It is a condition for the use of this material that if any portion of the statement is reproduced then the whole statement is to be used in full. This is a Congress request.

UAICC Statement to the 11th Assembly

(Delivered during the afternoon session on 9 July of the 11th Assembly)

We the UAICC have met to discuss the matters before us regarding leadership in the Uniting Church.

We strongly believe that we have already dealt with this issue carefully and respectfully, and our position is stated clearly in the Booklet: ‘Sexuality and Leadership’.

This is still our position and we will remain open to the spirit to lead us and guide us.

The Congress then referred to its statement that appeared in “Sexuality and Leadership”. This is the material that appears immediately below.

Statement by the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress in relation to Proposal 84

“The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) believes it is called by God, through the power of His Creator Spirit to witness to the saving grace of God offered to His people through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that we are called to be His faithful servants, not only to Indigenous Australians, but to all people.

He has formed and fashioned our lands and bestowed upon us our law and culture from the beginning of time. We are created in His image.

He continues to speak to us through our cultures and languages and guides and empowers us through the Spirit of the Risen One.

Like all Christians, whatever our background, the Gospel challenges us – our cultural heritage and traditions, our law and community life.

As subjects of God’s grace, we seek to conform to His will for our lives and be transformed in all that we are and do through repentance and faith.

From the perspective of our own spirituality, our cultural heritage and Christian understandings, we do not believe that homosexual relationships and practices are right or Godly. We are unable to find in the Bible or in our own law any justification for homosexuality.

We are therefore opposed to any decision of the Assembly or any other council of the Church that condones such relationships or practices. We cannot agree with this standard of behaviour.

For cultural reasons it is difficult for many of us even to discuss such matters in public and in mixed gender settings. The debate that the Church is now conducting on homosexuality is one that is very difficult for many of us to participate in.
We believe that membership into the body of Christ’s people is open to everyone, without qualification. We do not wish to exclude people on the basis of their sexual orientation. Nor do we wish in anyway to vilify or unjustly treat people in homosexual relationships.

However, as Indigenous Christians, we do not believe that homosexual behaviour is an acceptable moral standard in the leadership of our Church and the Congress.

The following day (at the 10th Assembly in 2003) members of the Congress sought to provide further clarification on their position, and to register their concern that the Congress had not been properly heard by the Assembly. They then made the following comments which further explain their position on this issue.

There are clear cultural and biblical imperatives why we do not support the ordination of homosexual ministers. In an Aboriginal child’s upbringing, their attitudes to these matters are ingrained in their psyche through the teachings of their mother as they sit around the fire.

The fire’s warmth burns upon our lips and face the moral teachings that are passed on from one generation to the next. In our cultural traditions, homosexuality is unacceptable. Where does a nation come from? It is birthed through the act of procreation. Strong taboos surround homosexual practices in our traditional cultures and any public discussion of these matters.

Our Biblical understandings affirm our own cultural beliefs on this issue. Whilst we have learned that the Gospel challenges our culture and heritage in different ways, we believe in this case that the Gospel and our law are in agreement.

Our experience of the church in the past, when it has enacted its doctrine on our culture and community life, has often been destructive, putting in jeopardy our cohesive social relationships, relationships to land and our ability to be independent and self-sufficient. For example, this has happened in relation to our traditional marriage systems.

We consider that the acceptance by the Church of same sex relationships will also eventually lead to the Church’s recognition of same sex marriages and the acceptance of the use of bio-technology to enable gay and lesbian couples to have children.

Whilst part of the Church insists that there is one standard that says celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage, the acceptance of homosexual relationships seems to us to make the Church have a double standard – a double standard that we find difficult to accept.

We acknowledge that the Uniting Church has been a strong advocate and supporter of the Congress. However, the Church’s acceptance of the rights of homosexual people to be ordained places it in opposition to the Congress on this matter. It appears to us that the empowerment of one group has been at the expense of disempowering the other. For the Congress, this simply reinforces our sense of marginality in the Church and in the Australian society generally. We continue to be dominated by values, economy and political power of western society.
The Church’s decision also puts us in a position where we are seen to be acting discriminately against others and therefore being liable to persecution and the likelihood of prosecution.

The UAICC refuses to accept that the ordination of people living in homosexual relations is right.”

Having reminded the members of the 11th Assembly of their stated position the Congress then continued with the following statement to the 11th Assembly.

As the Uniting Church has respected the rights of the UAICC, Congress respects the rights of the Uniting Church to embrace the rights of the various groups and their members within the church, and their designated roles and responsibilities.

The Congress will continue to live within the fellowship and diversity of the Uniting Church. We will continue to struggle for unity and with wisdom carry out Christ’s mission.

It is a condition for the use of this material that if any portion of the statement is reproduced then the whole statement is to be used in full. This is a Congress request.