We live in hope and expectation, despite challenging times. God’s Church always has a future, always has a role in joining God’s mission in the world – but the Church’s structures and responsibilities continue to adapt to changes and opportunities.
On the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of the Uniting Church, the Synod of Tasmania merged with the Synod ...
By Stephen Acott
It’s 6.47am in sunny Samoa. The calendar says its September 29, 2009, but when the clock strikes 6.48am, Frank Rees won’t need a calendar to record this day. Mother nature will have that covered.
Frank, principal of Whitley College in Parkville, is in Samoa holidaying with his wife and daughter. At just 2800sqkm, Samoa is your ...
February 2021: the beginning of a new year. It’s a time when many people would be a few weeks in to keeping the New Year resolutions they made back in early January. Ordinarily, anyway. But I wonder if, this year, less people will have made some?
Under normal circumstances, many would already be discovering by early February that they ...
By Andrew Humphries
As General Secretary Mark Lawrence prepares to preside over his fifth Synod meeting later this month, he acknowledges that circumstances mean it will be very different to a normal event.
Ongoing restrictions around COVID-19 mean the February 26-28 meeting will be held online, with those participating invited to attend various live-streaming events.
“Unprecedented” is a word ...
David Fotheringham
High St UC, Frankston
How long have you been in the UCA?
I grew up in Adelaide, on Kaurna country. As a teenager, I joined a Uniting Church which had a tennis club that I was playing with, and I became very involved in the youth group there. When I moved away from Adelaide to study, I ...
By Alistair Macrae
I have decided to join the ranks of Australia Day award recipients who are handing back their awards in response to the “upgrading” of Margaret Court’s Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) to the highest award of Companion (AC).
As an avid sports fan, I celebrated the awarding of an AO to Mrs Court, a ...
While he is pleased to have been recognised in this week’s Australia Day honours, Bairnsdale Uniting Church member John Butler is keen to stress that many people made the award possible.
John, 80, was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) on Tuesday for service to the Bairnsdale community through his tireless efforts with the church.
He served as Church Council ...
How do you support your community after a disaster? It is often necessary to gather in support of each other, remember what has been lost, and thank those who gave time and energy.
The practice of remembering community, with rituals of grief, can be a significant part of a healing process.
Andy Calder (eLM – Disability Inclusion Advocate), with ...
By Andrew Humphries Melbourne Uniting Church minister Berlin Guerrero knows exactly what it means to put your life on the line for your beliefs.
In 2007, the then United Church of Christ in the Philippines pastor was abducted, tortured and imprisoned on a false murder charge for over a year because of his strong social justice advocacy.
And while ...
Over the past two weeks, this Bill has been debated in the Victorian Parliament; and in churches and the community. The Bill was introduced to address what has been widely recognised as the harm that often comes in the wake of practices aimed at changing or suppressing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
A wide range of perspectives ...
After the devastation caused by two typhoons in November, the people of the Philippines desperately need support.
Typhoons Rolly/Goni and Vamco struck the country on November 1 and 11, causing widespread damage and destruction.
More than 1 million families were affected and 138,000 people sought refuge at evacuation centres.
As the country gets back on its feet, Act for ...
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,” (1 Corinthians 1: 3-4)
This is a greeting that I have heard echoed by Uniting Church ...
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