Media
Information & Releases
Uniting
Church launches "25 years of Heart and Soul"
Uniting Church launches '25 years of Heart
and Soul'
More than 2000 people heard a message of
hope at the launch of the 25th (silver) anniversary of the Uniting
Church in Australia at King George Square today.
Sir Llew Edwards, former QLD Deputy Premier
and Expo 88 CEO, said the Uniting Church had helped countless people
over the past 25 years and would continue to do so in the future.
"The Uniting Church's influence has
been wide reaching and has made a real difference. In the future,
their influence will be even greater," Sir Edwards said.
The Uniting Church's Queensland Moderator
Dr Ray Reddicliffe also mentioned the Uniting Church's contribution
to Queensland and Australia.
"With 1.3 million Australians claiming
an association with the Uniting Church, and with one in five Queenslanders
being helped by the church annually, our goal of being truly an Australian
church is being achieved," Mr Reddicliffe said.
The
crowd also heard from Yien Lam, a 37-year-old refugee recently granted
Australian citizenship, who spoke of the help he received from the
Uniting Church when trying to relocate his family to Australia.
"To
become a refugee is your last option. It means there is nothing left
in your own country," Mr Lam said.
Mr
Lam said his family of nine were currently in a refugee camp in Cairo.
Despite being granted a refugee visa by the Australian government,
the family needed to raise $12 000 before being able to travel to
Australia or faced going back to Sudan.
Help
was provided by Bayside Uniting Church who with several other Uniting
Church and non-Uniting Church congregations raised a staggering $26
000 in four weeks for Mr Lam to transport his family to Australia.
"Australian
society is based on charity, unity and humility," Mr Lam said.
The
launch also featured a free sausage sizzle cooked by Uniting Church
ministers and a free lunch time concert consisting of Alabaster Box,
Craig Burnett and band and Paul Davis.
The
Journey and Heart and Soul team were there, and have 17 photos and
three articles already on their website. Go to:
http://www.journey.ucaqld.com.au
Over 200 people gather to prepare to celebrate
Topic: Rehearsals for the Brisbane
Heart and Soul Celebration
Venue: Broadwater Road Uniting Church
Date:
16 June 2002
On Sunday over 200
people gathered to rehearse for the Brisbane Heart and Soul Celebration.
They were there as choir members, orchestra members, praise and worship
band members, dancers, actors for the drama and technical crew. There
was real buzz during rehearsals and the Heart and Soul Team are confident
that this will be present on 23 June.
If
you know somebody who would like to be part of the choir, they can
still join it. All they have to do is be at the UQ Centre at 10.00am
or as near as they can after this time.
Please
note that celebrations start at 1.00pm. At this time Rocfish will
perform, the Hymnsing will be on and the Youth Area will commence.
To
overcome any difficulty in finding your way around the University
of Queensland, there will be signage to direct people to the UQ Centre
as they enter onto campus.
Media
Launch Information
An open invitation is extended to all Uniting
Church members and people in the wider community to the launch of
Uniting Church Week. The launch will be held in King George Square
in Brisbane City on Friday, 14 June, from 11:30am to 1:30pm.
A feature of the launch will be the presentation
by the Moderator of a Uniting Church Flag to a prominent community
leader. There will be a special program of entertainment featuring
bands, drama, testimonies and displays from various sections of the
Church. UC ministers will be cooking up a free sausage sizzle for
everyone.
The launch in King George Square is bound
to attract much public attention on a Friday lunch time, so don’t
miss the opportunity to be a part of the crowd as the Uniting Church
meets the people in the Square.
So come along and join us for what promises
to be a special Uniting Church event to launch the Church’s celebrations
of 25 years of Heart and Soul.
Heart
& Soul Documentary
Sunday 23rd June, 11am on Channel 7
Update: Christian Television Australia
has released a video teaser for the upcoming "Uniting Church:
25 years of Heart and Soul" television documentary, which will
go to air on Channel 7, at 11am on Sunday June 23.
See
the Journey website to download the video snippet:
http://www.journey.ucaqld.com.au/news/tvsnippet.html
[Warning: The video is a 1.6mb file]
