Tag Archives: Queensland drought

Hope was on the horizon when winter rains brought smiles back to the faces of western Queenslanders. Ashley Thompson checks in with Longreach Uniting Church minister Rev Jenny Coombes. Although 80 per cent of Queensland remains drought declared, the Longreach community has had their spirits lifted by the wettest winter on record. “Since the rain has come, morale has lifted ...

Mareeba Uniting Church and UnitingCare Community have joined forces to deliver neighbourly support to drought-affected families in north Queensland this Christmas. Dianne Jensen reports. The Mareeba Uniting Church congregation is hoping to raise at least $3000 to provide gift vouchers to nearly 70 families served by UnitingCare Community’s North Queensland Remote Area Families Service (RAFS). Burke, Carpentaria, Doomadgee and parts ...

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 ...

A church for all God’s people There’s a lot of thought going on at the moment as to how the Uniting Church can do things differently in order to adapt to demographic changes in the broader community. It’s a topic that sparked a lot of conversation during Open Space at the 31st Synod in Session last year. It’s not a ...

Give a real welcome We read with interest the six ways to be a welcoming church (Journey, June 2014, page 15). We have recently moved to Brisbane and were really looking forward to joining another church family after having left a great congregation in regional Queensland. Our experience has not been very positive, so there is one more point we ...

UnitingCare Community, in partnership with StandBy Response Service, offers postvention programs to assist families, friends and communities bereaved by suicide. Ashley Goetze reports. Queensland’s largest drought has consequences that stretch beyond its thirsty soil. According to The Australian, Lifeline figures show that where severe drought hits, suicide rates increase sixfold. Issues of guilt and shame about suicide impact the grieving ...