Distance education is revolutionising the way Sydney Diocese is training Christians in ministry. Locally, six years in an electronic classroom worked wonders for Carol McCracken as she juggled being a childrens minister and a full-time mum. Meanwhile, on the other side of globe at the recent GAFCON the plea for Sydney Diocese to help resource ministry training could be heard from desert villages in sub-Saharan Africa to to the barrios of Latin America.

I pulled up at a service station behind a kombi van a while ago. There was a young guy, (a bit of a hippy really) filling the car and on the back of the kombi was a sticker with the words "Jesus" clearly printed.

Local churches must be involved if e-training for ministry is to be truly effective, argues Graham Stanton

I am convinced that there are more pieces of rock that originated in Israel outside of its borders than currently exists inside "“ thanks to the millions of tourists it plays host to every year. The crew of The Life of Jesus documentary series are not immune.

For the last couple of centuries western civilisation has been looking at the world through the lens of the public media. The prophets have been the journalists as they mediated and explained the world to society, and ourselves to us.

After September 11, 2001, some Western intellectuals sought for the root causes of terrorism. Why did they hate us? Was it poverty? (as my local bishop pondered publicly "“ ignoring the privileged backgrounds of the hijackers). Was it Israels fault? "“ not minding that none of them was Palestinian either. What then?

West Wollongong and Menai parishes are reaching beyond the church gate as they take their activities to local venues.

Ill admit it "“ when they told us that they had lost eleven of our bags, including most of the camera equipment, I felt a glow of pleasure.