As I have been pondering and acting on these thoughts I have been thinking more deeply on the question of “Who are we?” “What do we want to convey to new people are our core values and ways of being?” “How do we both tell and engage with people about and help them to enter into this new community?”

Yet there is also another more difficult and unsettling question.” How will we be changed by these newcomers?”

In our life as a Christian community (or should that be ‘lives as Christian communities?”) we encounter new people all the time. Is our response to always assume that they should fit in with us and accommodate themselves to who we are? Or do we as consciously open ourselves to the possibility that new people might be a gift of renewal and insight and new life for us? – if we will but create the spaces and ways for that to happen.

I expect that this is a challenge for us all from time to time. In particular I am aware that people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities that are part of the Uniting Church not only want to be accommodated by us but also to share with us their life in ways that might be transforming for us. Are we up for that kind of risk?

Rev Macrae said ‘The Uniting Church has been consistent in its advocacy for a more humane approach to asylum seekers. While we oppose offshore detention strongly, and recognising that it will be there for the foreseeable future, we need to match our advocacy with a demonstration of pastoral care and spiritual support of those detained or working in these dreadful places’.

Last year Rev Macrae and the Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Rev Dr Roger Herft, visited Christmas Island.

The debate over asylum seekers continues to polarise politics and Australian society. The rhetoric has been charged on both sides but the real victims of the politicking have been the asylum seekers themselves.

Right now people wait in limbo in detention on Christmas Island and other places, waiting to hear if they can pursue a new life in Australia or if they must go back ‘where they came from’. In the majority cases, that means places of violence, conflict and uncertainty.

The mental health toll of prolonged mandatory detention can be devastating and there are numerous reported cases of self-harm, mental illness and even suicides in Australia’s detention centres.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman report on Christmas Island found that there are too many people being detained at the Christmas Island immigration detention facilities and the current scale of operations on the geographically remote island are not sustainable.

The operational capacity of the Detention Centre is 744, yet numbers have fluctuated above 2600 in 2011 – 2000 more than what the facilities were designed for.

The Uniting Church in Australia, together with the Anglican Diocese of Perth is undertaking to send a Chaplain to Christmas Island to provide pastoral support for detainees. The Chaplain would be trained in sensitivity to multi-cultural and multi-faith realities and respect for clients’ spiritual or religious preferences.

Providing this spiritual support will show compassion, love and support for detainees and staff on Christmas Island. And hopefully, if the Appeal is successful, provide similar ministry in other detention facilities as well.

Please support this important work and show care for those in Christmas Island by helping to send a Chaplain to Christmas Island.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

Peace is a concept that is everywhere and nowhere in our world. In a single news bulletin pop stars flash the peace sign, warring nations are engaged in peace talks and peaceful protesters gather in places of conflict.

But we look behind the images and notice that the pop star abuses drugs, the peace talks have failed once again and violence is resuming, the 'peaceful' protestors are spitting and screaming and the police are responding brutally. This is not a peaceful world. We are not at peace, with ourselves or with each other. We cry 'peace, peace, but there is no peace'.

What would a peaceful society look like? How do we build it? What would happen if we worked to transform our swords into pruning hooks; our instruments of destruction into tools of fruitfulness?

Click here to read the full message from the president.

We’d love to let people know of all the different ways people are creating stepping stones of reconciliation that people can cross to come together in harmony.

Whether it is a simple BBQ together or a “Walking on Country” experience, we’d love to know about it. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to let us know that you're doing and ask us to list it as a Stepping Stone event! Your event might inspire others to try the same sort of thing with their peoples.

“It was a complete and utter surprise,” said a humble Ms Charlesworth. “I am very happy, but I couldn’t have done it without everyone else in our team.”

Ms Charlesworth works with the Frontier Services NT Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory Service (DBMAS) providing clinical support, assessment, advice and education to carers and those with dementia.

The award recognised Ms Charlesworth’s dedication and enthusiasm to look for innovative ways to improve outcomes for people who have dementia or who care for a person with dementia.

Ms Charlesworth’s nomination highlighted her efforts to learn Yolngu Matha, a local Indigenous language so she can better communicate with clients in East Arnhem Land.

“Learning the language is a way to connect with people and with dementia it is really important to make that connection,” she said.

Ms Charlesworth has been involved in developing specific resources for carers of people with dementia. Requests for the resources have come from across the country.

She has also completed a Bachelor of Behavioural Science, a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and studies in Aromatherapy to build on her skills.

The annual HESTA and ACSA Awards recognise excellence in contributions to improving quality of life for older people, people with disabilities and their carers.

Ms Charlesworth won the SA and NT Aged and Community Services Employee Award in June. She was selected from all the state winners for the national award.

Still on a high from receiving the accolade, Ms Charlesworth said it was an unusual feeling to be acknowledged for something which she considered to be part of her everyday work.

“What we do, we do naturally. Every day is different and we are not sure what challenges we are going to have, but we do it because we love it.”

“It’s not work, it’s what we do.”

“Discerning the work of the Holy Spirit’ is one current topic, offering guidance to church members and councils. When the church is facing new questions, and where there is disagreement, how are we to know that we are listening to the Holy Spirit, and not simply mimicking the ‘spirit of the age’? The paper will be made available soon, and will be translated into a variety of languages. Secondly, a discussion paper is being developed under the title, ‘What does it mean to be Church?’ prompted by the debate about the relationship of agencies to the wider church. The range of Doc.bytes is being expanded: current ones being developed are on ‘Worship’ and ‘Conversion’.

See the Doctrine webpage for other material.

Beginning the first Sunday of the month, ‘Interfaith September Sunday’, congregations were invited to select an activity to complete throughout the month. This might be as simple as completing a four-part book study or as ambitious as hosting an interfaith festival. Resources for several potential activities are still available on the Relations with Other Faiths website. Throughout the month, congregations were taken on a journey of reflection across the anniversary of September 11, the International Day of Peace, and how these themes relate to interfaith relations. The month culminated in congregations bringing their chosen activity to life on ‘Interfaith Community Sunday’; when neighbours became friends and a deepened understanding of each other blossomed.

If you would like to access the resources and conduct an interfaith exploration at any time. You will find on the relations with other faiths website:

• Interfaith September resources for ministry agents
• Resources for worship, themed for each Sunday throughout the month
• A ‘tool box’ to assist congregations with their chosen activity
• A DVD to facilitate interfaith engagement

Learn more here.

As part of a network of Australian faith-based NGO’s, UnitingWorld is responding to the crisis to support relief efforts at the Dadaab and Kakuma Refugee camps located in Kenya. These camps are receiving over 1,300 people daily and the struggle to provide immediate relief is constant. The camp was originally created to accommodate 90,000, but with over 400,000 now residing in or around it, there is great strain on basic necessities like water, sanitation and food distribution. Please consider supporting relief work. For more information, please visit here.

UnitingWorld facilitates relationships between church partners who request assistance and volunteers who are willing to work and experience the life of partners in practical ways.

A range of exciting new placements are now displayed on the UnitingWorld website and there are opportunities for anyone – young or old, skilled or unskilled!

Why not consider volunteering for a time. We need people who want to share the hope of Christ and learn more of what He is doing in His world. Our primary need is for people who will live in communities, sharing lives in a real, day-to-day way. Please visit the UnitingWorld's website here.

I Was in Prison and You Visited Me includes many alarming facts about prisons in Australia, for example that Indigenous people who comprise about 3% of the Australian population make up 26% of the total prison population and that 25% of the Victorian prison population comes from 14 postcodes (out of 647). The resource also includes personal accounts of people serving ministries within prisons and suggests ways to advocate for a more just society.

Social Justice Sunday material can be used anytime throughout the year.

Printed copies. . Please contact your Synod office or UnitingJustice Australia by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone (02) 8267 4236. They are also available on the NCCA website.

Building on the Uniting Church’s own history and recent experience in the adoption of a revised Preamble for our own Constitution, we are eager to tell the Uniting Church story to the Government appointed High Level Panel as they consider the options for change to Australia’s Constitution. Many Uniting Church members have already attended the Panel’s ‘You Me Unity’ consultations being held around the country. Traditionally, Australians have been reluctant to alter the Constitution – of the 44 referendums held to date, only 8 have been passed. We are confident, however, that as a nation we are ready to move closer to genuine reconciliation with Indigenous Australians, and enshrining the important and unique contributions that our First People have made is an important step in that process. The Assembly submission will be made available on a number of Assembly websites.

The President and General Secretary wrote to all Labor MPs and Senators expressing the deep concern of the Uniting Church about these amendments, which were announced on Friday 16th September. The proposed amendments, which would also invest in the Immigration Minister unfettered power to send asylum seekers offshore to have their claims for refugee status assessed, are a blatant breach of our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and its Protocol and undermine the fundamental human right to seek asylum. We also released a media statement emphasising our position, and utilised social media tools (such as Twitter) to communicate information regarding this important issue to as many people as possible. Rev. Elenie Poulos, the National Director, also appeared live on television on ABC News 24 Breakfast, being interviewed by Virginia Trioli about the call by over 230 church and community groups for onshore processing.

We took the opportunity to reiterate our tremendous disappointment that the Government was considering Manus Island (and the Opposition considering Nauru) as possible destinations for warehousing asylum seekers and refugees – a devastating development that threatens not only Australia’s obligations under the relevant international treaties, but also stands in stark contrast to the important Christian tradition of providing hospitality to strangers and expressing in word and deed God's compassion and love for all who are uprooted and dispossessed.

This relationship – based on mutuality and interdependence – is threatened by wilful human destruction. Of additional concern to us and to UnitingCare, with whom we worked on the submission, is the protection of the vulnerable members of our society in relation to increase household costs. We will continue to advocate strongly for a reduction in dangerous pollution and adequate assistance package for low-income earners to ensure that when a carbon price is introduced, a safety net is already in place.