Two decades ago, Gocha Chachanidze and Tamara Gagnidze were a long way from Australia, and a long way from God. Born and raised in the Soviet state of Georgia, Gocha was ‘a young, devoted communist' in an atheistic society. Today they are both committed Christians, living in Sydney as Australian citizens.

A $2.4 million gift is on its way to hungry Iraqi families thanks to the generosity of American Baptists. Boxes, all stamped with a Bible verse and filled with rice, flour, beans and other staples, will be in Iraqi hands by August. But, as Southern Baptists and other Christian aid workers rush to meet the needs of an Iraqi population devastated by war and years of harsh economic sanctions, a debate is brewing over whether Christian relief organisations should be seeking to evangelise there.

Anglican and Uniting churches in Boggabri have combined to bring the light of the gospel to the community

The new kid on the block at Anglican Youthworks says his motto is ‘whatever it takes' to bring a young person to Christ. James Fong, recently appointed to the new role of High School SRE Adviser for the Diocese of Sydney, is keen to get the gospel message out to the city's 220 state High schools.

Moore College, already known as one of the nation's top theological training centres, has a new role. Each Sunday evening since Easter it has played host to a regular congregation of 70-80 people. “It is an ideal venue,” according to the Rev Andrew Katay, Senior Associate minister at St Barnabas', Broadway, and the man responsible for the congregation plant.

Many Anglicans worldwide are talking of a crisis in the Church. Archbishop Peter Jensen and the five Sydney regional bishops have issued a strong statement in response to developments that have caused the current crisis.

More than twenty years after fleeing Communists who had taken control of their home city of Saigon, elderly couple Mau Huynh and Anh Luong were living in fear in a Cabramatta block of units. “They had bad people in the other flat. We were very scared of them,” Mr Huynh said. Their daughter-in-law was working as a translator for a home care unit that provided support to a resident of one of the independent living units run as part of the Anglicare ministry complex at Cabramatta Anglican Church. She thought the support facility looked ideal for her parents-in-law and found out they might be eligible to apply for one of the units.

On December 17, 1996 terrorists from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took over the residence of the Japanese Ambassador in Lima, Peru during a diplomatic reception. The President, Alberto Fujimori would have been in attendance had his plane not been delayed. About eight hundred people were taken hostage. Most of the captives were released within a few days however it was not until April 22, 1997 that the final 71 hostages were released and the situation was resolved in a bloody confrontation. Novelist Ann Patchett does not name the South American country where Bel Canto is set. However the arrival of armed guerrillas at an ostentatious State dinner and the lengthy standoff cannot but recall the Peruvian incident.