Extract of unconfirmed minutes re sexuality
Uniting Church in Australia — the Eighth Assembly
The chairperson of the Task Group, the Rev. Alistair Macrae, and other members of the Task Group, presented the report Uniting Sexuality and Faith to the Assembly.The Assembly agreed:
1. to receive the report;
2. to affirm the joys and responsibilities of God's good gift of sexuality;
3. to reject judgemental attitudes in sexual ethics and witness to the renewing grace of God in this as in all areas of human behaviour;
4. to publish and distribute, through the synods, as soon as possible its decisions regarding the final report of the Task Group on Sexuality;
5. to recognise the importance of responsible sexual behaviour and that all practices of sexuality which are exploitative and demeaning are unacceptable and contradict God's purposes for us;
6. to establish the policy that Uniting Church marriage celebrants help couples seeking marriage to understand marriage as expressed in the marriage statement (see number 9), including discussion of expressing their sexuality as a positive and joyous celebration, and encourage them to undertake marriage preparation programmes where available;
7. to request congregations to encourage Uniting Church couples to take advantage of appropriate relationship enrichment and education programmes;
8. to encourage synods, presbyteries, and congregations to identify suitable resources for individuals, couples and families for professional counselling and support, recognising the special needs of those who have experienced divorce or abuse;
9. to approve the following policy statement on marriage:
Marriage
The Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia declares that:- Marriage for Christians is the freely given consent and commitment in public and before God of a man and a woman to live together for life.
- It is intended to be the mutually faithful lifelong union of a woman and man expressed in every part of their life together.
- In marriage the man and the woman seek to encourage and enrich each other through love and companionship.
- In the marriage service:
- the woman and man make a public covenant with each other and with God, in the company of family and friends;
- the couple affirm their trust in each other and in God;
- the church affirms the sanctity of marriage and nurtures those who pledge themselves to each other in marriage and calls upon all people to support, uphold and nurture those who pledge themselves to each other in marriage;
- where sexual union takes place the partners seek to express mutual delight, pleasure and tenderness, thus strengthening the union of their lives together;
- in marriage, children may be born and are to be brought up in love and security, thus providing a firm foundation for society.
Separation, Divorce and Re-marriage
- An inability to sustain the marriage relationship breaks the commitment to be together for life and may be painful for the couple, the children in their care, as well as for parents, friends and the Church community.
- In cases of the irretrievable breakdown of marriage, the Church acknowledges that divorce may be the only creative and life giving direction to take.
- The Church has the responsibility to:
(a) care for people, including children, through the trauma of the ending of a marriage;
(b) help people, where appropriate, to grieve, repent, grow in self-understanding, receive affirmation, grace and forgiveness;
(c) support them as they hear God's call for new life. - The grace and healing of God are available to people who are divorced, which may free them to marry again.
10. to request the Commission on Liturgy to facilitate the development of pastoral liturgical resources both to recognise the end of a marriage and assist in the process of affirmation, grief, repentance and moving on in God's grace;
11. to request the Standing Committee, following consultation with the Commission on Doctrine, to appoint a group representative of the different perspectives in the Uniting Church in Australia, to prepare and make available material on ways in which the Church understands and uses the Bible, in seeking to live in faithfulness to the Gospel;
12. to recognise that the work of the Task Group on Sexuality is another step in the Church's exploration of issues of sexuality and that Uniting Sexuality and Faith is a resource for study, discussion and dialogue;
13. to acknowledge the diversity of human relationships in which Uniting Church members are involved and the different biblical, theological, ethnic and cultural responses of groups within the Church to these relationships;
14. recognising with sadness its inability at this time to reach further agreement in regard to outstanding matters arising from the report Uniting Sexuality and Faith and recognising also the commitment of the Church to be both multicultural and inclusive, resolves to
(a) commit the Church to a continuing dialogue on the matters as yet unresolved in the same spirit of openness and compassion that has prevailed during the meeting of this Assembly;
(b) acknowledge the disappointment of those who were looking to the Assembly for greater clarity and direction in regard to these matters;
(c) express deep regret to those whose personal pain remains unalleviated by its inability to reach further decisions at this time;
(d) convey to the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress the Assembly's commitment to remain in covenantal relationship and to continue in dialogue about these matters;
(e) note the decisions of the Assembly Standing Committee expressed in resolutions 82.12, 87.46, 91.95.3(a), 92.31 and 94.78.3 and that these policies remain in place;
(f) not proceed with the remaining proposals related to sexuality except for proposal 51; and
(g) request former Presidents Ron Wilson, D'Arcy Wood and Jill Tabart to consider how the Assembly might deal with the outstanding issues relating to sexuality following this Assembly, and report with recommendations to the Standing Committee;
15. to discharge the Task Group on Sexuality with deep appreciation to all its members for their commitment to the journey over six years, for their prayerful and faithful determination to do their task properly, and for their willingness to struggle with the complex issues and diverse views of church members in order to produce a report that could help the church.
Gregor Henderson, Assembly General Secretary, 14 July 1997
Additional note on the Assembly's current policy re homosexual people
Membership of the church
"All baptised Christians belong in Christ's church and are to be welcomed at his table, regardless of their sexual orientation" (part of Assembly Standing Committee minute 87.46). This means that homosexual persons are welcome in the membership of the Uniting Church.
Ordained ministry
"..the sexual orientation of a candidate is not and has not been in itself a bar to ordination. A decision on the suitability of a candidate may of course depend among other things on the manner in which his or her sexuality is expressed." (Assembly Standing Committee minute 82.12). By extension, the same policy applies to the presbytery's oversight of its ministers.A full statement of current policy is available from the Assembly Secretariat on request.