"We had almost 50 overseas guests at the assembly," James said. "There have been major political things happening in our region, particularly in Indonesia, but also the Solomon Islands and Fiji, as well as in Southern Sudan.

"We had people from those places with us. They spoke to us about what was happening to their people. This had a very big effect on the assembly."

• Sexuality: James said this wider view of the church had, for example, affected the sexuality debate. People involved in the debate told him afterwards they had been "very heavily influenced by the larger context in which we found ourselves".

"It sharpened their mind because they saw the whole issue in the perspective of the wider church," he said.

James also feels the Adelaide assembly was one "in which we did our own work rather than having the agenda set for us".

"It was very much an outward looking assembly," he said. "And it was very much the Uniting Church being itself. The Uniting Church is best known for external things, the things it does in interaction with the community."

James said there is a strong desire that the Uniting Church does not debate sexuality for another three years, and perhaps for another six years. "Of course, each assembly has the right to set its own agenda," he said. "But the church is utterly determined to remain part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. It’s prepared to push the boundaries, but not to break them."

James said the church’s position now is really the same as at the end of the 1997 assembly in Perth.

"The style of the debate was important," he said. "All the overseas guests — particularly those from places where a similar debate has been held, like New Zealand, Scotland and England — said that they could hardly believe that we were able to deal with such a contentious issue so openly, honestly and civilly. They said that was a unique Australian gift."

• Strategic planning: James said the strategic planning unit (SPU) report raised quite a debate. "That debate was a bit hard for the people who presented the SPU report to deal with —but it made people think a lot. We’re looking at new and innovative ways of each congregation being involved in local mission — mission in the broader sense of the term — within their community.

"What has been passed is important. Even more important is that the whole discussion has set up a new mindset for the church. It’s a mindset of not being concerned so much with internal domestic issues but with looking outwards."

• Reconciliation: James said the assembly’s decisions about covenanting and reconciliation with Indigenous people were "pretty radical".

"It’s more than simply walking further down the road to reconciliation, using the roadmap produced by the Reconciliation Council," he said. "We want to go much further than that. We envisage a treaty which sets a framework for the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of this country.

"It was significant that the Aboriginal people took part so seriously in the debate on sexuality. They were given a special place to do that. I think that they acted extremely responsibly in providing their material, and that material was taken very seriously."

• The consensus process: Some people at assembly were frustrated that the consensus process is so slow. "We had to move to voting a number of times," James said. "And it has to be said that the formal system is quicker. However, the consensus process was very helpful in the sexuality debate and in a number of other debates as well.

"It is cumbersome. It is slow. There’s no question about that. It's slow because one is trying to take account of minorities.

"We can’t have it both ways. We can’t hear all voices, and take an interest in minorities, and also have speed.

"The formal system is the best way to have speed. You suddenly cut the debate off, have a simple vote and, once you get 51 per cent, or whatever figure is set, it is settled. But you also get a large percentage of people who feel they have not been heard and find it hard to live with the decisions.

"Consensus is worth doing. It fits in with the Uniting Church ethos, with a high degree of personal and individual responsibility.

"I think the real test will be a year or 18 months down the track. If the decisions stick well, and if people own them and actually implement them, the time spent was worth it."

• The teaching ministry of the church: "We have a whole new generation of people who have come into Christianity from quite outside it," James said. "And perhaps teaching has not been given the attention it should.

"The Uniting Church ethos puts a high degree of personal responsibility on each individual. People can’t exercise that responsibility — in terms of their individual faith and of their interaction in the community —unless they’re educated. There needs to be a very intentional degree of teaching."

James aid that many Uniting Church lay people have studied for diplomas, bachelor and masters degrees in theology. "But this is a relatively small group of highly motivated people," he said. "The thing has to be broadened a lot. And we have a lot of resources in terms of our colleges, including Coolamon College for distance education. There’s a strong emphasis on making the best use of the facilities we have — and making teaching more congregational based."

• Ecumenism:. "We passed a declaration of understanding with the Lutheran Church," James said. "It will now go on to the Lutheran Church. This is a step towards union — perhaps a first step but certainly a step along the way.

During the assembly James interviewed Archbishop Michael Putney, of Brisbane, chairperson of the Australian Roman Catholic bishops’ committee for ecumenical and inter-faith relations.

"I asked him, why ecumenism, why dialogue? He said he could not be a Christian without ecumenism, without dialogue. The fact that he is a Christian means that he has to be concerned about the Uniting Church. He has to engage in dialogue because the church is broken. He has to deal with that.

"I asked, what have been the achievements? How far have we got? He said we there had been enormous achievements in the last 20 years, in both practical ways and in dialogue. He also said it isn’t enough to engage in practical projects, like the one here in South Australia, Seaford. That’s important. But you have to do the hard task of dialogue work. That really does bear fruit. Things like Seaford only happen if that hard work has taken place.

"Michael also pointed to our inter-church families document— what we used to called mixed marriages — to the work we’re doing together in the bush, and to the National Council of Churches where, for the first time, the Protestant and Catholic churches are engaging in mission together."

• Partnership agreements with other churches: During the assembly the Uniting Church entered into partnership agreements with four churches — the Protestant Church of the Cook Islands and three Indonesian churches, the church of the Minahasa in North Sulawesi, with the two Protestant churches of the Malukus, Ambon and Halmahera.

"These are very significant agreements," James said. "For example, the churches in Indonesia are under great pressure. All hell has broken out in Ambon and Halmahera. It’s an appalling situation.

"They aren’t ecclesiastical tourism agreements. They’re a pledge of support. The two Maluku agreements could cost us dear."

• Refugees and persecution: There was also a strong emphasis on refugees and the plight of persecuted Christians. "We passed significant resolutions on Sudan," he said. "In Southern Sudan Christianity is in danger of being wiped out by the activities of a regime which is highly motivated by Islam. We heard from people from Southern Sudan who very eloquently explained their situation to us. Their speeches were very well received because the people were so articulate and what they said was so moving.

"We also had with us people from the Malukus, where the situation of Christians is very similar. In both places Christianity is facing annihilation.

"On the Saturday afternoon after the assembly I preached at a service in the Port Adelaide Mission where the Ambonese lit candles in memory of those who had died. It was a most moving service. In some cases it will be the only memorial service these people will have. In many cases their bodies have not been recovered. And in this tragic situation it is almost impossible to hold a memorial service in Ambon itself. So we held a memorial service in Maluku in Adelaide. It was a very emotional time.

• Christians in trauma: James said the emphasis on Christians who were suffering for their faith was distressing. "Strangely it was liberating, as well," he said.

He said that suffering and persecution have always been part of the church’s history. "When we look, for example, at the first church council in Jerusalem in 49 AD, do we realise that perhaps the people attending the council had been traumatised themselves? After all, people like Paul and Peter had seen immense suffering. Perhaps we don’t always remember that the early church was constantly in trauma as it carried out its early developments of its theology and its Christology, as it tried to understand itself, as it tried to organise.

"The New Testament is a book of trauma. The very basis of Christianity is bloody."

New Times, SA (August, 2000)