Synod aims for growth

The 2019 Synod meeting has adopted a proposal to organise the church to prioritise growth.

The wide ranging proposal aims to facilitate the Uniting Church to grow in a number of ways, “to prioritise, promote, and enable growth in discipleship, in relationship, in number, and in impact.”

It “would seek ways to focus on growing the impact being made by our hundreds of congregations in NSW/ACT in their local communities.”

“We suggest that we have a strong track-record to leverage, coverage in communities right across our territory and state that can legitimise our voice in the public sphere, and an approach to the way we go about things that is warmly received by the wider Australian community.”

The proposal was sent to discernment groups and discussed on the floor of Synod. Synod members asked questions about the wording of the proposal, the theological underpinning, and how congregations might be supported.

It was introduced on the first day of the Synod meeting by NSW ACT General Secretary Rev. Jane Fry, Georges River Presbytery’s Rev. Tammy Holland, Sydney Presbytery’s Rev. Kent Crawford, Parramatta Nepean Presbytery’s Rev. Dr Rob McFarlane and Geoff Stevenson, and UME’s David Cornford..

Jonathan Foye is Insights’ Editor