TAFE NSW has said no to chaplains but a 10-year struggle to get the ministry in all colleges will continue.

Strategic grants will help Christians expand ministry to a growing area of Sydney where there are no other church buildings.

A new diploma will help train a growing army of early retirees especially for pastoral work, reports Madeleine Collins.

A wrap-up of significant Christian news from around the globe.

While former prison camp inmates flee along a Christian underground railroad through China, a hit musical about their plight is highlighting another side of nuclear North Korea.

A wrap-up of Christian news Australia-wide.

The major decisions of the Sydney Synod 2006.

A small parish is punching above its weight in reaching the Hawkesbury.

The phrase ‘By grace you are saved’ turned over in Jimmy’s mind – then the realisation hit him.

Southern Cross is a vital source of the news, opinions and views on the latest issues, resources and events affecting the church, both locally and around the world for over 325 parishes, schools and institutions - this month's power-point promotion slide now available...

The office hippie’s brush with death is more than a cautionary tale.

In Synod last month we had a debate about the meaning of the word ‘martyr’. In my opinion, with the fluidity of language, the term now has a wide meaning.

All of us are materialist to a greater or lesser extent. And in seeming to preach a sermon against consumerism, I don’t mean to imply that I’m impervious to its temptations. I suspect that Christians are particularly susceptible to the temptations of consumerism. Why? Perhaps because, with so many of the pleasures of the flesh declared off-limits - smoking, drinking, gambling, illicit sex - there’s a tendency to break out in areas that, for reasons I don’t quite understand, our preachers seem reluctant to speak out against.

In order to assist churches with their evangelism this Christmas, the Southern Cross team have come up with the following range of free downloadable ministry resources.

Interest is clearly banned in both the Old and New Testaments. The damaging relational consequences of interest are something the Bible abhors, and therefore something we too should abhor. The question now is, what changes can we make to remove the use of interest from our societies.

There is an elephant in the room and its name is ‘Christian marketing’. It’s an elephant sized issue because it has to do with the way we present ourselves to the outside world. It’s in the room and not being talked about because there’s confusion and uncertainty over what to think.

Change poses a problem for churches, but so does resisting it.

From ‘devil summoning’ notes and subliminal lyrics to the promotion of church burning and suicide, the heavy metal scene has a lot to answer for. But is there more to this musical form?

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s efforts to turn food into a force for political change are almost certain to earn him a platter of honours here and overseas. Now that he has launched his latest philanthropic effort in Victoria, we may have to give serious consideration on how the captaincy of the Australian cricket team is awarded.

A student of theology might say that Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center has interesting implications for a millennia-old debate.

It is fitting that the project to publish the Selected Works of Broughton Knox, begun in 1998, has been completed with the publication of this third and final volume of the series in the 150th anniversary year of Moore College and the 90th anniversary of Dr Knox’s birth.

As both a scientist and an evangelical Christian, I believe that God’s work is evident in Creation.

It’s the title that gives the strength of Gordon Cheng’s book away.

The first thing that struck me about Richard Beeston’s latest album, Infant Logic was his vocals.