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.
Initiatives such as the ...
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.”
World Council of Churches, ‘Helping Children Out of ...
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
Not a line to ...
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 ...
By Andrew Humphries
For 165 years, the current Heatherton-Dingley Uniting Church building has sat proudly on the corner of Kingston and Old Dandenong roads in Heatherton.
Heatherton is located on the traditional lands of the Bunurong (Boonwurrung) people of the Kulin Nation, who have a deep, enduring spiritual and cultural connection to the area’s waterways and land.
The building has been there ...
By Rev Charissa Suli
What was immediately present was a shared sense of joy, excitement and relief.
Not simply relief that a building project had finally reached completion, but the deeper relief that comes when years of prayer, patience and perseverance are gathered into thanksgiving.
This was a moment shaped by faithfulness across generations – by people who held the vision ...
By Andrew Humphries
When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008, Laura Rademaker was part way through studying an Arts degree at the Australian National University (ANU).
At the time she had no clear idea on where her studies might take her.
Eighteen years later Laura, who delivered the first Northey Lecture for 2026 ...
By Marina Williams
Across Victoria, the decades-long housing crisis has moved far beyond statistics.
In many towns, the private rental market has deteriorated to the point where families are staying in cars, frontline service workers are unable to secure rentals near their jobs and support agencies are facing confrontational levels of demand.
Federal cost-of-living reporting identifies housing stress as one ...
By Andrew Humphries
At an age when many people might be considering a well-earned retirement, Rev Deacon Sandy Boyce shows no sign of slowing down.
She may have recently relinquished her role as president of the DIAKONIA World Federation, an organisation promoting the work of deacons at a global level, but there is still plenty to keep Sandy busy, and ...
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