By Andrew Humphries
From worship services suited to neurodivergent people to social gatherings for those with intellectual disabilities, Victorian and Tasmanian congregations are answering the call to improve disability access.
With one in five Australians living with disability, every congregation is almost certainly home to people navigating obstacles others may not notice, says the Synod’s Disability Inclusion Advocate Elga Rodriguez.
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Monday
Like many in ministry I have Mondays off. There are different things I enjoy doing, but it is always good fun taking my greyhound Roy to the Strathdale dog park or Kennington Reservoir and then having a coffee. They say it’s great socialising for a dog, but it is also fantastic socialising for me as well.
Tuesday
By Andrew Humphries
As he gets ready for his weekly volunteer shift, retired Uniting Church minister Rev Lynden Broadstock admits to feeling like a small child in a lolly shop.
For the lifelong reader, his volunteer role at the Dalton McCaughey Library in Parkville is about as good as it gets.
By Marina Williams
Kate Thompson was driving when she first heard about an attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14 last year.
“I was a bit shell-shocked,” says Kate, who has Jewish heritage.
Two gunmen had opened fire on a public gathering marking the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, allegedly killing 15 people, including a 10-year-old child.
By Marina Williams
When Sione Hehepoto returned from the Christian Conference of Asia’s Asian Ecumenical Youth Assembly (AEYA) in Chiang Mai, Thailand, he brought back more than memories of the five-day gathering.
From April 17–21, the assembly drew together young Christian leaders from across the Asia Pacific, expanding Sione’s understanding of faith and reshaping his sense of what ministry might ...
Faithful Futures Project Lead Karen Roberts describes Faithful Futures as an opportunity for the church community to celebrate ministry that is already underway. It’s also a call to step with purpose into new possibilities for ministry and mission in local contexts over the next five years, guided by five shared goals.
“Faithful Futures is particularly pertinent as we approach the 50th anniversary of the Uniting Church in Australia, reflecting on the history of how the Church came into being and discerning its ...
By Meg Hocking
At 73, Edith* should have been enjoying her retirement. Instead, she found herself homeless, living in a campervan in isolated bushland with no electricity or running water.
“It was the first time in my life I was actually frightened,” she says.
“It’s a sense of hopelessness. You don’t know what to do or where to go. If it ...
By Marina Williams
Two new communities of faith in regional Victoria are testing different ways of being church – centred on relationships, shared experiences and openness to those beyond existing congregations.
Both sit within the Uniting Church’s Faithful Futures vision, which identifies the creation of new communities of faith as one of its five shared goals.
By Andrew Humphries
In 1951 Robert Menzies was Prime Minister, Australia, New Zealand and the United States signed the Anzus Treaty and we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Federation.
It was also the year a nervous 15-year-old girl began playing the organ at Bordertown Methodist Church’s worship services.
Seventy-five years later, Judy Grimm continues to play the instrument she fell ...
By Dr Mark Zirnsak
“Christians believe human beings are created in the likeness and image of God, and they look to the example of Jesus to live their lives. All the recorded encounters between Jesus and children were kind, gentle and respectful. Children were central to the new social order Jesus initiated.”
We are living in an age of noise.
Voices come from every direction, each offering a way forward. Movements claim to hold the truth. Systems promise some version of life; freer, fairer, more whole.
And into that noise, the words of Jesus Christ still speak:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6
The contextual learning group’s visit to South Korea from April 13-20 was made possible with great support from the VicTas Synod, equipping Leadership for Mission, local congregations and leaders and many individuals.
The group was warmly welcomed by nine hosting organisations in Seoul, Busan, Masan and Changwon.
This exposure trip offered 11 participants a rare chance to experience firsthand the ...