School’s in for discipleship

By Andrew Humphries

Young Uniting Church members from Victoria and Tasmania are being offered a wonderful opportunity to broaden their faith at a conference in New South Wales in June.

The annual School of Discipleship will be held at Barrington Tops from June 26-28, promising three days of learning, worship and growth.

Younger Generations team member with equipping Leadership for ...

Homelessness is not seasonal

By Erin Craven

When Victoria sweltered through record-breaking temperatures and bushfires in January, Uniting Vic.Tas’ homelessness teams in the Wimmera and Ballarat were ensuring that some of our most vulnerable people were safe during the extreme weather and emergency conditions.

With catastrophic fire conditions, predicted to mirror 2009’s horror Black Saturday, forecast for January 8, Street2Home teams visited rural and ...

Five questions with …

Sandy Brodine

Younger Generations Education and Strategy Coordinator

What has been your journey with, and connection to, the Uniting Church?

I have been a member of the Uniting Church since I was 14. I switched across because I saw that the Uniting Church had women ministers, and that excited me, even though I’d never met one. I also liked the ...

Family and faith guide Alison

Alison Overeem

Statewide Manager, Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress Leprena Tasmania

Thursday

On site at our Leprena office in Glenorchy. It’s a full and focused day with the deadly team of myself and sisters Ayla and Grace Williams immersed in our annual strategy meeting. We are planning, reflecting and challenging ourselves and building as a team, and it’s ...

The meaning of Easter

Rev Will Pickett

Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (Victoria) and Weeroona Uniting Church minister

Easter stands at the centre of Christian theology and remains foundational to my faith and vocation.

I have been a Christian since 1990, following a significant family loss that led me to reassess my life in light of the gospel.

In that context, the Easter ...

Time to tackle forced labour

By Mark Zirnsak

Forced labour, and more broadly modern slavery, remains a significant global problem in the production of some of the goods that are imported into Australia. Goods produced with forced labour gain a competitive price advantage over those produced where workers earn decent wages and have decent working conditions.

While the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 has had ...

Moderator’s Easter message

This Easter, many of us come carrying more than we expected.

Summer fires have left a deep impact across Victorian rural communities, and the recovery will take time. Our public life has been strained: immigration protests, hate speech and language that turns people into categories rather than neighbours.

Some of us are grieving. Some are worn out. Some are quietly ...

Home where the heart is

By Vicki Fitzgerald

‘Welcome to Nillumbik’, a group of six volunteers, signed a deed with the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Program (CRISP) to partner with the Federal Government to support a refugee family for 12 months.

To ensure the family we were paired with was supported and able to survive in their brave new move, we had to have ...

Fortunate life built on faith

By Marina Williams

In five decades of ministry, Rev Colleen Grieve has journeyed from the Atherton Tablelands and Mount Isa to Tasmania’s rugged west coast and northern midlands, guided by a faith grounded in Scripture and shaped through community.

On October 14 last year, former Synod of Tasmania Moderator Colleen celebrated 50 years of ordained ministry with a thanksgiving service ...

Faithful Futures leader appointed

What will your role involve?

The Project Lead is a new role and is focussed on supporting Synod and Presbyteries to implement the strategic plan known as Faithful Futures. It will involve collaboration with key people and committees across Victoria and Tasmania to determine how we are going to achieve the five goals contained within Faithful Futures. As part of ...

Worship history celebrated

For more than 120 years, a site in Lindisfarne, Tasmania, has been a place of worship for congregations of the Uniting Church and its predecessor churches.

From around 2000, the Uniting Church congregations in Lindisfarne and Bellerive joined together as the Clarence Uniting Church ‘one congregation meeting in two locations’. Two years ago, the Clarence congregation chose to meet only ...

A time for redress

If this article raises concerns for you, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

By Andrew Humphries

In her role as UCA Redress National Director, Sarah Lim hears first-hand the accounts of people whose lives have been impacted by sexual abuse suffered as a child.

Those accounts are a constant reminder for Sarah ...