Tag Archives: Rev David Baker

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 big thank you to all those who participated in the 32nd Synod. One of the things you learn when being a follower of Jesus is the capacity to be surprised. So when about 120 people gathered during Synod to talk about contemplative prayer with Dr Neil Preston, who delivered the Norman and Mary Millar lecture, I was a bit ...

Enriching dialogue and diversity reigned at the 32nd Synod meeting (20–24 May) while future directions were confirmed. The Journey team was there to cover the event. The Alexandra Park Conference Centre on the Sunshine Coast was packed with hundreds of Uniting Church members from across Queensland. The tea urns were switched on and the blue and orange cards were ready ...

The 32nd Synod of the Uniting Church in Queensland has closed how it begun, in a celebration of the rich cultural diversity of the church. Rev David MacGregor opened closing worship by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Synod gathered, the Gubbi Gubbi people. Stillness descended over the meeting as members watched a short video called ...

32nd Synod members have today elected Rev David Baker for a second term as Queensland Synod moderator. Ashley Thompson catches up with David to reflect back on the first 18 months of his first term. Ashley: Why did you put your hand up to be moderator again? David: I was nominated by Bremer Brisbane Presbytery because they thought I still had ...

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 ...

The 32nd Synod meeting of the Uniting Church in Queensland began on 20 May 2016 as Rev Dennis Corowa, Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and Calvary Presbytery chairperson, acknowledged the traditional owners of the land at Alexandra Headland, the Gubbi Gubbi people. “We pay our respects to elders past and present and say prayers with all those in the future,” ...

Later this month some 350 people of the Uniting Church in this state will gather at Alexandra Park Conference Centre for the 32nd Synod in Session. The word “synod” comes from the Greek language: “syn”, meaning together, and “hodos”, meaning a way, a road. So a synod really is about “together on the way”. Archbishop Mark Coleridge, in talking about ...

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 ...

“Looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12 “Pioneer” is a bit of an ambivalent descriptor these days. As a nation, we still have not come to terms with the British Empire’s arrival, even though the intent at first was probably just to find a place to dump cast-offs from society and develop a base to ...