‘Spiritual capital’ is reflected in what a community or organisation exists for, aspires to and for what it takes responsibility. If an organisation operates out of values of service and is focussed on the wellbeing of people, it can be said to have high levels of spiritual capital. 
Research Materials
A range of articles on many topics related to religious faith and church life in Australia are to be found below. You may search these articles for a particular topic using the search facility in the left-hand column
* Australian Culture and Society
* Congregational Life
* Religion Internationally
* Clergy and Theological Education
* Ethical Issues
* School and Education
* Social Capital
* Spirituality
* Rural Church Life
* The Church Serving the Community
Spiritual Capital: An Important Asset Of Workplace And Community?
Monday, April 19th, 2010Children, Australia: A Social Report 1999
Monday, April 19th, 2010ABS Report, Catalogue 4119.0 ISBN 0 642 25791 4
Hospital Chaplaincy
Monday, April 19th, 2010Over the last ten years, ‘health care’ chaplaincy within both public and private facilities has become an important field of research.
Home Care, Hostels And Nursing Homes
Monday, April 19th, 2010The Value of Independence in an Aging Population
The Latter-day Saints
Monday, April 19th, 2010The Latter-day Saints, often referred to as the Mormons, were one of the fastest growing religious groups in Australia. Between 1991 and 1996 they grew by 17.8 per cent (compared with population growth of 5.4 per cent). While other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam grew at a much faster rate, through immigration, the Latter-day Saints grew faster than most groups with a Christian heritage, apart from the Oriental Orthodox, surpassing the growth of the Pentecostal denominations.
Why Warriors Lie Down And Die
Monday, April 19th, 2010The year 2000 has seen some important advances in the cause of justice for Aboriginal people in Australia. The walks for reconciliation in several major cities have provided a way in which many thousands of Australians have been able to express their opinions. The imagery of the opening of the Olympic Games gave Aboriginal people an appropriate place as the ‘elders’ of this ancient land. The participation of Aboriginal athletes in the Olympic games, especially Kathy Freeman, gave both non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal Australians a new pride in the Aboriginal people. But the issues raised by the health, life expectancy, the numbers of incarcerations, and so on, will not easily be resolved. A major contribution to understanding the issues has been made by Richard Trudgen in his new book Why Warriors Lie Down and Lie (Aboriginal Resources and Development Services, Darwin, 2000).
Past And Future Of An Anglican Diocese
Monday, April 19th, 2010A book of papers to mark the 150th anniversary of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne has just been published: People of the Past? The Culture of Melbourne Anglicanism and Anglicanism in Melbourne’s Culture, History Department, University of Melbourne 2000. It was edited by Colin Holden, a senior fellow in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne and priest in the Diocese of Melbourne. While the orientation of the book is historical, a number of the papers pose questions for future directions of the Diocese – questions relevant to many denominations and churches in Australia.
What Will The 3rd Millennium Hold For The Churches Of Australia?
Monday, April 19th, 2010Predicting the future is always risky. The world is such a complex place that the unexpected can always happen – apart from trying to predict divine activity! Yet we spend much of our time preparing for the future. We train leaders for the future church. We build buildings to be used in the future. We establish organisation structures to serve us into the future. To some extent, we can take the future into our hands through our imagination, creativity, and determination. We either do these things on the basis of tradition, ignoring the fact that the future may be different. We may prepare the future on some general hunches. Or, we can use the best information we can gather.
Small Religious Groups In Australia
Monday, April 19th, 2010The Standard Edition of the CD-Rom, Australia’s Religious Communities: A Multimedia Exploration, has 28 religious groups on its menu. Among these, 16 are major Christian denominations, 6 other religious groups, 5 families of religions and no religion. Together, these covered the religious identity of approximate 17.4 million Australians and every group with more than 5,000 people identifying with it according to the 1996 Census. The Professional Edition of the CD-Rom details another 90 small religious groups with less than 5,000 people identifying. What are these groups and where have they come from?
Ecumenism For A New Millennium
Monday, April 19th, 2010This closing Millennium commenced with a major split in the Christian Church as East and West parted company and with the Crusades seeing Christians slaughter Jews and Muslims in failing attempts to secure continuing Christian control of the ‘Holy Land’. The middle of the Millennium witnessed the expulsion or forced conversion of Jews and Muslims in Spain while Columbus was opening the way to exploit and Christianise the New World. The second Millennium has ended with a century of ecumenism on the one hand and continued episodes of ethnic and religious cleansing.