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Step forward in Anglican-Uniting Church talks
at 12^th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia 

The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia has taken a small but significant step towards working more closely with the Uniting Church in Australia. 

The General Synod, meeting in Brisbane for the first time from July 21 to 27, has passed a motion, which read as follows: 

“That this General Synod receive the report entitled “For the Sake of the Gospel”; welcome the presentation on the essentials of faith and ministry as contained in the report in section 4 to 6; refers it to the Doctrine Panel and the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Ecumenical Relations; resolves to explore a formal covenant of association with the Uniting Church in Australia and requests the Standing Committee bring a report to the next General Synod on the above matters and after further study at all levels of our church.” 

Chair of the joint Anglican-Uniting Church group which wrote the report, Bishop Administrator of Brisbane, Richard Appleby, said it was the first time the churches had acknowledged the essentials of faith and ministry that the two churches had in common. 

“We can recognise in each of our churches the presence of the one holy, catholic and apostolic church of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Appleby said. “We have never done that before.” 

“The proposal is modest and cautious, but is of great significance. It is starkly realistic and acknowledges the differences between our two churches.” 

He said the main differences included the presence of bishops in the Anglican but not the Uniting Church, deacons being able to preside at Holy Communion in the Uniting Church but not in the Anglican Church, and ordination by bishops in the Anglican Church and by presbyteries in the Uniting Church. 

General Synod Ecumenical Working Group chair and Bishop of Grafton, Philip Huggins, told the Synod if divisions continued it would make the Gospel harder to hear. 

“Our nation needs the modelling of churches resolving historical differences and moving forward to serve the nation,” Bishop Huggins said. 

The report, “For the Sake of the Gospel” has recommended that the formal covenant, or agreement, provide for:

a) The acceptance of Anglican priests in Uniting Church placements and in ecumenical ministries where the Uniting Church has the right of appointment.

b) The acceptance of Uniting Church Ministers of the Word in Anglican appointments such as ecumenical ministries and co-operating parishes where the Anglican Church has right of appointment.

c) The acceptance of Uniting Church deacons in Anglican diaconal appointments. Such appointments shall not include the authority to preside at the Eucharist (Holy Communion).

d) The acceptance of Anglican deacons in Uniting Church placements. Anglican deacons shall not preside at the Eucharist. 

The General Synod cannot enter into a covenant of association without consulting with other churches in the worldwide Anglican Church. Such an agreement would also need approval by individual dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. 

The full report can be found at www.anglican.org.au/generalsynod2001 

The text of all resolutions and the voting result will be posted on the website.