Faithful Futures is the shared strategic direction for the Uniting Church across Victoria and Tasmania.
It will guide our ministry and mission for the next decade.
Faithful Futures was developed collaboratively through consultation, research, prayer and discernment.
It was adopted at the 2025 Synod Meeting and is being adopted by all presbyteries.
By Andrew Humphries
When Dennis Johnston retired in 2014 and was looking for something to keep him occupied, he stumbled across Biala Ringwood.
“I was listening to the radio one day and an advertisement came on about Biala needing volunteers,” Dennis says.
“I thought ‘wow, this seems something worth getting involved with’.”
Eleven years later, Dennis is Biala Ringwood’s chairperson, ...
By Rev Alistair Macrae
The language of “public theology” is a tautology. Theology, at least in the Uniting Church’s account of it, is inherently public. According to the Uniting Church’s Basis of Union, God’s big project is the renewal of the whole creation, not only individual souls. To regard ...
By Rev Will Nicholas
“Where two or more gather, in cosplay or community, there is church.”
The Sonderverse arrived at PAX Australia 2025 not as tourists, but as pilgrims.
More than a dozen members of our ever-growing digital congregation – streamers, gamers, clergy, and chaotic good disciples of play – came together to create what we call intentional community inside the convention floor.
By Andrew Humphries
After a long career in the legal profession, and then a stint driving buses, Peter Byrne could have been forgiven for winding down a bit when he hit his late 50s.
Instead, his thoughts turned towards an opportunity to pursue something he had been thinking about for a long time, a pursuit which led him to Pilgrim ...
By Marina Williams
When groups of men and women arrive from Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Timor-Leste and Kiribati to work in Tasmania’s fields, orchards and processing plants, they bring with them far more than labour.
Their presence, songs and stories leave a lasting imprint on local communities, and at the heart of this exchange is Taua Ritiata.
By Marina Williams
When Junior Manase gathers Samoan Uniting Church members in Victoria for a weekend workshop, the atmosphere is alive with conversation, storytelling and reflection.
For Junior, a non-placement Samoan Ministry Pastor at St Stephens in Keilor, these gatherings are far more than training sessions.
They represent a long-held vision coming to life – one where Samoan leaders can ...
By Mark Zirnsak
The Uniting Church in Australia has understood that the Gospel calls us to seek the wellbeing and flourishing of all people and the natural environment.
Having a roof over your head is essential to wellbeing and flourishing. Housing impacts the ability of people to participate in their community. Access to jobs, education, and health care services is ...
Each year, Advent begins not with noise but with a small light.
A single candle flickers in the dimness, while the world outside hums with traffic, headlines, conflict and exhaustion. Yet this fragile light insists on hope. It says, “There is still room for peace. There is still room for faith”.
By Andrew Humphries
When Banyule Network of Uniting Churches members decided to sit down and investigate new ways of engaging with the community, inspiration came from an unlikely source.
It meant some thinking outside of the box had to take place, but Mission Development Facilitator David Landis-Morse is so glad that it did.
Croydon Uniting Church
Funding from the Synod Emissions Reduction Fund was critical in enabling the congregation to install solar panels sooner than anticipated.
While we had long held a desire for such a project, this funding helped accelerate it.
We worked with Senior Social Justice Advocate Mark Zirnsak to choose an ethically produced system, manufactured without slave or forced ...
By Marina Williams
In the winter of 2021, Sydney’s Covid-19 lockdown laid bare a stark divide.
Families in disadvantaged suburbs managed home schooling while holding low-paid essential jobs, yet students at elite schools were granted exemptions for ski camps and outdoor education.
At the same time, wealthy travellers bypassed quarantine on private jets while thousands of Australians remained stranded ...