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Transcending Boundaries
Participating in Our National Life and Work

Our National Voice in the Public Square

The Church still wants our voice to be heard in the public square on matters of national and global importance. The Statement to the Nation as a foundational document continues to resonate. Through UnitingCare Australia we continue to have that voice in matters of relevance to our health and community services. However, the Church wants the national voice to have a broader mandate. This requires capacity for research including engagement with the Church and the ability to pursue that voice in the public square and through policy-making processes. As Act2: In Response to God’s Call notes, the Church has a more marginal place in society. This has not diminished the desire for a public voice. Rather, it is a voice from and alongside the margins.

There is also a desire to ensure the national voice of the Church is connected to and participates with the members, communities and councils of the Church. The prophetic ministry of the Church is one into which many are called and is fundamental to our discipleship. Our national voice should arise from our theological convictions about who God is calling us to be, recognising we are a theologically diverse Church.

Our International Partnerships and Ecumenical Relationships

Our international partnerships and ecumenical relationships remain foundational to reminding us that “we are not all that there is to the church, rather, we affirm our place as part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.”¹⁸ The engagement of local communities in our international partnerships is largely focussed on the valuable relief and development work of UnitingWorld. But the church-to-church and people-to-people relationships these partnerships create are of broader significance, providing for two-way learning and exchange.

Ecumenical relationships remind us not to prioritise the local and contextual at the expense of the global and universal. They offer valuable insights into local and contextual issues including our Covenant with Congress, a multicultural and intercultural identity, and how to deal with theological diversity and controversy. As an Australian church there is a risk that we do not continue to listen to and learn from the global church. We will only receive this wisdom if we are able and willing to listen.

The emerging movement of united and uniting churches reminds us that our identity is about moving beyond our founding denominations. The national Church has a particular role to sustain our participation in the global church through our partnerships and ecumenical memberships.

Our Multicultural and Intercultural Identity

Since the Assembly declared in 1985 that the Uniting Church is a multicultural Church, our multicultural and intercultural identity has been on our agenda. The 2012 statement, One Body, many members – Living faith and life cross-culturally, continued to call the Church to fully live out its identity. Many parts of our Church remain ignorant of these commitments and their implications for life as a Church. CALD leaders reflect that while the national Church is imperfect, it does feel a sense of responsibility and accountability to those foundational statements and commitments. National Conferences have been an important national gathering point for communities to come together and celebrate and strengthen their collective life.

Systemically, the national Church can still do more to address the barriers which impede the full participation and belonging of CALD communities and members. In addressing questions of membership, property, recognition of communities and leaders, decision-making processes and theological education there is work to do. As Michelle Cook observes, we have struggled to find ways to address gaps between statements and the material reality of our life.¹⁹ The Assembly has an important role to hold before the Church its theological commitments and wisdom, and to create a regulatory environment consistent with those commitments. However, it alone cannot shift cultural practices and behaviours.

Our National Theological Culture

Our theological culture is the collective responsibility of the whole Church, but the national Church has certain roles. Its roles in doctrine and worship are found in the Basis of Union. Those roles are performed within a broader network of institutions, practices and texts. We are cautioned that the national Church should not be about narrowing our theological horizons. It should resist theological conformity. Rather its role is to keep us connected to the church catholic and point us to the compelling theological vision found in Christ’s call to us. It has a particular role to animate our theological culture through theological signposts. At times it is called upon to lay down boundaries through its role in relation to doctrine. It should do this carefully.

Communicating and cultivating an understanding of our existing theological wisdom as a Church was a common theme. People saw that the national Church has a particular role in creating space to explore our diversity and disagreements in constructive ways. Alongside its role to ‘communally authorised theology’²⁰ (in matters of doctrine and worship), it must be effective at communicating those decisions. This is not only at the time but in an ongoing way, as a reminder of the signposts we have established and as an invite to the whole Church to grapple with their implications.

Promoting the Mission of the Church

Communication, convening and collaboration were common words as people explored the role of the national Church in promoting the mission of the Church. Part of this role is about reflecting the Church to itself and the wider community in all its rich diversity. The national Church has a whole-of-Church view which provides a unique perspective to connect people and convene conversations. However, many people wished for those conversations to translate into productive collaboration, which can deepen connections and produce more together than we can apart.

There were cautions offered also. It is necessary in our promotion of the mission of the Church to reflect the full breadth and diversity of the Uniting Church. The national Church needs to be deeply connected to the local experience of the Church. We should avoid the national Church falling into the trap of thinking it is primarily ‘doing’ the mission of the Church. It does have roles in leading aspects of the Church’s mission but our mission is primarily occurring in local communities across Australia. The better the connection to those communities, the better the story can be told.

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