SERVICE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE MISSION TEAM
“Turning good will from a spark to a flame!”
The Service and Social Justice Mission Team was formed to bring together and coordinate the disparate interests and resources of our congregations, providing a forum for exchanging ideas, and a central facility for accessing resources.
Our Mission
The Uniting Church seeks to bring God’s vision of a reconciled world into the present, to reflect God’s love for everyone, work for justice and peace and follow the example and teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught what it means to love your neighbour and your enemy, called on his disciples to heal the sick and give to the poor, and challenged the systems and structures of oppression in his society. In all of this, we are called to act with integrity, ensuring that our words and our deeds are aligned.
In 1977 the inaugural Assembly’s Statement to the Nation committed the Uniting Church to engage in public life as it sought to live out the gospel in the world:
A Christian responsibility to society has always been regarded as fundamental to the mission of the Church. In the Uniting Church our response to the Christian gospel will continue to involve us in social and national affairs.
This Statement, based in our deeply rooted understandings of the mission of God in the world and our call to discipleship, reflects a significant aspect of the Uniting Church ethos and identity:
We affirm our eagerness to uphold basic Christian values and principles, such as the importance of every human being, the need for integrity in public life, the proclamation of truth and justice, the rights for each citizen to participate in decision-making in the community, religious liberty and personal dignity, and a concern for the welfare of the whole human race.
Many of our members are engaged in community work within the Parish and beyond. This Mission Team cannot physically support or even report adequately on these activities, but we hope to provide a forum for defining Parish priorities, focussing interest and resources on specific projects, liaising with other groups, and fostering communications and education. We believe that this is a vital imperative in our parish life – “turning our good will from a spark to a flame”!
For a statement of our interpretation of this mission, see our Eco Justice Charter.
For the Uniting Church’s social justice programmes, see http://www.unitingjustice.org.au
For Uniting Justice News see http://www.unitingjustice.org.au/news
For more details on this mission, contact the Contact the Parish office.
(See also the submenu-items under 'Social Justice').
