ACC 12th Assembly News 2

1. The 12th Assembly of the Uniting Church has now concluded

Thank you to all those members who expressed support through prayer and messages. The prayer team and hospitality arrangements provided by the ACC were an integral part to helping ACC members feel supported and encouraged during the week-long meeting (15-21 July). In particular we acknowledge members from Liverpool Uniting Church who provided significant practical help with prayer members, hospitality and transport.

A group of 40 people attended the ACC dinner on Sunday night and heard the ACC Chair Revd Dr Max Champion speak on the theme of the ‘The new intolerance', as well as hearing reflections and comments from members and observers at the 12th Assembly.

All members are now on their way home, or having a well-earned rest, including the prayer team, led by Rev. Anne Hibbard, several of whom fasted during the 40 day season of sacred prayer. Resources on this period.

2. National Council meeting: 27-28 July

The National Council will meet in Sydney, along with the Commission convenors, and will consider among many items, matters from the 12th Assembly. Feedback and comment is welcome.

3. New preamble to the constitution passed

On Monday morning, in the first business session (before morning tea and after the bible study), the proposed new preamble was passed. No substantial debate was undertaken throughout the time the matter was on the agenda. No alternative proposals were eventually able to be considered due to the process adopted. The move toward the vote without further discussion (eventual process of formal decision making with the proposal being simply put) was advised late on Sunday afternoon after what was clearly a very difficult last business session which went into overtime - see the Assembly news for the report of what happened. The move from consensus to formal decision-making occurred swiftly in the morning, as it can easily, if the numbers are there for this arrangement. (75% is needed to move to formal-decision), and the preamble was thus approved with an overwhelming vote in favour. The preamble states (extract from Assembly news) that:

When the churches that formed the Uniting Church arrived in Australia as part of the process of colonisation they entered a land that had been created and sustained by the Triune God they knew in Jesus Christ.
Through this land God had nurtured and sustained the First Peoples of this country, the Aboriginal and Islander peoples, who continue to understand themselves to be the traditional owners and custodians (meaning ‘sovereign' in the languages of the First Peoples) of these lands and waters since time immemorial.
The First Peoples had already encountered the Creator God before the arrival of the colonisers; the Spirit was already in the land revealing God to the people through law, custom and ceremony. The same love and grace that was finally revealed in Jesus Christ sustained the First Peoples and gave them particular insights into God's ways.

For full details see the Assembly website, but for preliminary comment and for reference to some of the preamble see this page on the Assembly media centre.

Further changes to the constitution following on from the preamble context were made following the decision on the preamble.

These matters will now be sent to presbyteries and Synods following the usual process for constitutional change.

Brief background to the proposals: Information for comment was provided as draft material to Synods in the latter part of 2008, and also in a letter to presbyteries and synod two weeks before Christmas 2008 by the Assembly General Secretary. There was some discussion in some councils of the church and some feedback before the actual proposal was prepared and sent out to Assembly members with the second mailing of Assembly papers. That proposal was then revised a few days before the start of the actual Assembly following a further meeting between the Task Group Convenor and the Assembly General Secretary with Congress during the National Conference of the Congress in Perth in July.

An extract from the letter by the Assembly General Secretary to Presbyteries and Synods on December 8, 2009, provides an overview of the process and the context of the new preamble. See the last sentence in particular. Check with your presbytery for its own consideration and feedback and the full preliminary material.

Extract

"In addition to those matters that were specifically before the 11th Assembly, the ASC and the UAICC (the Congress) had been in discussions for the previous triennium about the way in which the structures of Congress related to the other governance structures of the UCA. This is not a new conversation as it has been a "work in progress" since the Congress was established - including changes to the Constitution and Regulations over the years to accommodate new understandings of how the relationship was to be expressed structurally. However the discussion took on a new urgency when Presidential Ruling # 25 was delivered in 2007. This ruling clarified where the limits of Congress' authority were in regard to the oversight and discipline of Ministers serving in placements with the Congress. This ruling was a great surprise and disappointment to Congress and set the ASC and the Congress on a journey to explore how to avoid such a situation arising again.

"The working group on the Constitution that was established to address issues raised at the 11th Assembly incorporated this issue into its work. It is the recommendations of this working group that the church is now being invited to consider and comment upon as proposals are developed for the consideration of the 12th Assembly in Sydney in 2009. These proposals relate to the development of a new Preamble and opening paragraphs for the Constitution.

The process is that the ASC will further consider the work of the Task Group when it meets in March. Responses are required - to the Task Group Convenor (the address is at the end of the discussion document) no later than the end of April. The working group will meet in early May to review the responses of the ASC and the church and then shape a final submission to the 12th Assembly. Any Constitutional amendments that are adopted by the 12th Assembly will be submitted to synods and presbyteries for assent or rejection. The best time for influencing particular aspects of the proposed changes is at this stage of the consultation process. The Councils of the church are being invited to participate in a discussion on matters vital to the life of the church (Constitution clause 39) - but in typical UCA fashion we prefer to apply this principle of the Constitution before our decisions are made.

When considering the proposed Constitutional amendments it will be noted that they fall into two parts: the Preamble and the first sections of the Constitution. The Preamble of the current Constitution relates to a very specific part of the history of the UCA - the steps of the three churches into union. A preamble has the opportunity to locate a community to which a Constitution applies within a specific context and set of values. The working group suggests that our context as an Australian church is in the land occupied by a first peoples. It suggests that the character of our community should be shaped by that reality and our relationship with those first peoples of the land. The revised Preamble focuses us on these issues and relationships."

4. Proposal to include names of dissenters to the Minute record of the 2006 Assembly (re: the sexuality resolution)

Euan McDonald and Jonathan Button presented their proposal on Tuesday morning:

to amend the minutes of the 11th Assembly to include the decision to record the names of members who dissented from Minute 06.41; and
to include the list of names of those who registered dissent as an appendix to the Minutes of the 11th Assembly.

Initially this received wide support from the Assembly. The Assembly General Secretary spoke in opposition to the proposal and the support dissipated, and after different amendments and ideas were presented, it became clear that the original proposal would not be approved. The eventual decision of the 12th Assembly was to simply acknowledge that a list of the names of dissenters had been attached to an appendix of the minutes of the 11th Assembly.

This matter is worthy of further consideration and an update will be provided in the future when the details are made available.

5. President-elect - information from the UCA Assembly: Sat, July 18, 2009

Reverend Dr Andrew - President-elect by the 12th Triennial Assembly of the Uniting Church (will be installed as President in 2012). Rev. Dr Dutney is presently the Principal of the Uniting College for Leadership and Theology (Adelaide) and an Associate Professor at Flinders University.

"He has been one of the leading interpreters of the history and theology of the Uniting Church, and is widely published in the areas of theology and ethics. Looking to the future, Rev. Dr Dutney said, "Reconciliation is what we're all about. So we must be a church that transcends whatever fractures and divides our world". "It means being a church with a passion for and practical commitment to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. "It means being passionate about sharing the message of God's love for the world, confident that the Gospel still has the power to heal and transform broken lives and societies. "It means being a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, cross-cultural network of congregations and agencies with genuine relationships with people on the edges of Australian society and with Christian communities in Asia, the Pacific and Africa."