Has Christian theology anything to say to those trapped in the downward cycle of despair? asks MARK THOMPSON.

A broken relationship with a parent is just like the way we treat our creator, says DOMINIC STEELE.

During his vice-presidency and bid for election, Al Gore was frequently depicted as staid and passionless. Compared to the flamboyant and charming (if utterly immoral) Bill Clinton, Gore seemed colourless. It’s a characterisation at odds with the Al Gore of An Inconvenient Truth. The man once dubbed “Al Bore” by the media is anything but dull in this compelling documentary.

In a few decades when the retiree population reaches 20 percent, evangelism among older adults will be a priority. How will such huge numbers of older adults reshape our churches?

From surfers on the coast to ‘Grey Nomads‘ in the outback, Boomers will lead a retirement revolution right across the nation, reports JEREMY HALCROW and MADELEINE COLLINS. So will our family-focused churches be washed away by a grey-haired ministry tsunami?

Con Campbell shatters the stereotype of an academic holed up in his ivory tower. But his love of jazz is rivalled by his passion for ancient Greek, finds MADELEINE COLLINS.

The day will come when ‘the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea’ (Isa 11:9; cf. Hab 2:14). What an astonishing prospect that is! It will be a very different world from the one in which we find ourselves today, where knowledge of God is rare.

How God is working in our lives.

Read this month's letters to the editor.

British minister Richard Coekin will join the Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, for a ‘proclamation and protest’ seminar at St Andrew’s Cathedral next month.

Parishes will allocate 20 minutes out of one regular church service this month to take part in the National Church Life Survey. People over the age of 15 will fill out information about their experiences of church life for the five-yearly survey.

How does Jesus help in facing temptation? JOSEPH SMITH talks to one teenager who speaks from experience.

Gymea has had no full-time rector for the last 14 months after former minister Stuart Findlay moved to Melbourne. Rector’s warden Stephen Leitch says despite this, ministries have been maintained. “This is due to the work that our committed staff and many volunteers are doing,” Mr Leitch says. “The churchwardens have been given a lot of extra responsibilities. But the staff have also. We work with them to see that things run smoothly.”

Sometimes when I think about my ministry I remember a premier being converted, a university mission where they could not find enough counsellors to keep up with people making decisions and many outstanding young men and women deciding for full-time ministry. More frequently I remember media ridicule, open hostility from town councils and scathing criticism from fellow churchmen. When I want a realistic view of this ministry I reflect upon 2 Cor 4: 1-6.

Bishop of Wollongong Reg Piper is retiring but this man of word and prayer will continue to run the race he has been called to, JOSEPH SMTH writes.

Persecution watchdog Barnabas Fund has expressed its concerns for wounded Christians who were caught in the crossfire of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Christians have taken refuge in Syria where the most urgent need is milk and food for babies, say local doctors.

The symbolic leader of world Anglicanism, Archbishop Rowan Williams, has asked key group of American bishops to meet in New York next month to patch up the looming split in the US church over homosexuality.

Voice of the Martyrs in Ethiopia report a severe persecution – including the burning of Christians’ crops and church buildings – in the Muslim regions near Sudan. In the worst case, a convert from Islam named Shek Hamed Adem was beaten and hung on a cross.

KAMAL WEERAKOON is combining full-time study at Moore College with ministry at St Anne’s, Strathfield. He shares his trials and joys as a trainee minister.

Each month Southern Cross reports on the major decisions of the diocesan Standing Committee.

New research into the beliefs of Australia’s young people offers a fresh challenge to churches, report JEREMY HALCROW and JOSEPH SMITH.

BRIAN ROSNER examines how Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced the knowledge he would be executed by the Nazis, in this extract from an upcoming lecture at Moore College’s School of Theology.