The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week. If the numbers go down a new nickname for town? The Advertiser crunches the numbers of religious Census data and suggests that Adelaide’s reputation as the “city of churches” may need to be reconsidered given traditional religions are declining in popularity in South Australia. While mainstream Christianity is declining, Sikhism, Hinduism, ...
Read More »Tag Archives: Rev Dr Andrew Dutney
New road for Frontier Services
The 14th Assembly has sought to understand the reasons behind the changing circumstances of the Uniting Church’s valued remote area ministry Frontier Services. Nigel Tapp writes. Frontier Services is changing tack, re-directing its work away from aged-care to community support activities and resourcing patrol ministry. Less than a year after Frontier Services celebrated its 100th anniversary and the 13th Assembly ...
Read More »Steady hand at the helm
With Rev Terence Corkin stepping down as Assembly general secretary at the end of the year, Queenslanders will find a familiar face at the helm in 2016. Nigel Tapp reports. The 14th Assembly has appointed UnitingCare Queensland’s director of mission, Colleen Geyer as its incoming general secretary. Colleen will take the reins from Rev Terence Corkin, who will step down ...
Read More »“A lot of love” between Aussie and Kiwi churches
Church leaders from across Australia and New Zealand gathered in Brisbane last month. Rohan Salmond reports. The annual trans-Tasman gathering of church leaders took place in Brisbane in April, bringing together the six moderators from Uniting Church synods, the president of the Uniting Church Assembly, the president of the Methodist Church of New Zealand and the moderator of the Presbyterian ...
Read More »Cyclone damage bill mounts
Uniting Church emergency aid and relief has begun to arrive in Central Queensland after Tropical Cyclone Marcia tore through the Capricorn Coast in February this year. Ashley Thompson reports. The Queensland Synod’s Risk and Insurance team has been contacted by 14 sites which sustained varying levels of insurable damage from Cyclone Marcia, totalling an estimated insurance cost of $517 000. Those ...
Read More »Uniting Church condemns death penalty again
The Uniting Church in Australia has joined churches, non-governmental organisations and others in voicing concerns about Indonesia’s resumption of the death penalty. President of the Uniting Church in Australia Rev Dr Andrew Dutney is one of 14 organisational leaders who have written to both the Indonesian ambassador to Australia and to the Australian minister for foreign affairs expressing grave concerns ...
Read More »State-sanctioned child abuse must end
The Uniting Church in Australia is calling for the immediate release of all children and their families from Australian-run immigration detention centres, following the publication of a shocking report by the Australian Human Rights Commission. Matt Pulford reports. The Australian Human Rights Commission has released a damning report, entitled The Forgotten Children, on the largest survey of children in detention ...
Read More »Interfaith support for Australia’s Muslims
Uniting Church leaders from across Australia joined interfaith and ecumenical friends on 22 August in a statement of solidarity with Australia’s Muslim community. Uniting Church in Australia President Rev Dr Andrew Dutney is one of more than 150 faith and community leaders who has signed on to a declaration that “We’ll Love Muslims 100 Years”. The statement is a reference ...
Read More »Number crunch: Does the Uniting Church have a future?
Data from the 2013 census of the Uniting Church in Australia has been released just in time for its 37th anniversary. It reveals an organisation facing some tough decisions. Dianne Jensen reports. Thirty-seven years down the track, Australia’s first home-grown church is facing a mid-life crisis familiar to any adult wondering where the kids have gone and what lies ahead. ...
Read More »Budget challenges most vulnerable
The 2014 Budget was a major concern for the Uniting Church and its agencies. Mardi Lumsden reports. The federal government’s 2014 Budget was met with frustration and concern by many different parts of the Uniting Church in Australia in May. Uniting Church President Rev Dr Andrew Dutney said the church’s main concern is how Australia’s most vulnerable are affected by ...
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