Specified Ministries Task Group

3. That the terms of reference of the Task Group shall include those matters raised by Proposals 24, 25, 33 and 61 and any consequent missional implications.

4. To request the Standing Committee to establish a timeline for the Task Group with a view to a report and recommendations being brought to the 11th Assembly.

5. Refer Proposals 51 and 78 to the Standing Committee for its information.

24 MINISTRY OF YOUTH WORKER (Queensland Synod)

That the Assembly:

1. request the Standing Committee to appoint a Task Group

(a) to undertake a reassessment of ministry in the Uniting Church in Australia;

(b) in order to give consideration to the possibility of incorporating those persons presently candidating for, and placed within, the specified ministry of youth worker into one of the existing ordained ministries;

(c) that includes lay and ordained members and at least one member of each of the specified ministries included in the scope of this work

2. establishes the following terms of reference for the task group

(a) to clarify the relationships between the various ministries of Word, Deacon, Youth Worker, Lay Pastor and Community Minister;

(b) to recommend ways in which it might be possible to facilitate the transfer of persons in the specified ministry of Youth Worker, and candidates, into the existing ordained ministries;

(d) in undertaking its task the task group shall refer to the following documents, but not be limited to

the report on Ministry in the Uniting Church in Australia 1991

the report Ordination and Ministry in the Uniting Church 1994

the Constitution and Regulations of the Uniting Church in Australia 2001

the Queensland Synod discussion paper Reconsideration of the Ministry of
Those Called to Work with Children, Young People and Their Families 2002

3. requests the task group to report to the Standing Committee no later than July 2005 with a view to the Standing Committee bringing proposals to the Eleventh Assembly.

25 REVIEW OF COMMUNITY MINISTRY (Sydney Presbytery)

That the Assembly:

a) appoint a Task Group to collect information about, and review the ministry of Community Ministry;

b) refer the appointment of the members of the Task Group to the Assembly Standing Committee;

c) determine that at least two of the members of the Task Group are commissioned Community Ministers, with no more than one from any particular Synod;

d) determine that the review should consider the following matters, but remain open to further matters arising from the consultation:

· Present roles of commissioned community ministers, and conditions of appointment, including financial remuneration (if applicable);

· Type of courses required to be undertaken by candidates for community ministry

· Future training needed in relation to Roles and responsibility

· Authorisation for Presiding at the Sacraments (and relation to training)

· Authorisation for marriage celebration

· The relationship of provisional candidature to the Period of Discernment

· The two services for recognition of this ministry

· Name of the ministry

· The relationship of the Community Minister to a Minister in placement (where there is a placement in the congregation or community in which the Community Minister serves)

e) bring a report to the 11th Assembly with any recommendation for action

33 LAY PRESIDENCY AND ECUMENICAL IMPLICATIONS (Christian Unity Working Group)

That the Assembly recognising, that along with many other churches, the Uniting Church needs to address how it will most faithfully provide ministry and support to congregations and faith communities in rural and new mission areas, and that when the current Assembly policy on Lay Presidency at the Eucharist is not implemented strictly it creates difficulties in some ecumenical relationships

a) affirm for the time being the current Assembly policy on Lay Presidency and call on all Presbyteries to apply the guidelines strictly;

b) request the Standing Committee to appoint a broad based task group (including representatives of the CUWG, the MEC and Theology and Discipleship) to arrange a major consultation with the following aims:

(i) exploration and assessment of the ecumenical implications of the current practice of lay presidency at the Eucharist;

(ii) consideration of the variety of ways in which it may be possible to provide ecumenically recognised ministry to small rural congregations, faith communities and new congregations in developing areas;

(iii) examination of the implications of the Uniting Church’s understanding of ministry and ordination, and its place of the Uniting Church within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.(See ‘The Basis of Union’ #2)

c) request the task group to report to the Standing Committee by November 2004 with any proposals for further work or action that arise from the consultation.

61 FUTURE OF MINISTRY (Queensland Synod)

That the Assembly resolve: (a) to note the findings of the Queensland research from the Future of Ministry Task Group Report that:

(i) in the Queensland Synod there is already a shortage of ministers to meet the needs of congregations and other placements requiring people trained and ordained/specified for UCA ministry;

(ii) the current cohort of ministers is ageing and projections indicate that shortages will increase dramatically into the foreseeable future;

(iii) there are insufficient candidates offering and currently in training to fill the current and projected vacancies;

(iv) the church has been consistently unsuccessful in recruiting younger people as candidates for ministry;

(b) to request the Ministerial Education Commission (MEC) to convene a working group to give consideration to ways in which the rules for training people for the specified ministries, and the application of those rules, restricts the church in being able to recruit sufficient and younger people to candidate for the specified ministries;

(i) the increased complexity of candidating process from Period of Discernment through to ordination/commissioning;

(ii) the amount of initial training required for ordained/specified ministries;

(iii) the social and economic issues that deter potential candidates from offering for ministry in the church;

(iv) the perceptions of ministry and training that inhibit younger candidates from offering for ministry in the church;

(v) the need for more flexible wording for regulation 2.2.2(c);

(d) to determine that more than half of the working group members will be drawn from outside the membership of the Ministerial Education Commission and that the working group will include:

(i) at least one person under the age of 30;

(ii) at least one member of the Queensland "Future of Ministry Task Group"; and

(iii) people identified by the Commission with appropriate skills and experience to resource the work of the group.

39 LAY PASTOR – TITLE (Queensland Synod)

The Assembly resolved: to refer proposal 38 to the Task Group on Specified Ministries:

Proposal 38: That the Assembly authorise the Standing Committee, on the advice of the Legal Reference Committee, to amend the Constitution and Regulations in order to change the designation “Lay Pastor” to “Pastor”.

Proposal 51

That the Assembly resolve: that proposal 33 be amended by the inclusion of the Church Polity Reference Committee among those bodies named in sub-section (b).

Proposal 78

That the Assembly resolve: to amend Proposal 33 as follows:

(a) amend clause (a) by the deletion of crossed-out words and the addition of underlined words so that it reads:

(a) affirm for the time being the current Assembly policy on Lay Presidency and call on all Presbyteries to apply the Assembly guidelines on Lay Presidency at the Sacraments strictly.

b) amend clause (b) to include representatives of Rural Ministry Task Groups, and at least two persons who are authorized Lay Presiders.

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