The Standing Committee of the Uniting Church WA wishes to advise that a special meeting of the Synod of Western Australia will be held on Saturday 6 February 2016 to appoint a new general secretary. From 1 January, Rev John Dunn will act as general secretary. The Standing Committee thanks Rosemary Hudson Miller for her dedicated service in this role. From 1 January, Rosemary will return to her former role as associate general secretary justice and mission, until 31 July.
The 39th Synod of the Uniting Church in Western Australia has called on the State Government to use negotiated partnership approaches to work with Indigenous peoples in remote communities. The Uniting Church in Western Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress continue to hold concern over the Regional Services Reform affecting remote Aboriginal communities currently being implemented by the State Government.
“We call on the State Government to develop a detailed consultation framework and evaluation process concerning the sustainability of remote communities in Western Australia to ensure the free, prior and informed consent of Aboriginal peoples in any decision concerning them,” said the moderator of the Uniting Church in Western Australia, Rev Steve Francis.
“While there may be some benefit to reforming the disjointed provision of some services, we need to act very sensitively with Indigenous people who have suffered so much dispossession and trauma during the history of European settlement in Western Australia. Making decisions to remove services to remote Aboriginal settlements could increase the sense of Indigenous dispossession and displacement.”
The office here at the Uniting Church Centre in WA was pretty pumping in the lead-up to the 14th Triennial Assembly meeting. As our synod played host to the event, there was plenty to do which was covered by a massive number of dedicated volunteers and staff. Volunteers were busy in a huge range of roles, from the Local Organising Committee to ushers, greeters, drivers and so much more. Apart from a few hitches, the week turned out to be an inspiring, confronting and moving event and there were so many people who helped it all come together.
After some challenging years in the Uniting Church in WA, our members came together to bring us Assembly in a way that their gifts and skills were able to flourish. Our synod and city shone during the week for the national church to see. During the week of Assembly, my colleagues from Uniting Church media and communications teams around the country were working tirelessly to bring you up-to-date news from the event. Some of those articles are featured in this edition and I thank them greatly for the long hours they put in.
The newly installed president of the Uniting Church in Australia led the Assembly with humility and dedication to listening to voices from all the different parts of the church. He has a strong passion for living out the covenant between the church and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and you can read more about his journey with this in our profile story here.
One of our defining qualities in the Uniting Church is that we are very ecumenical. Our commitment was in evidence at the recent 14th Assembly when more than 30 ecumenical guests joined us from partner churches in Asia, the Pacific and Africa and from other churches in Australia in our week of prayerful discernment. There was a special dinner on the Wednesday night for ecumenical guests. On the Thursday night, Rev Dr Lin Manhong, Dean of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary and the China Christian Council gave this year’s Cato lecture on the nature and growth of the church in China.
There was much more too. The Assembly considered and endorsed an Anglican-Uniting Church statement, ‘Weaving a New Cloth‘ giving guidelines for local church partnering. It also discussed and endorsed the World Council of Church’s (WCC) convergence text The Church: Towards a Common Vision. There was an act of ecumenical solidarity through the formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Why is the Uniting Church (UCA) so interested in relating to other churches? The explanation is in Paragraph Two of the Basis of Union, in which we recognise that we are ‘related to other churches in ways which give expression, however partially to the unity and faith in mission’ of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Further, that ‘Christians in Australia are called to bear witness to a unity of faith and life in Christ which transcends cultural and economic, national and racial boundaries’. These are powerful words indeed.
With a touch of jet lag, great hopes and a few anxieties I checked in on Sunday lunchtime at Trinity Residential College for the beginning of the Uniting Church’s 14th Triennial Assembly. This Assembly was on our home turf; Trinity, the Assembly accommodation, is a Uniting Church WA college, and just across the road from the beautiful Winthrop Hall where we had our daytime sessions.
Our collective task was the same as whenever people of the Uniting Church meet in church councils, presbyteries and synods; we gather in the presence of God to discern the will of God. For the next six days that was our core purpose. The smoking ceremony right at the beginning reminded us of the welcome of Nyungar people and our covenant with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC).
The evening installation of our new president, Stuart McMillan, was a powerful and creative celebration of the rich diversity of God’s people in the movement we call Uniting Church. Sadly, sometimes worship is bland, but the worship experience was rich and varied and honoured the one who brings sparkle and new life to us. Rev Cathie Lambert, worship coordinator for the week, and her team did an amazing job. Each morning we began with worship that was simple, reflective and celebratory; this set the tone for the rest of the day. I also believe that the faithful band of prayer warriors who prayed and fasted for 40 days and gathered each morning to pray on a 24-hour basis during Assembly, significantly contributed to the texture and spirituality of our gatherings.
The 14th Triennial Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia was held in Perth from Sunday 12-Saturday 18 July. Uniting Church members of the Assembly came together to discern the will of God and the direction of the church for the next three years. Following are some of the decisions that were made at Assembly. For in-depth coverage of these decisions and more visit http://assembly2015.uca.org.au.
The president of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, has written a pastoral letter to the church about recent theology of marriage discussions. His letter follows.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
When we gathered as the body of Christ for the 14th Assembly in Perth this passage of scripture was in my mind: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love, Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Eph 4: 2,3 NIV).
At the 14th Assembly meeting we received the Report of the Task Group on the Theology of Marriage and Public Covenants for Same-Gender Relationships within the Uniting Church. This work was commenced by the Doctrine Working Group on referral from the 13th Assembly in 2012. A challenging, at times difficult and emotional discussion of the report and the proposals arising from the report took place over a number of sessions. The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress exercised its right not to participate in the discussion, but remained in the gathering. The Multicultural and Cross Cultural National Reference Committee urged us through its paper to make ‘space for grace’. I now write to you as members of the Uniting Church expressing the pastoral concerns of the gathering for the whole church.
Friends, we continue as a community of culturally and linguistically diverse people to have respectful conversations. We will employ culturally sensitive processes, to be determined by the First and Second people groups within our church. We have been encouraged by the Multicultural and Cross Cultural Ministry National Reference Committee to allow the space for grace. In this space communities will firstly, be able to engage with the concept of marriage and secondly, they may engage with the concept of same-gender relationships.
We seek to be an inclusive church that celebrates diversity and embraces LGBTIQ people as full members of the church community. For the times we have failed to be this loving community of Christ and caused hurt, we apologise, ask forgiveness and pray for healing and reconciliation for us all.
Christian community modelled on Jesus’ unconditional love and acceptance is what we strive to attain. We know that the world is watching to see how we treat one another. Paul says in Romans we belong to one another, the commandment is to love, to put the interests of others ahead of our own interests.
In this next three years my prayer for us all is that we might listen deeply to one another, with our heart and to the Spirit who grants us understanding beyond human wisdom.
Shalom.
Stuart McMillan
President of the Uniting Church in Australia
12 August 2015
The Reports and Proposals from the 14th Assembly can be found online at http://assembly2015.uca.org.au/proposals-and-reports/
A special celebration marking the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Australia’s first Methodist minister the Rev Samuel Leigh will be held at Sydney’s Wesley Centre 220 Pitt Street on Sunday 30 August beginning at 2.30 pm.
In 2012 Wesley Mission celebrated 200 years since Sydney’s earliest Wesleyans wrote a letter to the Methodist Church in Britain pleading for a minister.
Three years ago almost 2000 congregation members, supporters, donors, volunteers and staff of Wesley Mission marched through the streets of Sydney and gave thanks to God at the State Theatre for 200 years of Methodism in Australia.
The landmark service at Wesley Mission on 30 August 2015 will celebrate its sequel.
Wesley Mission Superintendent the Rev Keith Garner said the arrival of Samuel Leigh in 1815 had realised the hopes of Sydney’s earliest Wesleyans, and in 2015 Wesley Mission will give thanks for the first minister’s faith, ministry and enduring legacy.
“As Australia’s first Methodist missionary, Samuel Leigh showed remarkable courage and perseverance in the face of great hardship and the gruelling task of ministry in the fledgling colony of Sydney,” he said.
The 14th Triennial Assembly Meeting was held from Sunday 12–Saturday 18 July. It brought together Uniting Church members from around Australia to discern the will of God and the direction of the church for the next three years. Nigel Tapp reports.
There are those within the Uniting Church who would deride the triennial Assembly gathering as a bit of talkfest. And yes, there is a lot of talking over the six days as the members deal with a range of issues, both of a social nature and also how the church does church and how it engages with its congregations, synods, councils and one another. But, much is achieved and some of those truly special – or most powerful – moments actually come in silence before God.
Such was the story of the 14th Triennial Assembly in Perth last month. The gathering tackled weighty subjects such as same gender marriage, the role of elders within the Uniting Church, church governance, Federal Government cuts to overseas aid, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the treatment of those seeking asylum and Federal and State Government policies aimed at closing remote Aboriginal communities.
The 14th Triennial Meeting of the Assembly is creeping closer and closer and lots of work is being done to prepare for this important event. The theme of this year’s Assembly, as set by the president-elect, Stuart McMillan, is ‘Hearts on Fire.’
The Assembly meeting will bring together over 300 members of the Uniting Church in Australia for a week of discerning the business and direction of the church for the next three years. This year it will be held in Perth, with the bulk of the meeting to be held at Winthrop Hall, University of Western Australia (UWA) with accommodation and meals to be held at the Uniting Church in WA’s Trinity Residential College.
While not everyone can be a member, there are some events that everyone is invited to, including the official Opening Service and Installation of the new president of the Uniting Church in Australia and the Cato Lecture, an Assembly tradition. A children’s choir will provide a fun and exciting way for kids in the Uniting Church to be involved in the Opening Service. More information on this can be found here.