Uniting Church in Australia

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union of Australia united under the Basis of Union. According to the church, it had 243,000 members in 2018. In the 2016 census, 870,183 Australians identified with the church, but that figure fell to 673,260 in the 2021 census. In the 2011 census, that figure was 1,065,796. The UCA is Australia's third-largest Christian denomination, behind the Catholic and the Anglican Churches. There are around 2,000 UCA congregations, and 2001 National Church Life Survey (NCLS) research indicated that average weekly attendance was about 10 per cent of census figures. The UCA is one of Australia's largest non-government providers of community and health services. Its service network consists of over 400 agencies, institutions, and parish missions, with its areas of service including aged care, hospitals, children, youth and family, disability, employment, emergency relief, drug and alcohol abuse, youth homelessness and suicide. Affiliated agencies include UCA's community and health-service provider network, affiliated schools, the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, Frontier Services and UnitingWorld.

Uniting Church in Australia
UCA logo
Classification	Protestantism
Orientation	Calvinism and Methodism
Polity	Presbyterianism, Connexionalism and Congregationalism
President of the Assembly	Charissa Suli
Distinct fellowships	Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress
Associations	NCCA, WCC, CCA, WCRC, World Methodist Council, Pacific Conference of Churches
Region	Australia
Origin	1977 (1977)
Merger of	Methodist Church of Australasia Two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia Congregational Union of Australia
Congregations	2,000
Members	243,000 (2016)
Aid organization	UnitingCare UnitingWorld
Nursing homes	UnitingCare

Uniting Church members as a percentage of the total population in the 2011 census, divided geographically by local area

Organisation

St Michael's Uniting Church, Melbourne (pictured) was formerly the Congregational Union Australia Church.

Port Adelaide Uniting Church

Scots Uniting Church in Albany, Western Australia

The UCA is a national, unincorporated association of councils, each of which has responsibility for functions in the church. The councils are congregations (local), presbyteries (regional), synods (state) and an assembly (national). The membership of each council is established by the constitution. Each council includes Women and Men, lay and ordained. The offices of president of assembly, moderator of synod (who chair these councils) and other offices are open to all UCA members. The UCA is a non-episcopal church, with no bishops. Leadership and pastoral roles are nominally performed by presbyteries, but in reality by individuals.

Assembly

The UCA assembly meets every three years, and is chaired by the president. The 14th Assembly met in Perth from 12 to 18 July 2015. The 15th Assembly, hosted by the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania in Box Hill, met in July 2018. Assembly business between meetings is conducted by the Assembly Standing Committee, which meets three times per year (usually in March, July and November). Membership is drawn from throughout Australia, with 18 members elected at each assembly.

President

Deidre Palmer was UCA President from 2018 to 2021

The current president is Reverend Charissa Suli since she was installed as president in the meeting of the 17th Assembly on 11 July 2024. She replaced Reverend Sharon Hollis, who had succeeded Dr Deidre Palmer at the start of the 16th Assembly in July 2021. Palmer was the second woman in the role, following Jill Tabart (1994-1997). Palmer was the moderator of the Presbytery and Synod of South Australia from November 2013 to November 2016. Hollis was moderator of the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania at the time of her election in 2018 as the president-elect and became president at the beginning of the sixteenth assembly, which was to be held in Queensland in 2021. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was moved to a shorter, online form.

Synods

Synods are UCA councils which roughly correspond to state boundaries. Each synod meets about once per year, with a standing committee to represent it between sessions. Synod responsibilities include the promotion and encouragement of the church's mission, theological and ministerial education, and overseeing property matters. There are six synods:

• Synod of New South Wales and the ACT (formerly the NSW Synod)
• Synod of Queensland
• Synod of South Australia
• Synod of Western Australia
• Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
• The Northern Synod, which includes the Northern Territory, north-west Western Australia and northern South Australia.

Presbyteries

Each synod generally consists of a number of presbyteries. Western Australia has a unitary presbytery-synod model. South Australia also had a single presbytery and synod for 15 years, until 2019. These large presbyteries enable groups of congregations to work together, based on geographic location or similar interests or characteristics. Selection of ministerial candidates and the placement of ministers are decided at the presbytery level.

Congregations

There are about 2,000 UCA congregations, with 243,000 members and adherents. Congregations range in size from a dozen to hundreds of members. They are the local church, the setting for regular worship (generally on Sundays). Many churches also conduct worship services at other times, such as a monthly weekday service, a late-night service for day-shift workers, a "cafe church", or Friday- or Saturday-evening services.

A Meeting of the Congregation must be held at least twice each year. The meetings typically consider and approve the budget, local policy matters, property matters (ratified by the presbytery and synod) 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 worship times and other matters.

Narooma Uniting Church, a 1914 example of Federation Carpenter Gothic architecture

Some united congregations exist. The UCA has joined with other churches, such as the Baptist Union and the Churches of Christ, in some locations. There are also cooperative arrangements where supplying ministry to congregations is impossible, particularly in remote areas. This includes arrangements with the Anglican Church, where ministry and (sometimes) property resources are shared.

Faith communities are less structured than congregations. They are groups of people who gather together for worship, witness or service and choose to be recognised by the presbytery. Local churches are sometimes also used by congregations of other denominations; for example, a Tongan Seventh-day Adventist congregation may make arrangements to meet in the building on a Saturday. The UCA is committed to inclusivity, and there are a number of multicultural ministry (MCM) arrangements in which Korean, Tongan and other groups form congregations of the church.

Co-operating congregations

Co-operating congregations, typically in rural areas, have several denominations worshiping as one congregation and rotate the denomination appointing its next minister. They are known as union churches in some places, with several denominations using the building at different times.

Frontier Services

A Frontier Services ministry is available to residents of the outback, with ministers and pastors visiting families by air or four-wheel drive vehicles. Visits are normally arranged in advance so adjacent families can travel for significant events, such as baptisms. These "padres" are based in a major town or city, and the local synod is normally their organisational and funding body.

Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress

The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC, sometimes known simply as the Congress), is constitutionally recognised as having responsibility for oversight of church ministry to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:

A Synod may at the request of a Regional Committee of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress prescribe that the Regional Committee may have and exercise all or specific rights, powers, duties and responsibilities of a Presbytery under this Constitution and the Regulations (including ordination and other rights, powers and responsibilities relating to Ministers) for the purpose of fulfilling any responsibility of the Regional Committee for Uniting Church work with Aboriginal and Islander people within the bounds of the Synod.

Agencies

Wayside Chapel, Potts Point

UnitingCare Australia, one of the country's largest providers of social care, is its largest operator of aged-care facilities. Other activities include shelters and emergency housing for men, women and children; family-relationships support; disability services, and food kitchens.

Education

The UCA provides theological training through a number of theological colleges:

• New South Wales: United Theological College, Parramatta a member of the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University.
• Queensland: Trinity College (with Australian Catholic University)
• South Australia: Uniting College for Leadership and Theology, University of Divinity
• Victoria and Tasmania: Pilgrim Theological College, part of the University of Divinity
• Western Australia: Perth Theological Hall

Training generally takes five years, and includes supervised practical experience.

Youth

The National Christian Youth Convention is a national UCA activity during school and university holidays, every two or three years in a different city. NCYC 2007, "Agents of Change", was held in Perth. The 2009 "Converge" was held in Melbourne. NCYC 2011 was held from 29 December 2010 to 4 January 2011 at the Southport School on Queensland's Gold Coast. Yuróra NCYC 2014 was held in North Parramatta, Sydney from 7 to 10 January 2014. Yuróra NCYC 2017, "Uniting Culture", was also held in Sydney in January 2017.

International aid

UnitingWorld is the church's international-aid agency. It receives funding from the government of Australia to implement development and poverty-alleviation programs in the Pacific, Asia and Africa. UnitingWorld works in partnership with 18 overseas denominations to support over 180,000 people annually through sustainable community development projects.

Ministry

The role of the laity is valued in the UCA, which recognises that ministry is a function of the entire church. However, "specified ministries" are defined. Of these, the roles of elder and pastor are open to lay members. The church has two orders of ordained ministry: minister and deacon.

When it is not possible (or desirable) to have an ordained minister, a lay preacher or lay ministry team may act in their place (similar to a Methodist local preacher). Lay preachers are required to participate in training and examinations conducted by each synod, and must be approved by the presbytery.

Culture

Church in Mundijong (built 1905)

The UCA was one of the first Australian churches to grant self-determination to its indigenous members through the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. Partnerships exist 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. Five to seven per cent of the membership worship in languages other than English, including Aboriginal languages.

The UCA advocates for social justice. It has taken stances on issues such as native title for indigenous people; the environment; apartheid; refugee status, and safe injection facilities for drug users. The church is similar to other united and uniting churches, which maintain a cultural identity in their own country and practise ecumenical fellowship with other Christian denominations worldwide. Between 1991 and 2013, UCA attendance declined by 41 per cent. In 2013, about 97,200 people attended weekly worship services throughout Australia.

Liturgy

The church is liturgically varied. Practices range from experimental liturgies, informal worship reminiscent of the Jesus movement to conventional Reformed services. Music also varies from traditional and contemporary hymns in the Australian Hymn Book and Together in Song, through Hillsong and contemporary Christian music to hard alternative and metal.

Liturgical dress in the UCA is generally lenient, and is optional for ministers and other leaders of worship. When liturgical dress is worn, it most commonly consists of a white alb and a stole (for ministers and deacons) or scarf (for lay preachers). The colour of the scarf or stole is often related to the liturgical calendar, such as purple for Lent or red for Pentecost.

Decision-making

St David's Uniting Church, Haberfield

Since 1997, most councils and agencies have used the consensus decision-making procedures outlined in the church's Manual for Meetings. The procedures may use orange ("support") and blue ("do not support") cards, which may also be displayed times other than voting.

Theology

The UCA's theological range is broad, reflecting its Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational origins and its commitment to ecumenism. Its theology may be described as mainline Protestantism, with a commitment to social justice. The church's perspectives are evangelical, left (or progressive), and liberal. Morality, faith, and (in particular) sexuality have been debated. Concerns focus on biblical understanding and accommodation to the broad culture.

Uniting Network Australia is "the national network for lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and transgender people, their families, friends and supporters within the Uniting Church in Australia." The establishment of Evangelical Members within the Uniting Church in Australia (EMU), the Reforming Alliance and their merger with the Assembly of Confessing Congregations (ACC) illustrate conservative opposition to the ordination of gay and lesbian candidates and the influence of the Confessing Movement (not to be confused with the anti-Nazi Confessing Church).

Homosexuality

Issues debated since early in UCA history are the role of gay and lesbian people in the church, their possibility of being ordained and the blessing of same-sex unions. The church permits local presbyteries to ordain gay and lesbian ministers, and extends the local option to marriage; a minister may bless a same-sex marriage.

The fairly broad consensus has been that a person's sexual orientation should not be a bar to attendance, membership or participation in the church. More controversial has been the issue of sexual activity by gay and lesbian people and the sexual behaviour of ordination candidates. In 2003, the church voted to allow local presbyteries to decide whether to ordain gay and lesbian people as ministers. Ministers were permitted to bless same-sex couples entering civil unions even before same-sex marriage was legalised in Australia in late 2017. In July 2018, the national assembly approved the creation of marriage rites for same-sex couples.

Since 1997, some ministers living in same-sex relationships have come out without their ordination (or ministry) being challenged. In 2011, the church approved the blessing of same-sex unions. Seven years later it allowed local congregations and ministers to decide whether to perform same-sex marriages, and ministers may now do so.

In March 2021, the UCA became the first mainstream Australian church to induct a transgender minister, when Jo Inkpin was installed at Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney.

Theologians

• Alan Walker
• James Haire
• Bill Loader
• Wesley Wildman
• Benjamin Myers

Assemblies

No.	Date	President	General secretary	Location
1	June 1977	Davis McCaughey	Winston O'Reilly	Sydney
2	May 1979	Winston O'Reilly	O'Reilly (until December 1979)	Melbourne
3	May 1982	Rolland Busch	David Gill (from January 1980)	Adelaide
4	May 1985	Ian B. Tanner	David Gill	Sydney
5	May 1988	Ronald Wilson	David Gill (until July 1988)	Melbourne
6	July 1991	D'Arcy Wood	Gregor Henderson (from January 1989)	Brisbane
7	July 1994	Jill Tabart	Gregor Henderson	Sydney
8	July 1997	John Mavor	Gregor Henderson	Perth
9	July 2000	James Haire	Gregor Henderson	Adelaide
10	July 2003	Dean Drayton	Terence Corkin (from January 2001)	Melbourne
11	July 2006	Gregor Henderson	Terence Corkin	Brisbane
12	July 2009	Alistair Macrae	Terence Corkin	Sydney
13	July 2012	Andrew Dutney	Terence Corkin	Adelaide
14	July 2015	Stuart McMillan	Colleen Geyer (from January 2016)	Perth
15	July 2018	Deidre Palmer	Colleen Geyer	Box Hill, Victoria (Melbourne)
16	July 2021	Sharon Hollis	Colleen Geyer	online
17	July 2024	Charissa Suli	Lindsay Cullen (interim)	Parramatta

See also

• Christian Conference of Asia
• Confessing Movement
• Congregational Federation of Australia
• Fellowship of Congregational Churches
• Homosexuality and Christianity
• Presbyterian Church of Australia
• Progressive Christianity
• Rupert Grove
• United and uniting churches
• United Church of Canada
• Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia
• World Alliance of Reformed Churches
• World Methodist Council

External links

Official websites

• National Assembly website
• UnitingWorld website
• UnitingCare Australia
• Relations with Other Faiths website
• Multicultural and Cross Cultural website
• UnitingJustice website
• Journey magazine website
• Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA

Other websites

• Uniting Church in Australia Oral History 1992-1994, State Library of Queensland