This week marks the 42nd anniversary of the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia. To celebrate the occasion we are meeting with our sisters and brothers from nearby Uniting Churches at Billanook College in Mooroolbark (located off Cardigan Road, download the UCA 2019 Birthday Service at Billanook flyer and map ).
Leading up to the time of Union, there was optimism and hope that the coming together of three distinct church denominations might be the start of a larger movement towards union. Hence the name chosen for this newly forming church was the Uniting Church, rather than the United Church as in some other countries. Sadly this vision has not been realised in practice, although there remain good and close relationships with many denominations and indeed other faiths.
Through the last 42 years, the Uniting Church has attempted to walk faithfully and has been at the forefront of seeking reconciliation with the First Peoples of Australia, of recognising the important place of women and lay people in ministry, and in the search for justice and welcome of all people including the LGTBQI+ community. There have been challenges, however, in other aspects of our life together. For instance, many Uniting Church congregations are ageing and have struggled to connect with younger people, and we are still grappling with what it means to be a truly cross cultural church.
Our hope for the future does not lie in our own resources or ingenuity, but rather in Jesus Christ who ‘gives life to the dead and brings into being what otherwise could not exist … and, who, in his own strange way constitutes, rules and renews … his Church’ (Basis of Union paragraph 4). So our real challenge is to discern what God is already doing through Christ in our midst – and in the world – and to have the courage to follow.