A report leaked to the ABC’s 7.30 Report has cast a damning light on the nation’s mental health services apparent lack of coordination, accountability and efficacy.
The as-yet unreleased report, commissioned by the Federal Government, makes wide-ranging recommendations such as redirecting funding from hospital care to community-based services.
A key recommendation seeks to address the systemic problems facing ...
Rev Dr Apwee Ting from Dandenong Uniting Church has been appointed as the new National Director of Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry.
Rev Dr Ting is the first person from an Indonesian background to be appointed to a senior national role in an Australian mainstream Christian Church.
As the Minister at Dandenong Uniting Church in Victoria, Rev Dr ...
Easter is the pinnacle of the Uniting Church calendar. Christ’s resurrection offers the promise of hope and rebirth. It is a reminder that life will triumph over death, that love and kindness will overpower hate and darkness. Congregations throughout the synod celebrated Holy Week in a number of ways, including feet washing ceremonies, reflective walks and Easter Day dawn services. ...
Can God fix climate change? It’s the question on the lips of many within the Pacific Church, this month more than ever in the wake of one of the region’s most deadly cyclones.
Vanuatu President Baldwin Lonsdale did not hesitate to link Cyclone Pam to the accelerating effects of climate change, describing it as a ‘monster’ ...
The temptation for someone who was in Vanuatu at the time of the recent cyclone – the most intense cyclone ever to have passed through the island group, wreaking the most devastating havoc ever witnessed – is to describe what that experience was like.
In this reflection I have chosen another approach for three ...
As the third generation of her family to worship at Hobart’s Wesley Uniting Church, Karen Woolford was familiar with the honour boards and stained glass windows which linked the church to World War I.
But – like most of her fellow parishioners – Ms Woolford knew nothing of the people behind the names.
While kangaroo tails are cooked and smoke billows above an inner city church courtyard on a balmy summer’s evening, stories are told by Indigenous people. During morning worship, chairs are stacked in a haphazard pile to express sorrow over injustices experienced by the marginalised. Encouragement is given through Biblical stories of women and men who show their faith in ...
On a wall of the small Uniting Church at Woodbridge, 36 km south of Hobart, hangs poignant reminders of the local congregation’s links with World War 1.
Of particular note is a marble plaque and a narrow photo frame with the pictures of three men. A brass plaque below the marble tablet indicates it was erected in 1920.
Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.
Article 10 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
Bishop Joel E Tendero from UCA partner church the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) recently visited Melbourne as a guest of the synod.
The synod of Victoria and Tasmania entered a formal partnership with the UCCP in 2006. Representatives from both churches regularly meet to enable strengthening of the partnership and explore possibilities of working together ...
Legendary Indigenous singer/songwriter Archie Roach will journey to the Victorian coastal town of Queenscliff in May to take part in Sacrededge. The festival, which runs from 1 – 3 May, is organised by Queenscliff/Point Lonsdale UC as a weekend of sharing faith, stories, entertainment and discussion about issues important to contemporary society.
Late last month Uniting Church President Rev Prof Andrew Dutney attended the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing on redress and civil litigation.
Prof Dutney acknowledged the pain and suffering victims experienced and that the Church had come together in ways they had not done in the past, to prioritise the safety of children and to ...
