When was uniting church established

Aged care facilities grew rapidly from the s to the s. Facilities were filled as soon as they were built — eventually becoming part of what is now Blue Care. Taking a call from a distressed man who later took his own life, made the late Rev Dr.

Sir Alan Walker determined not to let it happen again. So he started Lifeline, a hour crisis support line. Our family group homes allowed children in need to be looked after by house parents, usually a married couple, so that as far as possible they were able to live as a family. As well, the Methodist Church helped people to leave institutions by establishing an early residential care ministry for people with intellectual disability.

In Queensland, that paved the way for the Synod to draw their many and varied community services together under one banner. People with disability needed new models of care, with the emphasis on building their capability. So we provided options such as community living, with the right supports. The UCA has formal partnership agreements with 32 churches in Asia and the Pacific, representing longstanding mission relationships and newer partnerships of solidarity and joint action.

Another initiative taken in the s was the establishment of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, the semi-autonomous indigenous arm of the church. The Congress leads the church's ministry and mission with indigenous Australians, and is one of the largest indigenous organizations in the country.

The largest national agency of the church is Frontier Services, with its well-known network of patrol ministries some undertaken by plane and community services in the remote "outback" areas of Australia. Much of this work is done in cooperation with the Aboriginal Congress.

These ministries receive government and public support and make the Uniting Church a most visible presence in the outback. The church manages a huge national network of community services, collectively called UnitingCare.

Its agencies are found in every corner of the country and provide employment for over 70, Australians. The Uniting Church follows a largely Presbyterian polity, with local elders and church councils, 50 presbyteries, six synods and one national assembly.

It is committed to the best of Christian scholarship, with six theological colleges and a distance education facility. Training courses have been developed to encourage lay ministry, especially in rural congregations which can no longer support a full-time ministry. Reflecting this change in strategy, in Parkin-Wesley Theological College was restructured to become the Uniting College for Leadership and Theology.

The Uniting Church has a strong tradition of study and action on social justice issues, giving early support to the cause of Aboriginal land rights.

Through the agencies of UnitingCare such as Eldercare, Resthaven, the Helping Hand Centre and St Andrews Hospital, it has a substantial presence in the provision of social welfare services, aged care and private hospitals. Many of the latter are affiliated with a national body, the Assembly of Confessing Congregations.

In the South Australian synod adopted a new structure. Our beliefs are drawn from the Bible and from the Apostles' and Nicene creeds. It affirms the place of ongoing theological, literary, historical and scientific study. The Basis of Union brings together aspects of these writings and traditions and sets out the church's way of living and being.