Uniting Church in Australia

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Image:UCA-logo.svg The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was formed on June 22 1977 when many congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, Presbyterian Church of Australia, and Congregational Union of Australia merged together under the Basis of Union.

The third largest denomination in Australia (the Roman Catholic and the Anglican churches are larger), the UCA has 312,858 members in 2,247 congregations (2000 figures).

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Organisation

The UCA is governed by a series of councils:

with a lay (non-ordained) majority on each.

The offices of President of Assembly and Moderator of Synod (who chair these councils) are open to all members of the UCA, whether lay or ordained, male or female.

The UCA is a non-episcopal church, that is has no bishops. The leadership and pastoral role in the UCA is performed by Presbytery as a body (meeting). Many members would understand the 'Chairperson of Presbytery' or the 'Moderator' of the Synod as exercising this role. This position may be occupied by an ordained minister or a lay person. In many Presbyteries there is also a 'Presbytery Officer' who may be ordained or a lay-minister. The Presbytery Officer in many cases functions as a Pastoral Minister, a pastor to the pastors (a Pastor Pastorum) to people in ministry. Other Presbyteries use this position for Mission Consultancy work and others for Administrative work.

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Assembly

The national Assembly meets every three years, and is chaired by a national President. The 10th triennial Assembly met in Melbourne in July 2003.

The current President is Rev Dr Dean Drayton.

The President-elect is Rev Gregor Henderson, formerly General Secretary of the UCA, and currently chair of Christian World Service of the National Council of Churches in Australia.

For a list of Assembly dates, locations, and leaders, see below.

Between the Assembly meetings, the business of Assembly is conducted by the Assembly Standing Committee that meets three times a year, usually March, July and November. Membership of the committee is drawn from around Australia with 18 people elected at each Assembly.

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Synods

The Synods meet regularly. Some Synods meet every year (e.g. NSW-ACT). Others meet every eighteen months or every two years (e.g. Queensland and South Australia).

There are six Synods:

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Presbyteries

Generally each Synod comprises a number of Presbyteries.

South Australia has moved to unitary Presbytery-Synod model and is investigating formally setting up interest groups/networks in this structure.

It is at the level of the Presbytery that decisions are made regarding:

  • selection to canditure to ministry:
  • placement of ministers

Image:Port Adelaide Uniting Church-2005.jpg

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Congregations

Congregations are the church locally. They are the setting of regular worship, generally meeting on Sundays, many churches also conduct worship services at other times, for example a monthly weekday service, a late-night service for day shift workers, cafe church, or Saturday or Friday evenings.

A meeting of the Congregation must be held at least once each year. This meeting(s) typically considers and approves the budget, any over-arching policy matters of a local nature, property matters (which have to be ratified by Presbytery and Synod agencies) and the 'call' (employment) of a new minister or other staff.

Congregations manage themselves through a Council. All Elders are members, as are ministers with pastoral responsibility for the congregation, there may also be other members. The Council meets regularly and is responsible for approving the times of the worship services and other matters.

There are some united congregations. In some locations, the UCA has joined with other churches (such as Baptist and Churches of Christ in Australia. There are also a range of cooperative arrangements where resourcing ministry to congregations is not possible, particularly in rural and remote areas.

'Faith communities' are less structured than congregations. They are groupings of people who gather together for worship, witness or service and choose to be recognised by the Presbytery.

Local churches are often also used by congregations of other church denominations. For example, a Tongan Seventh-day Adventist congregation may make arrangements to meet in the building on a Saturday.

The UCA is predominantly anglo, however it is committed to being inclusive and there are a number of multicultural arrangements, with Korean, Tongan, and other groups forming congregations of the church. The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress oversee a number of congregations focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

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Agencies

UnitingCare as a whole is the largest operator of general social care activities in Australia, including being the largest operator of aged care facilities. Other activities include: 'central missions'; shelters and emergency housing for men, women, and children; family relationships support; disability services; food kitchens for underprivileged people (example: Exodus Foundation at Ashfield Uniting Church in Sydney).

Assembly and Synods have a number of other 'agencies', examples are:

  • Assembly
    • Theology and Discipleship"
    • Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (the UAICC operates in many ways as a Synod) collectively represents the Indigenous Australians who are members of the Christian church. It is estimated that there are between 10000 and 15000 people involved.
    • UnitingCare Australia
    • UnitingJustice Australia
  • Synods
    • NSW - Rural Evangelism and Mission
    • WA - Social Justice and Uniting International Mission
    • Vic/Tas - Working Group on Christian-Jewish relations
    • SA - Mission Resourcing Network
    • QLD - Youth And Children's Ministry Unit (YACMU)
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Education

The UCA provides theological training and ministerial formation through a number of theological colleges. All of these are members of ecumenical theological consortia, such as the Adelaide College of Divinity, the Brisbane College of Theology and the long established Melbourne College of Divinity. Generally training takes five years and involves substantial supervised practical experience. For example Parkin-Wesley College is a member of the Adelaide College of Divinity

The UCA is also associated with a number of schools and residential university colleges, for example in Adelaide, among others there are Scotch College, Pedare Christian College, Prince Alfred College, and Lincoln College.

Christian education is provided for all members of the Uniting Church, for all ages, through local congregations and agencies such as Coolamon College.

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Ministry in the UCA

The role of the laity is valued in the UCA, specific roles include elder and Lay Preacher.

There are two orders of ministry in the Uniting Church, these are:

In situations where it is not possible or desired to have an ordained minister a Lay Pastor (which grew out of the Methodist local preacher tradition) or Lay Ministry Teams may minister, particularly in rural areas.

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Culture

The UCA was one of the first Australian churches to grant self-determination to its Indigenous Australian members through the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

Partnerships also continue with South Pacific and Asian churches, especially those which share a Congregational, Presbyterian or Methodist heritage. An increasing number of ethnic churches worship in their own languages as well as in English.

The UCA has a strongly felt and argued sense of social justice. It has taken stances on issues such as native title for Indigenous people, the Environment, Apartheid, status of refugees, and provision of safe injection facilities for drug users. These stances have been expressed in practical involvement as well as in political comment and advocacy.

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Liturgy

Liturgically the UCA is varied, practice ranges from experimental liturgies, informal worship reminiscent of the 'Jesus Revolution' of the 1970s to conventional reformed services. Music is likewise varied, from traditional hymns especially from the superseded but still popular Australian Hymn Book through Hillsong and Contemporary Christian music to hard Christian alternative music and Christian metal.

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Decision making

Since 1997 most of these councils and agencies have operated under the consensus decision-making procedures outlined in the church's Manual for Meetings. These procedures may use orange ('support') and blue ('do not support') cards, which may be displayed at many times, not just when a vote is called. The idea behind this is about trying to hear the Spirit of God through the gathered community rather than through individuals.

This system was suggested to the World Council of Churches by the UCA, and first used at its formal meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006. [Consensus: a colourful farewell to majority rule]. Rev. Dr H. D'Arcy Wood and Rev. Dr James Haire, former presidents of the Uniting Church in Australia, were present to assist with the introduction of this innovation.

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Commitment to ecumenism

The Uniting Church is example of ecumenism, it is one of a number of uniting-united churches globally.

The Uniting Church, as were its precursors, is engaged in ecumenical activities;

The UCA is affiliated with the:

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Theology

The range of theology perspectives in the UCA is broad, reflecting its Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational origins and its commitment to ecumenism. The theology can be typified as mainline protestant with a commitment to social justice with a strong representation of what has been called the Confessing Movement in some places with vigorous debate occurring at times.

Theological perspectives found in the Uniting Church:

Traditional concerns of evangelical UCA members of morality, faith and theology have been important. These concerns focus on the understanding of the Bible and issues of accommodation to the dominant culture. The Evangelical Members within the Uniting Church in Australia (EMU), gained prominence as a result of their opposition to gay ordination in the lead up to the 1997 Assembly (previously Evangelical Ministers of the UCA) and The Reforming Alliance are examples of the Confessing Movement.

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Ordination of homosexual people

An issue regularly debated almost from the inception of the UCA is the place of homosexual people in the church, and in particular the possibility of their ordination.

The fairly broad consensus has been that a person's sexual orientation should not be a bar to attendance, membership or participation in the life of the church. More controversial has been the issue of sexual activity by homosexual people (in terms of godly living), and arising from this, the question of appropriate behaviour for ordination candidates.

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Development

  • 1982 Assembly Standing Committee (ASC) decided that homosexual orientation was not a bar to ordination and left the decision about candidature with the Presbytery.
  • 1997 Assembly after an emotional debate, a decision on the issue was not made
  • 2000 Assembly decided not to discuss homosexuality.
  • 2003 Assembly attempted to clarify the church's earlier position:
    • a resolution was passed recognising that people within the UCA had interpreted the scriptures with integrity in coming to two opposed views
    • That based on these different views some concluded that a practicing homosexual person in a committed same sex relationship could be ordained as a minister and others not.
    • The recognition of the two positions failed to distinguish between orientation and behaviour, this surprised many as it went further than the 1982 Assembly Standing Committee decision.
  • Post 2003 Assembly:
    • Uniting Network, a group for supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered UCA members welcomed the decision. Although some saw it as a compromise from their preferred position. (Uniting Network formed out of bi-annual gatherings of homosexual Christians begun in 1994.)
    • many members of the UCA and particularly EMU condemned the decision
    • The Reforming Alliance was set up - representing EMU, many ethnic congregations and the many in the UAICC.
    • The ASC subsequently varied the wording of the resolution to remove reference to specific positions, so as not to affirm any particular standard of sexual ethics. The ASC also issued an apology that better communication did not occur leading up to 2003 Assembly
    • Leading up to the 2006 Assembly, a church wide process of response, reflection and preparation has been initiated.
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Current situation

The Assembly resolution and subsequent material from the ASC made it clear that when Presbyteries select candidates for ministry they may be guided by a Presbytery commitment to a particular approach to sexual ethics, but each determination of candidature must still be made on a case by case basis.

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Assembly, Dates, Leaders and Locations

(President; General Secretary)
1. June 1977 J Davis McCaughey; Winston O’Reilly; Sydney
2. May 1979 Winston O’Reilly; Winston O’Reilly to December 1979; Melbourne
3. May 1982 Rollie Busch; David Gill from January 1980 ; Adelaide
4. May 1985 Ian Tanner; David Gill; Sydney
5. May 1988 Ronald Wilson; David Gill to July 1988; Melbourne
6. July 1991 H. D'Arcy Wood ; Gregor Henderson from January 1989; Brisbane
7. July 1994 Jill Tabart; Gregor Henderson; Sydney
8. July 1997 John E Mavor; Gregor Henderson; Perth
9. July 2000 James Haire; Gregor Henderson; Adelaide
10. July 2003 Dean Drayton; Terence Corkin from January 2001; Melbourne
11. 2006 Gregor Henderson (elect)

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See also

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External links

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Official Uniting Church sites

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Other websites

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