Tag Archives: refugees

An art exhibition hosted by Graceville Uniting Church and Milpera State High School was a successful showcase for both the church’s commitment to the community and the school’s support for developing their students’ cultural and linguistic skills. Journey reports. Located just a short walk away from Graceville Uniting Church in Brisbane’s south west, Milpera State High School is the only ...

The subject of migration is never too far from the news headlines in Australia, Europe and North America but with the recent release of two books—Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour and The Refugee Crisis and Religion—issues around people smuggling and Islam are getting more attention. Nick Mattiske reviews. We are living in a new age of migration with over 60 million ...

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.  Ticket to the west if you pass Bible test RT covers news from Sweden of a Bible quiz being given to Christian asylum seekers escaping religious persecution. While many have slammed the idea as complicated, irrelevant and conflating knowledge with faith, the country’s migration agency has defended the testing with Carl Bexelius—Swedish ...

Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria come together with local Brisbane church members to celebrate the Easter journey. Sue Hutchinson reports. My Catholic community of Bracken Ridge in north Brisbane has welcomed about 90 families from Iraq and Syria since last May. These Christians were brought to Australia as refugees, fleeing war and persecution in the lands where they have ...

There was an old bumper sticker that said, “Think global, act local”. Our faith speaks about the great universal themes of creation, of reconciliation, of salvation. The Uniting Church, particularly, is energised by the large and broad issues that humanity and the nation are facing—anthropogenic climate change, the global refugee crisis, the world economic order. Yet for many of us, ...

Right before Australia hit the polls on 2 July, Ashley Thompson asked under 30s at Newlife Uniting Church’s Heartbeat Conference what policy decisions they would champion given the chance. Let them stay The plight of refugees and asylum seekers is a contentious issue in the Australian political arena but in the eyes of Grace (13) and Iram (12) it’s simple: ...

Chasing Asylum exposes the barbarity and secrecy surrounding the Australian Government’s asylum seeker policies, Sue Hutchinson gives her take on the controversial documentary which is destined to become one of the year’s most talked about films. The federal government has demanded absolute secrecy around the offshore detention of so-called boat people, so Australians have had very little idea of what really ...

Every Christmas the National Council of Churches’ international aid agency Act for Peace runs the Christmas Bowl Appeal to support people around the world living through conflict and displacement. Journey reports. “Nothing could have prepared me for the shocking reality facing refugees living in Akula camp,” says Delphine Vuagnoux, who coordinates the Christmas Bowl appeal for Act for Peace. “Walking ...

Deciphering the 60+ Assembly proposals and reports before the meeting is a challenge even for the Assembly’s members. Check out some of the highlights and get the jump on the meeting. Anglican–Uniting Church dialogue Assembly Standing Committee commends the adoption of the Weaving a New Cloth document, which advocates local cooperation between Anglican and Uniting churches throughout Australia. The Royal ...

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 ...