Tag Archives: Uniting Church in Australia

The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.    Here lies America’s Pastor USA Today report that congressional leaders joined President Trump in praising Billy Graham as America’s pastor during a private ceremony at the U.S. Capital earlier in the week. The president called Graham “an ambassador for Christ,” who changed America and the world. Senate Majority Leader Mitch ...

The word might be in the church’s name but “uniting” carries a profound sense that there is still work to go before a “united” destination. Should we still be uniting with other denominations? Rev Janet Staines offers her perspective. When the Uniting Church inaugurated in 1977 there were great aspirations to continue the work of “uniting” with other denominations as ...

Rev Trevor Foote reminisces about the origins of the Uniting Church in the Ipswich area and how Glebe Road Uniting Church was born on the old grounds of the St John’s Presbyterian Church. Church union in 1977 saw the initial formation in Ipswich of one of the largest and most diverse Uniting Church parishes in Queensland, and possibly Australia. Seven ...

Uniting Church National Assembly general secretary Colleen Geyer reported to 32nd Synod members about the vast and exciting work of the Assembly. Colleen noted the centrality of the Assembly’s covenant with first peoples saying, “We are guests on occupied land”. She reminded Synod members that last year’s 14th Assembly in Perth “committed to a conversation regarding sovereignty; what that means ...

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 ...

UnitingJustice submitted two reports to the federal government in January. The first, submitted to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, recommended Australia’s Humanitarian Programme intake be increased to at least 25 000 for 2015–2016 and increased over the following years to 50 000 annually. It also recommended that the offshore and onshore program intakes be de-linked, the decision to not accept ...

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 ...

About FACE has been forging relationships between First and Second Peoples for over 30 years. The latest program has continued to build that trust and understanding. Nigel Trapp reports. Brisbane university student Haileigh Childs admits she had little understanding of Aboriginal culture prior to immersing herself in the About FACE program. “My relationship and understanding was virtually non-existent before. I ...

While Queenslanders spend up to $175 million at the pokies each month, some congregations are receiving a portion of the state government’s take in grant allocations. Bruce Mullan explores the ethics of churches accessing gambling revenue. Australians spend a staggering $20 billion dollars each year on gambling, and in 2013 Queenslanders spent more than $2.1 billion on pokies alone—the equivalent ...

Relationship, not finance, is king in church partnership. Ashley Thompson talks to UnitingWorld and Maleny Uniting Church about their unique relationship with the church behind the Kangra Girls’ Hostel ministry in northern India. “[He said,] ‘We don’t want your money. Please don’t just go back home to Australia after your time here and send money to us’,” Paul Moore of ...