Australian Census 2011 demographic map - Australia by SLA - BCP field 2763 Christianity Uniting Church Persons

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a

united church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestantism, Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinc ...

in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most congregations of the

Methodist Church of Australasia The Methodist Church of Australasia was a Methodist denomination based in Australia. It existed from 1902 to 1977, when the Uniting Church in Australia was formed. It did missionary work in Australia through two organisations: the Methodist Overse ...

, about two-thirds of the

Presbyterian Church of Australia The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA), founded in 1901, is the largest Presbyterian and Reformed denomination in Australia. The PCA is the largest conservative, evangelical and complementarian Christian denomination in Australia. The Presby ...

and almost all the churches of the

Congregational Union of Australia The Congregational Union of Australia was a Congregational church, Congregational Christian denomination, denomination in Australia that stemmed from the Congregational church, Congregational Church in England as settlers migrated from there to ...

united under the UCA's Basis of Union. According to the church, it had 243,000 members in 2018. In the , 870,183 Australians identified with the church, but that figure fell to 673,260 in the . In the , that figure was 1,065,796. The UCA is

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

third-largest Christian denomination, behind the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

churches. There are around 2,000 UCA congregations, and 2001

National Church Life Survey NCLS Research is an Australian organisation that surveys Australian community attitudes and runs studies on churches in Australia every 5 years called National Church Life Surveys. NCLS Research conducts surveys on community spirituality and well-b ...

(NCLS) research indicated that average weekly attendance was about 10 per cent of census figures."Census vs Attendance (2001)"
''National Church Life Survey'' 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.

Organisation

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),

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

s (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

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s. Leadership and

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

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 Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

from 12 to 18 July 2015. The 15th Assembly, hosted by the

Synod of Victoria and Tasmania The Synod of Victoria and Tasmania is the entity of the Uniting Church in Australia covering the states of Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Tasmania. It is one of six geographically-based Uniting Church in Australia#Synods, synods of the church. W ...

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

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 Sharon Hollis is an Australian Minister and the 16th President of the Uniting Church in Australia. Early years Hollis grew up from 8-13 in Keilor Park in Melbourne, Victoria. From 13, the family lived in Finley, a town in the Riverina regio ...

, 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 Jillian Claire Tabart (born 1941) is a former president of the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia and medical practitioner. She served a three-year term as president of the assembly from July 1994 to July 1997, and was the first woman t ...

(1994-1997).President-Elect announced
Uniting Church in Australia, 16 July 2015 Palmer was the moderator of the Presbytery and Synod of South Australia from November 2013 to November 2016. Hollis was moderator of the

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 COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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 *

* The Northern Synod, which includes the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, 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. NaroomaUnitingChurch

Some united congregations exist. The UCA has joined with other churches, such as the Baptist Union and the

Churches of Christ The Churches of Christ, also commonly known as the Church of Christ, is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations located around the world. Typically, their distinguishing beliefs are that of the necessity of baptism for salvation ...

, 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 Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, 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

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

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

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n 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 The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

, with ministers and pastors visiting families by air or

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

vehicles. Visits are normally arranged in advance so adjacent families can travel for significant events, such as

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

s. 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 Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...

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."Constitution of the Uniting Church in Australia (2004)"
''Uniting Church Assembly Website''

Agencies

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 Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain (British Army and Royal ...

. *Queensland: Trinity College (with

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamation ...

) *South Australia: Uniting College for Leadership and Theology,

University of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university with a specialised focus in divinity and associated disciplines. It is constituted by twelve theological colleges from seven denominations and three schools. The University of Di ...

*Victoria and Tasmania:

Pilgrim Theological College Pilgrim Theological College is an Australian theological college and a member college of the University of Divinity. It is part of the Uniting Church in Australia Synod of Victoria and Tasmania's Centre for Theology & Ministry. Overview and hi ...

, part of the

*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 Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. NCYC 2011 was held from 29 December 2010 to 4 January 2011 at the Southport School on

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

'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 The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

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 The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activist ...

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 A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

are open to lay members. The church has two

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

of ordained ministry: minister and

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

. When it is not possible (or desirable) to have an ordained minister, a

lay preacher A lay preacher is a preacher who is not ordained (i.e. a layperson) and who may not hold a formal university degree in theology. Lay preaching varies in importance between religions and their sects. Overview Some denominations specifically disco ...

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

The UCA was one of the first Australian churches to grant

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

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 Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

. It has taken stances on issues such as native title for indigenous people; the environment;

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

; refugee status, and safe injection facilities for drug users. The church is similar to other

united and uniting churches A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denomination ...

, which maintain a cultural identity in their own country and practise

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

fellowship with other

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...

s 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 The Jesus movement was an evangelical Christian movement that began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, Central America, Australia and New Zealand, befo ...

to conventional

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

services. Music also varies from traditional and contemporary hymns in the '' Australian Hymn Book'' and '' Together in Song'', through Hillsong and

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

to hard alternative and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

. 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 An Alb is a liturgical vestment. ALB, Alb or alb may also refer to: * Alb, Alpine transhumance in Allemannic German Places * Alb (Upper Rhine), a tributary of the Upper Rhine in northern Black Forest near Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany * Al ...

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 Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

or red for

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

Decision-making

Since 1997, most councils and agencies have used the

consensus decision-making Consensus decision-making is a group decision-making process in which participants work together to develop proposals for actions that achieve a broad acceptance. #Origin and meaning of term, Consensus is reached when everyone in the group '' ...

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 Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

origins and its commitment to ecumenism. Its theology may be described as mainline Protestantism, with a commitment to

. The church's perspectives are

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

(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 Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Confessing Church The Confessing Church (, ) was a movement within German Protestantism in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all of the Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German Evangelical Church. See dro ...

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 Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

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 The blessing or wedding of same-sex marriages and same-sex unions is an issue about which leaders of Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. Traditionally, Christianity teaches that sexual practices between men and sexual practices bet ...

. 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 Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. His songs "Faded (Alan Walker song), Faded", "Sing Me to Sleep", "Alone (Alan Walker song), Alone", "All Falls Down (Alan Walker song), All Falls Down" (with Noah Cy ...

* James Haire * Bill Loader * Wesley Wildman * Benjamin Myers

Assemblies

References

External links

Official websites

National Assembly websiteUnitingWorld websiteUnitingCare AustraliaRelations with Other Faiths websiteMulticultural and Cross Cultural websiteUnitingJustice websiteJourney magazine websiteAssembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA

Other websites

Uniting Church in Australia Oral History 1992–1994

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uniting Church In Australia United and uniting churches Methodist denominations Presbyterian denominations in Australia Congregationalist denominations Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches Members of the World Council of Churches Christian organizations established in 1977 1977 establishments in Australia Christian denominations in Australia Affirming Christian denominations in Oceania