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

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) 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. On 1 January 1902, five Methodist denominations in Australia – the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Church, the Unit ...

, about two-thirds of the

Presbyterian Church of Australia The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA) is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Australia. (The larger Uniting Church in Australia incorporated about two-thirds of the PCA in 1977.) History Beginnings When captain James Cook lande ...

and almost all the churches of the

Congregational Union of Australia The Congregational Union of Australia was a Congregational denomination in Australia that stemmed from the Congregational Church in England as settlers migrated from there to Australia. Congregational Churches existed in all states and terri ...

united under the Basis of Union. According to the church, it had 243,000 members in 2018. In the , about 870,200 Australians identified with the church; in the , the figure was 1,065,796. The UCA is Australia's third-largest Christian denomination, behind the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and the

Anglican Churches The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

. 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 Australia's largest non-government provider 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 A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that front ...

, and

UnitingWorld UnitingWorld is the international aid and partnerships agency of the Uniting Church in Australia, based in Sydney Australia. As a partner of the Australian Government, UnitingWorld receives funding to implement development and poverty alleviation ...

Organisation

Albert Street Uniting Church, Brisbane, 2020

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 meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mea ...

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 Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

church, with no

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s. Leadership and

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music ( pastorale) that de ...

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 and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

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

The current president is Reverend Sharon Hollis since she was installed as president in the online meeting of the 16th Assembly on 17 July 2021. She replaced Deidre Palmer, who had succeeded Stuart McMillan at the start of the 15th Assembly on 8 July 2018. Palmer was the second woman in the role, following Jill Tabart (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 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 COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, 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 The Synod of Queensland or Queensland Synod is a state council of the Uniting Church in Australia. The word 'synod' also describes the regular meeting (every 18 months) of representatives of the state-wide church. These meetings are known as the S ...

* Synod of South Australia * Synod of Western Australia * Synod of Victoria and Tasmania * The

Northern Synod The Northern Synod is a regional council of the Uniting Church in Australia having responsibility for the congregations and presbyteries in the Northern Territory and the northern parts of Western Australia and South Australia. The moderator since ...

, which includes the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

, 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, 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 is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

, 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 ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church 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 Sabbath, a ...

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 ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

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 the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a ...

, with ministers and pastors visiting families by air or

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to 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 ca ...

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

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

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 or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation The British Empire was composed of the dominions, coloni ...

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, the country's largest provider 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. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explorer ...

. *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 amalgamati ...

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

Adelaide College of Divinity Adelaide College of Divinity (ACD) is an accredited higher education provider offering diploma, associate and bachelor's degrees, graduate diplomas, master and doctoral degrees in ministry, it is also a Registered Training Organisation offeri ...

*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 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 Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

. NCYC 2011 was held from 29 December 2010 to 4 January 2011 at

the Southport School , motto_translation = Let him who deserves the palm of victory bear it. , established = , type = Independent early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Anglican , headmaster = Andrew Hawkins , f ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

'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

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 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, activists ...

projects.

Ministry

The role of the

laity In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a laype ...

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 An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and tr ...

and

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

are open to lay members. The church has two

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

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 churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

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

lay preacher Lay preacher is a preacher or a religious proclaimer who is not a formally ordained cleric and who does not hold a formal university degree in theology. Lay preaching varies in importance between religions and their sects. Although lay preachers ...

or lay ministry team may act in their place (similar to a

Methodist local preacher A Methodist local preacher, also known as a licensed preacher, is a layperson who has been accredited by the Methodist Church to lead worship and preach on a frequent basis. With separation from the Church of England by the end of the 18th centur ...

). 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 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 terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

. It has taken stances on issues such as

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, t ...

for indigenous people; the environment;

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

; 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 church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the sta ...

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

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The wo ...

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 Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, 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 Christian faith and ...

to hard alternative and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typi ...

. 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 Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and L ...

or red for

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers o ...

Decision-making

Since 1997, most councils and agencies have used the

consensus decision-making Consensus decision-making or consensus process (often abbreviated to ''consensus'') are group decision-making processes in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the aim, or requirement, of acceptance by all. The focus on e ...

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 group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

and

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs it ...

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 Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exp ...

, left (or

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

), 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 The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to retu ...

(not to be confused with the anti-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

Confessing Church The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi Germ ...

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 pattern of romantic 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. These attractions are generally ...

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 Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. Traditionally, Christianity teaches that homosexual acts are sinful and that holy matrimony can only exis ...

. 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 The Reverend Professor Ian James Mitchell Haire AC KStJ (born 2 July 1946, Northern Ireland) is a theologian and Christian minister of religion. He is emeritus professor of Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia and past executive direc ...

* Bill Loader *

Wesley Wildman Wesley J. Wildman (born 1961) is a contemporary Australian-American philosopher, theologian, and ethicist. Currently, he is a full professor at the Boston University School of Theology, founding member of the faculty of Computing and Data Scie ...

* 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

* {{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