8 key topics covered at the Assembly meeting

The Assembly will be covering a huge number of proposals and reports during the Assembly meeting from 12-18 July. Rohan Salmon, cross-platform editor of Journey, the magazine of The Uniting Church in Australia’s Queensland Synod has distilled eight highlights which may help you get the jump on the bigger issues.

Anglican–Uniting Church dialogue

Assembly Standing Committee commends the adoption of the Weaving a New Cloth document, which advocates local cooperation between Anglican and Uniting churches throughout Australia.

The Royal Commission

The chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Justice Peter McClellan AM will address the Assembly on 15 July. Later, Assembly Standing Committee will ask for authority to make any changes to Uniting Church Regulations required to respond to the Royal Commission without having to wait for the next full Assembly meeting.

Marriage

In response to the Discussion Paper on Marriage submissions, Assembly Standing Committee proposes further exploration on how multicultural groups can engage in further discussions on same-sex sexuality in culturally appropriate ways and establish a task group investigating the implications of changing the church’s current relationship with the government regarding marriage. Another proposal by two Queensland ministers is asking the Assembly to reject public covenants for same-gender unions.

Annual week of prayer and fasting

The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) would like the week of prayer and fasting observed during the Destiny Together demonstration to become an annual event.

Living out the Covenant

The UAICC also proposes a higher degree of scrutiny for issues affecting First Peoples, continued work on how councils of the church can give authority to Congress and support for Congress’ opposition to fracking on Aboriginal land.

Necessity of synods

The Presbytery of the Illawarra suggests the Uniting Church is over-governed and wishes to authorise Standing Committee to commence a review into Uniting Church governance, specifically with an eye to whether synods are really necessary in the life of the church.

Asylum seekers and refugees

UnitingJustice has an extensive proposal calling Uniting Church members to advocate for asylum seekers and refugees and to demand the Australian Government end offshore processing.

Palestine

Andrew Dutney and Felicity Amery propose an awareness-raising campaign about the plight of Christians in the Holy Land, and to determine the Uniting Church response to requests for action from the World Council of Churches and Palestinian Christians.

Rohan Salmon

For a full list of proposals and reports can be found at assembly2015.uca.org.au/proposals-and-reports

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