Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed what they claim is the world’s first church, dating back almost 2,000 years, The Jordan Times reported on Tuesday.
“We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world, dating from 33 AD to 70 AD,” Jordan Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies spokesman Abdul Qader al-Husan said.
He said it was uncovered under Saint Georgeous Church, which itself dates back to 230 AD, in Rihab in northern Jordan near the Syrian border.
“We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians – the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ,” Mr Husan said.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett will today launch a project to make church and non-government organisations more greenhouse-friendly and water-efficient.
The Greening Communities program will start with environmental audits to assess how anything from a church hall to a school can become more efficient.
Father Michael Kelly from the Catholic Church charitable trust Church Resources says the buying power of about 18,000 church and non-government organisations is then leveraged to make the technologies more affordable.
Why is it that even when we know what’s right, we often do what’s wrong? A lot of reasons, for sure, but the most basic is this: We never really intended to do what’s right, at least not consistently. Indeed, that’s a personal failure, but it’s also a failure of how we disciple people.
Michael Zigarelli explores why discipleship fails here.
Do leaders need a coach?
Andy Stanley thinks so. He argues “In the world of athletics, nobody performs his way out of needing a coach. In the world of leadership, though, we operate under the misguided assumption that because we are leaders, we don’t need to be led
Michael Zigarelli writes:”Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, it is also the parent of all the others.” So said the ancient philosopher Cicero.
Two millennia later, our study of thousands of Christians confirms that gratitude indeed spawns myriad elusive virtues, like joy, inner peace, patience, forgiveness, and self-control.
While I might flippantly speak of my favourite football team with pride, C.S. Lewis was a little more serious when it came to speaking about it.
He has argued that pride is a “spiritual cancer,” “the complete anti-God state of mind,” and “the chief cause of misery in every nation and in every family since the world began.”
For insight into his thinking, Christianity 9 to 5 has provided his chapter on “The Great Sin” from Mere Christianity.
Father Bob Maguire has been a tireless worker for social justice in Melbourne for many years, as Minister in the Catholic Parish of St. Peter and St. Paul in South Melbourne.
More recently, he has gained a degree of notoriety for his contributions to several projects by Melbourne comedian John Safran, notably the series “Speaking in Tonguesâ€, as well as their regular slot on JJJ FM.
The people at ‘Edgespace’, an outreach ministries project of the Uniting Church caught up with Father Bob recently. You can catch him on video here.
If you want to know what is happening around and about the Uniting Church in these parts, you are invited to immerse yourself in Crosslight.Â
Crosslight is the publication for the Uniting Church in Austraia, Synod of Victoria and tasmania. Published 11 times a year, it is now also a blogsite which updates Uniting Church web visitors on the activities and life of the church community.
The Uniting Church in Australia has many blog sites with lots of interesting content. One site is titled the Alternative Worship Project, and is run by Cheryl Lawrie, and funded by the Commissin for Mission.
If you wish to join in the blog community, you may register and post comments in response to Cheryl’s blog entries.
Baptcare, the Brunswick Baptist Church and the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project are opening a new housing facility called Sanctuary where twenty male asylum seekers who have no right to work, Medicare or any welfare payment can safely await their visa application outcome.