Uniting Church in Australia

Assembly

The UCA assembly meets every three years.^[1]

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, who had succeeded Dr Deidre Palmer at the start of the 16th Assembly in July 2021.^[8] Palmer was the second woman in the role, following Jill Tabart (1994-1997).^[9] Palmer was the moderator of the Presbytery and Synod of South Australia from November 2013 to November 2016.^[10] 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.^[11] As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was moved to a shorter, online form.^[12]

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.^[13] There are six synods:^[14]

• Synod of New South Wales and the ACT (formerly the NSW Synod)^[15]
• Synod of Queensland^[16]
• Synod of South Australia^[17]
• Synod of Western Australia^[18]
• Synod of Victoria and Tasmania^[19]
• The Northern Synod, which includes the Northern Territory, north-west Western Australia and northern South Australia.^[20]

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.^[1]

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.^[21] 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.^[22] Yuróra NCYC 2017, "Uniting Culture", was also held in Sydney in January 2017.^[23]

International aid

UnitingWorld is the church's international-aid agency.^[24] It receives funding from the government of Australia to implement development and poverty-alleviation programs in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.^[25] UnitingWorld works in partnership with 18 overseas denominations to support over 180,000 people annually through sustainable community development projects.^[24]

Sexuality

The church permits local presbyteries to ordain gay and lesbian ministers.^[28]

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.^[29]

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.^[30][31]

Marriage

Ministers were permitted to bless same-sex couples entering civil unions in 2015.^[32] A 2018 resolution allows local churches to decide about blessings of same-sex marriage.^[33][34]

Theologians

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