A group of eight people from churches around Sydney responded to a call from the Indian Gospel League (IGL) to provide more training for new leaders earlier this winter.

Lives are being saved in a Kampala slum as the result of the actions of a remarkable Anglican minister, reported Steve Bradbury, National Director of relief and development agency TEAR Australia, after a recent visit to Uganda.

As the SARS epidemic raged in parts of Asia earlier this year, the Rev Irene Mok, currently a deacon in Parramatta, felt God calling her to work where the disease had one of its strongest footholds, Hong Kong.

There are at least three Churches of England that don't communicate with each other very effectively, and “they need to learn how to do this better if they are to fulfil their primary task of witnessing to God's transforming power,” the Archbishop of Canterbury told the C of E General Synod last month.

The Rev Professor James Haire, a leader figure among Christians in Australia, has been named the new President of the National Council of Churches (NCCA).

In a welcome move, and as a result of twelve years of consultations, the Dioceses of Bathurst, Canberra and Goulburn and Riverina have announced plans to develop a closer working relationship. The three bishops Richard Hurford (Bathurst), George Browning (Canberra and Goulburn) and Bruce Clark (Riverina), last month jointly issued a statement that outlined the ‘Tri-Diocesan Covenant' proposals.

Women bishops appear to have come just a little closer for the Anglican Church of Australia when the General Synod Working Party released its report last month. This will be a major topic for debate at the General Synod when it meets in Fremantle in October next year.

Ian Cox, 60, currently Senior Canon at St Michael's Cathedral, Wollongong, will take what some might see as a backward step in his career and return to parish ministry next month. He takes up the post of rector of the small parish of Brighton/Rockdale in the Georges River Region on September 12.