Singing a “New Song”
Australian churches now have access to a new worship resource - Songs of Grace - the newly-published supplement to the ecumenical worship hymnal Together in Song.
Songs of Grace is a 54-song collection and marks the fruition of many years by the Australian Hymnbook Company’s Editorial Committee of discovering and discerning “new song” for the diversity of Christian worship in Australia.
President Dr Deidre Palmer preached the sermon at a special Service of Thanksgiving for the life of former UAICC National Chairperson Rev. Jeffrey Garrawurra at Darwin's Casuarina Uniting Church on 21 February 2019.
Tributes flow for beloved Minister
The Uniting Church came together at Darwin's Casuarina Uniting Church on 21 Feb 2019 to give thanks for the life and witness of the late Rev. Jeffrey R Garrawurra.
Presidents, Moderators and General Secretaries past and present joined Rev. Garrawurra's family and former colleagues from the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress to share wonderful stories of his faithful service.
Disaster-ready Chaplains
The Assembly’s National Disaster Recovery Officer Rev. Dr Stephen Robinson has an extraordinarily busy ministry.
Wherever chaplains are on hand to comfort those in need, Stephen’s presence is rarely far away.
Vale Joan Tanner
It is with deep sadness that we advise the Uniting Church of the death of Mrs Joan Tanner on Sunday, the 24th of February in Canberra. She was 91.
Selamat PGI
UnitingWorld has hosted UCA Church partners from Indonesia in Canberra and Sydney this week.
President of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) Rev Dr Henrietta Lebang, Rev Jeny Elna Mahupale from the Protestant Church in Maluku and UnitingWorld’s Regional Coordinator in Southeast Asia Dr Debora Murthy all joined UnitingWorld’s Australian staff at the 2019 Australasian Aid Conference in Canberra.
Reclaiming the heart of our nation
Earlier this week I spent two days in Adelaide at the Refugee Alternatives Conference in Adelaide.
Around 400 people attended with at least a third of those in attendance having experience as refugees or asylum seekers.
Presentations throughout the conference reflected this with more than half the speakers having had the experience of being a refugee themselves. Their stories and input were powerful.
Warm welcome to new faith community
I was delighted to attend a service formally welcoming the Liverpool Zimbabwean Faith Community into the Uniting Church in Australia.
For around 10 years a group of people, originally from the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, have gathered from across Sydney at the Liverpool Uniting Church to share in worship and fellowship.
More...
Discipling the Next Generations
A national conversation about young people and the Uniting Church took place in Melbourne this week.
UCA President Dr Deidre Palmer joined with people from every synod engaged in ministry with youth and young adults, as well as members of the Assembly Resourcing Unit, the Discipling the Next Generations Circle of Interest and presbytery representatives.
Time for Action
Uniting Church members joined a thousand people gathered outside Parliament House on its first day of sitting calling for stronger action on climate change.
More than 25 Uniting Church members from eight Uniting Church congregations in Canberra, as well as further afield, joined with people from across the country asking Australia’s political leaders do more about climate change.
National Director for UCA Redress Ltd
Sarah Lim has been appointed as the National Director of UCA Redress Ltd – the Uniting Church’s national vehicle to engage with the National Redress Scheme for people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse.
Advancing the Gender Justice Agenda
Last month I had the great privilege of moderating the Word Council of Churches’ Gender Advisory Group meeting in Switzerland.
The Advisory Group, which I’ve been a member of since 2014, has the task of drafting a WCC Gender Justice Policy.