A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin pulpitum. The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accessed by steps, with sides coming to about waist height. From the late medieval period onwards, pulpits have often had a canopy known as the sounding board, tester or abat-voix above and sometimes also behind the speaker, normally in wood. Though sometimes highly decorated, this is not purely decorative, but can have a useful acoustic effect in projecting the preacher's voice to the congregation below, especially prior to the invention of modern audio equipment. Most pulpits have one or more book-stands for the preacher to rest his bible, notes or texts upon.
Open communion is the practice of some Protestant Churches of allowing members and non-members to receive the Eucharist. Many but not all churches that practice open communion require that the person receiving communion be a baptized Christian, and other requirements may apply as well. In Methodism, open communion is referred to as the open table, meaning that all may approach the Communion table.
In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership.
Collins Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most desired address in the city. Collins Street was named after Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania David Collins who led a group of settlers in establishing a short-lived settlement at Sorrento in 1803.
Joseph Reed, a Cornishman by birth, was a prolific and influential Victorian era architect in Melbourne, Australia. He established his practice in 1853, which through various partnerships and name changes, continues today as Bates Smart, one of the oldest firms continually operating in Australia.
The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA), founded in 1901, is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Australia. The larger Uniting Church in Australia incorporated about two-thirds of the PCA in 1977.
The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university of specialisation in divinity. It is constituted by eleven theological colleges from eight denominations. The University of Divinity is the direct successor of the second oldest degree-granting authority in the State of Victoria, the Melbourne College of Divinity. The university's chancery and administration are located in Box Hill, a suburb of Melbourne in the state of Victoria.
The Churches of Christ in Australia is a Reformed Restorationist denomination. It is affiliated with the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
James Forbes was a Scottish-Australian Presbyterian minister and educator. He founded the Melbourne Academy, later Scotch College.
The Scots' Church is a Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was the first Presbyterian church to be built in the Port Phillip District and is located on Collins Street. It is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and has been described as "an icon for well over a hundred years".
St Michael's Uniting Church is a church in Collins Street in central Melbourne, Australia. Originally the Collins Street Independent Church, a Congregational Union of Australia Church, and later Collins Street Uniting Church, St Michael's has become well known as a centre of liberal theology and political radicalism under its recent Executive Minister Dr Francis Macnab (1971–2016).
Margaret McLean was a Scottish Australian temperance and women's rights advocate.
Whitley College is a Baptist theological institute in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college is associated with the Baptist Union of Victoria and is one of the theological schools of the University of Divinity.
Communion table and Lord's table are terms used by many Protestant churches—particularly from Reformed, Baptist and low church Anglican and Methodist bodies—for the table used for preparation of Holy Communion. These churches typically prefer not to use the term "altar" because they do not see Communion as sacrificial in any way. However, in colloquial speech, the word "altar" is often used interchangeably with "communion table".
Cecilia Downing was an Australian temperance and women's rights activist and leader. She was one of Australia's first child-probation officers. A devout Baptist, she was an influential leader in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Australasia, the Housewives' Association of Victoria, the Federated Association of Australian Housewives, and the Traveller's Aid Society. She was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1950.
Elizabeth Anstice Baker was an Australian writer, philanthropist, and social reformer. Born into an Anglican family, she converted to Roman Catholicism and wrote a book about her religious journey, entitled A Modern Pilgrim's Progress. The book was widely read in Catholic circles and was translated into French. She received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal from Pope Pius X in 1902, becoming the first Australian woman to be honored with this medal.
Maryanne P. Confoy RSC is an Australian religious Sister of Charity who has also been a teacher and scholar, working primarily in the areas of ministry and spirituality.
Elizabeth Laurie Rees was an English-born Australian temperance and women's rights activist. She was a key leader in the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Victoria, serving twenty years as the general secretary. She also served in a variety of leadership roles for the national Australian WCTU, including treasurer, corresponding secretary, and national president. She was the inaugural editor of the national WCTU magazine, White Ribbon Signal.
Marita Munro is an Australian minister and academic who was the first Baptist woman to be ordained in Australia.
Adam Cairns (1802–1881) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister. In 1837 he became minister of Cupar. At the disruption in 1843 he sided with the Free Church, and was employed in parochial work until 1853, when he accepted a commission from the Colonial Committee of the Free Church to proceed to Melbourne, where he arrived in September of that year. There, amidst the excitement of the gold fever, he laid the foundations of Presbyterianism in Victoria, acting as pastor of the Chalmers Church Congregation till 1865, when, his health failing, he became an emeritus minister, retaining his standing in the Church without pastoral charge. He died on his birthday January 30, 1881.
