be essential to your faith journey. The Uniting Church’s foundational document the Basis of Union outlines the importance of the ...

Rev Kaye Ronalds will finish her three-year term as Moderator at this month’s 31st Queensland Synod meeting. Mardi Lumsden explores what others appreciated about Kaye’s time in the role. Kaye’s term as Moderator can be characterised by a comment she made at her induction service: “We need to become better at working together and remembering that there are many kinds ...

In September 500 women from across the Uniting Church in Australia gathered in Sydney for the inaugural UnitingWomen conference. Mardi Lumsden reports. The concept of a Uniting Church women’s conference is not a new one; the most recent similar event was Women Clothed with the Sun held in Brisbane in 1996. UnitingWomen’s theme, Seeking a deeper story, was expressed though ...

The call for humans to care for creation—to be good stewards—goes back to Adam and Eve. As the Queensland Synod marks Stewardship Sunday (5 October), Mardi Lumsden explores how the modern church is living generously. So often, the word stewardship is underpinned by the need to fix the church roof or upgrade technology. Queensland Synod Moderator-elect Rev David Baker says ...

Investing ethically is all well and good, but the realities of it are more complex than you may think. Mardi Lumsden explores. Prior to the last Queensland Synod meeting in May 2013 the New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory Synod in Session resolved to divest from stocks and shares in corporations engaged in the extraction of fossil fuels and to redirect ...

A partnership between two churches in Ipswich and East Timor is helping change lives in both places. Mardi Lumsden reports. Glebe Road Uniting Church in Ipswich, west of Brisbane, has a long partnership with East Timor. When members, including Noela and Noel Rothery, experienced Timor for themselves through a UnitingWorld InSolidarity trip in 2010 they understood how a partnership could ...