DAVID ADAMS reflects on Christmas... | more... |

FOR MORE ON CHRISTMAS...

The 'real' Santa Claus?... | more... |

Christmas Message: The Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffery...

| more...|

“I think if you see the world as God’s creation then it’s imperative that we care for it.” So says Colin Brown, an environmental lawyer and chief executive of the recently launched agency, Catholic Earthcare Australia.
      Created in June last year following a conference of Australian Catholic bishops, Catholic Earthcare Australia has a mandate to highlight ecological issues both within the Catholic Church and beyond.
        DAVID ADAMS takes a look at how churches in Australia and around the globe are promoting the message of environmental sustainability... | more... |

FOR MORE FROM OUR GREEN ISSUE:

ESSAY: Is God a conservationist? | more... |

GRAPHIC: State of the world's environment | more... |

TIPS: How you can help | more... |

"We have now completed five weeks of the three-month course. It is certainly challenging us to walk closer with God. The four topics so far have been as varied as listening to the voice of God to world child poverty and how we can get involved in beginning to alleviate such a massive problem. We heard figures about Africa's crisis and the orphans in villages after being ravaged by AIDS. We have learnt to pray the Bible out loud and were walking around the room sounding like kooks all reading the Bible out loud. With some extremely passionate people here, the noise was almost deafening. During that same week we looked at prophecies and the end times through the Old Testament and Revelation."

COLIN and HEATHER McGAIN and their children STEVE, 15, and ADELE, 12, are spending several months in Hawaii where they are completing a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) course. Known as the Crossroads Disciple Training School, it is aimed at encouraging a closer walk with God and equipping people for mission. They write of their experiences... | more... |

"I arrived in Amman, Jordan on 31 March. I was originally seconded from World Vision Australia to the World Vision Iraq Emergency Response Program for two months, however that was extended for eight weeks. I have worked in a Muslim context before (when I gathered stories and photographs for World Vision in Somalia in January 2002), however this is my first short-term contract in the Middle East."

Arriving in the Middle East soon after war erupted in Iraq, World Vision communications officer ANDREA SWINBURNE-JONES came face-to-face with the reality of war’s aftermath. Following is an email she sent describing the early days of her experience... | more... |

FOR MORE ON IRAQ:

COVER STORY: BEYOND THE WAR | more... |

ESSAY: REMEMBERING IRAQ | more... |

Introduced to Christian Surfers through a summer surfing competition, Kristi Van Es has been involved in Christian Surfers club on Victoria's westcoast for three years.
Like many in the organisation, Van Es sees Christian Surfers as a great way to meet other Christians interested in surfing but also as an opportunity to tell others - Christians and non-Christians alike - about her walk with Jesus.
"(It's) a really great opportunity to talk to others about how God works in my life. It is amazing to see the (difference) that helping others can make," she says.
It's that attitude which sums up the heart of what Christian Surfers is all about.

It might sound like chance to enjoy sun, sand and good times. But Christian Surfers is also serious about the search for souls. LLOYD HARKNESS profiles a growing ministry... | more... |

FOR MORE ON CHRISTIAN SURFERS:

THE INTERVIEW: LLOYD HARKNESS spoke to professional surfer GLYNDON RINGROSE about Jesus, his family and, of course, surfing... | more... |

It’s the most read and - certainly Christians would say - the most influential book ever written. Yet ever since the Bible was first “published” the scriptures have been translated, polished and revised, appearing in an ever increasing array of languages and formats.
    These days the Bible has been published in more than 2,000 languages and since the first printed English-language New Testament was published in Germany in 1525, the number of English language versions alone - if single books of the Bible are included - has been estimated to be as many as 500 .
    And that’s not including the ever increasing number of Bibles which publish traditional versions in a new format such as the recently released Surfer’s Bible, Revolve - a magazine-format Bible for teenage girls, or any one of the myriad of “study bibles” now available.

    There’s Bibles for men, Bibles for women. Bibles for teenagers and children. Study Bibles, devotional Bibles, paraphrased Bibles. Bibles on CD. Even a Bible for tech-savvy mobile phone users.

DAVID ADAMS reports...    | more... |

DIFFERENT BIBLES FOR DIFFERENT WALKS OF LIFE: A look at some of the Bibles Christians are reading... | more... |

BIBLE VERSES BY SMS... | more... |

ESSAY: “I wonder if there is still joy in heaven now that we have 326 versions of the Bible in English. I wonder if we have created a problem with oneness: one Lord, one faith, one body. I wonder? I ponder these questions because we need to still be able to say this is what God said. This is THE God breathed, God inspired scriptures. The Bible is truth exposed and God revealed. It is the foundation of our relationship and fellowship with God. If we lose the capacity to say this is the exact, pure Word of God, then we are shaking our foundations.”

    Making the Bible more accessible or trivialising the Word of God? LLOYD HARKNESS takes a look at the balance between keeping the message intact and being culturally relevant... | more... |