Content Provision for Member Stations
By: Clare Bruce
The future of Christian religious freedom and religious education is looking brighter, after the launch this week of Faith NSW – a Peak body of faith groups that will represent religious interests at all levels of government. Continue reading “Religious Freedom Has a Brighter Future with the Launch of ‘Faith NSW’”
By: 96five
On Saturday 14 October 2023, Australians will vote in a historic referendum to decide whether to change the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament. Continue reading “Voting on The Voice: Interviews on Both Perspectives”
By: Clare Bruce
You may not see it, but the crisis of homelessness is growing and never far away, with more than 122,000 Australians now homeless every night. Continue reading “Help Fight Hidden Homelessness, this National Homelessness Week”
By: Clare Bruce
After 14 metres of floodwater receded from the Lismore and the Northern Rivers region in April 2022, support flooded in, in its place. Continue reading “Samaritan’s Purse Volunteers Restoring Homes and Lives in Flood-Devastated Lismore”
By: Open Doors
Churches in Turkey and Syria are calling for Christians around the world to pray, after the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has killed almost 4,000 people.
Continue reading “Christians in Syria and Turkey Call for Prayer After Deadly Earthquake”
By: CMAA
It’s time to vote for your favourite Australian and International Music Artist for 2022. Continue reading “Time to Vote: Who Should be Crowned the Top Christian Music Artists?”
Take a courageous step towards the future with Imminent Leadership Summit – a one day learning experience on innovation, digital, brand, and engagement.
Join peers and leading practitioners for IMMINENT – a collective learning environment with robust discussions, case studies and practical next steps through the lenses of church, media, social justice, not-for-profits and education.
The focus is both the immediate and future actions needed in the spaces of digital, brand, engagement and innovation.
This one day summit will be held in the following cities:
Brisbane – Monday 11th July – 10am to 4pm
Melbourne – Tuesday 12th July – 10am to 4pm
Sydney – Thursday 14th July – 10am to 4pm
IMMINENT will provide you and your team with a roadmap to be pro-active and innovative, presenting solid answers to these (and more) questions:
Find out more and register online now – Imminent Leadership Summit
Guest speakers and conversation hosts include:
Nils Smith
Chief Strategist Social Media + Innovation
Richenda Vermeulen
Founder and CEO, ntegrity (Panel – Melbourne only)
Dave Adamson – aka Aussie Dave
Digital Strategist, Author and Speaker
Sam Valich
Senior Director of Global Brand at Compassion
Stuart Cranney
Director of Innovation, CV Global
Joshua Crowther
Executive Director, Dunham+Company Australia
So, bring yourself and your team members as together we’ll seek to provide answers you can start using tomorrow.
Article thanks to Christian Media and Arts Australia
By: Kim Wilkinson
Australians are experiencing a renewed spiritual awakening with three in ten praying more since the pandemic.
A recently released report has revealed that the experience of COVID-19 has caused many Australians to experience a renewed spiritual search. A third of Australians have thought more about God (33%), while three in ten (28%) have prayed more. During the pandemic almost half of Australians have thought more about the meaning of life (47%) or their own mortality (47%).
The collective experience of the pandemic has ushered in a return to local and a focus on community, with half of Australians (53%) valuing a strong local community more than they did three years ago. The local church is a key element of the local community with three in four Australians (76%) agreeing the churches in their local area are making a positive difference to their community.
The research, which was conducted by McCrindle Research and surveyed 1,000 Australians also found that two thirds of Australians are likely to attend a church service either online (64%) or in-person (67%) if personally invited by a friend or family member. Far from religion and spirituality being only for older Australians, Gen Z (45%) are twice as likely as Baby Boomers (21%) to be extremely or very likely to attend an online church service if personally invited by a friend or family member.
Mark McCrindle, Founder and Principal of McCrindle Research says, “This data is worth reflecting on a little longer: in this seemingly secular era, where the church is perceived by many commentators to be on the decline and culturally outdated, almost half of all young adults invited to a church service by a friend or family member would very likely attend.”
The report also found that Australians are accepting of others’ religious views.
Nine in ten (90%) agree that in Australia people should have the freedom to share their religious beliefs, if done in a peaceful way, even if those beliefs are different to mainstream community views. There is, however, wavering support for religious symbolism in public life. Almost two in five Australians (39%) agree that Christian practices in public life such as parliament opening in prayer, oaths in court being taken on the Bible, or Christian chaplains in hospitals or jails should be stopped. Three in five (61%), however, disagree and are therefore open to Christian practices in public life continuing.
Interestingly, Religious discrimination is a genuine issue in Australia with almost three in ten Australians (29%) having experienced religious discrimination, this equates to about half of those who identify with a religion which is six in ten Australians.
Australians who identify with a non-Christian religion are more likely to have experienced discrimination (54%) than Protestants (27%) or Catholics (32%). Religious discrimination is also more likely to be experienced by younger Australians who are four times as likely as their older counterparts to say they have experienced religious discrimination (51% Gen Z cf. 13% Baby Boomers).
For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Kimberley Linco: [email protected]
These insights are from the Australia’s spiritual climate report which is based on quantitative research, as well as scoping research and data analytics. A nationally representative online survey of Australians aged 18+ was conducted to gain insights that form much of this release. The survey was in field from the 10th to the 13th of September 2021 and collected 1,000 responses.
McCrindle is an Australian based social research, demographics and data analytics firm. Their research methodologies include national surveys, population modelling and qualitative research.
Article supplied with thanks to Christian Media & Arts Australia.
About the author: Kim is a media and communications professional who specialises in building community and valuable relationships.
By: Kim Wilkinson
New study finds that 4 in 5 Australians, particularly young people, are open to talking about spiritual topics, including views that are different from their own. Continue reading “Aussies Open to Spiritual Conversations”
Fourteen people have been injured, and a suicide bomber killed, in a terrorist attack on a Catholic church in South Sulawesi, just after their Palm Sunday mass. Continue reading “Palm Sunday Attack on Indonesian Church”