The age of 10

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Uniting Aged Care Board, bringing together most Uniting Church aged care services in Victoria. Tasmanian services were brought under the responsibility of the Board in 2005.

To mark the 10-year anniversary, a series of morning teas have been held at Uniting AgeWell facilities throughout the two states. Director of ...

Campaign results for slavery

With encouragement from the Commission for Mission (CFM), Coles, Simplot and Nestle sent representatives to a meeting organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in May.

The Bangkok meeting addressed forced labour and human trafficking in the Thai seafood industry. The meeting was attended by representatives of other companies around the world that source from Thailand, as well asThai companies, ...

Chance to play a part

Approximately 400 people will gather at La Trobe University in September for Synod 2014.

Among the major issues on the agenda will be a report from Uniting our future and a discussion regarding directions for the Major Strategic Review. The Christian Religious Education Task Group will report their findings to the Synod and a moderator-elect will be chosen.

General ...

Beryl just happy to help

George Town Uniting Church stalwart Beryl Osborne (pictured) believes volunteers are the lifeblood of small communities such as hers in Northern Tasmania.

“George Town would not survive without volunteers but, unfortunately, people are very busy and it is not easy to get members these days,” Mrs Osborne said.

Last month she was one of nine Uniting Church Vic/Tas people ...

Balloons over Bendigo

Faith and community leaders in Bendigo stepped up last month to show their support for their Muslim neighbours.

In a move organised by the Uniting Church’s Commission for Mission (CFM), hundreds of colourful balloons filled the streets bearing tags that read ‘Racism has no place in Bendigo’.

The action was in response to the anti-Islamic black balloons which were tied ...

Images of faith

“How do you see God at work in the world?” This is the question Alister Pate, pastor of Caféchurch, hopes to answer with a photography exhibition to be held as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival in September.

The collaboration between the Church of All Nations in Carlton and Caféchurch Melbourne aims to encourage people to think about how they ...

Partnering Prahran Mission

UnitingCare Prahran Mission was recently welcomed into the fold of the Cheltenham-Mentone Uniting Church community at a service marking the agency’s move to the church’s Charman Road property.

UnitingCare Prahran Mission’s Moorabbin office was sold under the Uniting our future program and has now relocated to the church’s refurbished tennis pavilion in Cheltenham.

Church secretary David Vine said more than ...

Chaplains add soul to support patients

A support program aimed at assisting patients with a mental illness at Tasmania’s North-West Regional Hospital has been recognised with a national best of care award by Spiritual Care Australia (SCA). The ‘Soul Food’ program operates on a weekly basis. It is run by Mid North-West Uniting Church member Irene Hardy and her fellow chaplain Jan Gray as well as ...

Synod support for Sudanese Christian

At the time of writing, confusion surrounds the fate of a woman sentenced to death for the crime of apostasy in Sudan.

Twenty-seven-year-old wife and mother Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag was sentenced to death by Judge Abbas al Khalifa of the Public Order Court in El Haj Yousif, Khartoum on 15 May. The death sentence is for apostasy under Article ...

Keeping children safe

By Penny Mulvey

Justice Peter McClellan AM, Chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, provided significant insights into the progress of the hearings when he addressed a men’s health symposium in Brisbane last month.

He told the symposium one of the questions considered by the Royal Commission is: Why does a person become an abuser?

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Comment sought on marriage paper

A discussion paper on marriage and same-gender relationships has been prepared by the Doctrine Working Group (DWG) and is now available for comment. The paper comes in response to a request from the 13th Assembly for a discussion paper on the theology of marriage within the Uniting Church. It was also asked to explore implications for public covenants for same-gender ...

Moderator expresses concerns

Uniting Church Moderator Dan Wootton recently wrote to Prime Minister Tony Abbott to express concern over the dismantling of the Disability Discrimination Commissioner position.

Mr Wootton pointed out that since the Commissioner’s role was established in 1993, dignity for people with disabilities had been enhanced, with significantly less discrimination than 20 years ago.

“The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and ...