Living in regional Australia is beautiful, but it has its challenges! Rural decline is no secret. Towns are getting smaller; there is less work, so many young people have to move away; income is often uncertain; drought has made things more difficult. In some places young people routinely leave home for boarding school at the [...]

Empowering the now and the next generation to be leaders who make an impact, now and in the future. Internship to leadership is not a program it is a journey and is about ensuring young people have the opportunity to grow into leaders who make an impact now and for the future generations. It’s about [...]

A person walks into the room and starts singing ‘Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me’. Instantly some people start to sing along- “M.I.C.K.E.Y.M.O.U.S.E”. Others in the room give those who are singing strange looks. What is going on? Another time and place and a song blares out. The movie [...]

Children’s Ministry isn’t Play …. began one article – but isn’t it? The article went on to detail one perspective on the importance of taking Children’s Ministry seriously, and that’s an issue I won’t argue with (although their particular perspective is probably not my own), but the title grabbed me, Children’s Ministry isn’t Play, because [...]

Let me share with you a good news story in youth, children’s and family ministry. It’s a good news story with a strong interface with contemporary worship and the music as part of it. It’s a story that arises out of youth ministry at my church at Indooroopilly Uniting in Brisbane seemingly having reached a [...]

Coming from a social work background the words best practice immediately place thoughts of doing the best for the client. In ministry the slant is a little different in that the focus is changed from me and the client transaction to one that includes God and faith. This is the starting point for me as [...]

From the very first time I heard Andrew Denton talking about his idea for the ABC TV program “Enough Rope”1 I knew it would be compulsory viewing at my place. It was similar to a US TV network journalist who chooses a town and then randomly picks a name out of the local phone book [...]

She was 15 and I was 23. She had been living in loose proximity to her older sister (21) in a caravan park somewhere on the outskirts of Brisbane. I was in the same city for a church leadership conference. She had been filling her days smoking dope and going to bed with a variety [...]

There’s something inside me that pulls beneath the surface Consuming, confusing This lack of self-control I fear is never-ending Controlling, I can’t seem… To find myself again My walls are closing in I’ve felt this way before So insecure… (Linkin Park, ‘Crawling’) Supporting young people around issues of depression, self-harm and suicide risk has been [...]