15th Assembly theme announced

Posted Feb  7, 2018 in News

Dr Deidre Palmer, the President-Elect of the Uniting Church in Australia and the Ex-Moderator of the Uniting Church SA, recently announced the theme for the 15^th Assembly – Abundant Grace, Liberating Hope. Deidre explains why she chose this theme for the 15^th Triennial Assembly meeting and her three year term as President.

As the Uniting Church, we have been greatly blessed by the abundant grace of God, calling us into being, and shaping our life and mission.

For the 15th Assembly and the following three years, this theme, “Abundant Grace, Liberating Hope” invites us to live by God’s abundant grace – reflecting God’s generous and overflowing love, in our relationships with one another, in our local community contexts, and in our relationships in the wider world.

In a time where we could focus on scarcity – fewer people and less financial resources – God’s gift of abundant grace calls us to be a people who share our gifts, resources, time and energy generously.

In a time where our world is overshadowed by violence, hatred and suspicion of the other, the Church is called to live an alternative narrative of hope, reconciliation and love.

As the Church, God’s grace at work in us liberates hope – communally, personally, in our society and in our world. We see God’s grace most fully expressed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ life and ministry, we see God’s hope for us and all creation expressed in the proclamation of the Reign of God. As the Body of Christ, the Spirit opens our eyes to God’s deep desire for our world, and we are led toward horizons of hope that expand our imagination into Spirit led ways of being and living that we had not thought possible!

“Liberating Hope” is an action of God in us, and it is a call for us to participate in God’s mission in the world. Liberation movements around the world have been inspired by the Gospel of Christ, to be communities of resistance and protest in the face of injustice and inequality.

The Uniting Church has been shaped by Christ’s call to be bearers of God’s justice, compassion, healing and hope in our world. God has nurtured in us a dis-ease with “business as usual” (Letty M. Russell) when that “business as usual” is unjust, diminishing of people’s lives, or exploiting the life of our planet.

In the next Triennium, this theme highlights for us Christ’s call to be a church that embodies God’s abundant grace, compassion and love – a Church that is a bearer of Christ’s hope and light in the midst of despair and darkness. The overflowing of God’s abundant grace through us will be seen as we create communities and contribute to a world, where people experience God’s good news of reconciling love, healing and hope.

This is a generative theme – one that arises from our present context and captures our passionate commitment as a Church to being a unified, diverse, intergenerational, multicultural, compassionate and reconciling Christian community.

This reflection was originally published on the 15^th Triennial Assembly meeting website here. Assembly have informed New Times that a video about the theme will also be prepared and published in the coming weeks.

The 15^th Triennial Assembly meeting will be held in Melbourne from 8-14 July, 2018.

Pictured: President-Elect Dr Deidre Palmer announcing the 15^th Assembly theme at the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress conference in Geelong in January 2018. Photo taken by Matt Pulford, Uniting Church in Australia Assembly.

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