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17th ASSEMBLY
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May 13, 2026

By Rev Greer Hudson

Responding to both our commitment to being a loving, safe and inclusive Church and the long history of struggle and marginalization of LGBTIQA+ members within the UCA, and guided by resolutions from the 15th,16th and 17th Assemblies, the Assembly Standing Committee resolved to form an Assembly Circle of Interest for LGBTIQA+ members and allies to work together to help the church live out this call of Christ to love and welcome all with dignity and respect. This Assembly Pride Circle met for their first face to face meeting in Sydney last weekend.
 
We began by worshipping together in the Pitt Street Uniting Church on the Friday night - an apt location given the historical support that Pitt St has given to the LGBTQIA+ movement over the years. Across the weekend, we met together in Pilgrim House, continuing the work of setting out priorities and areas where we felt our input would be most valuable in upholding the affirmations we as a Church have already made. As a diverse group of people from across the Assembly, we recognise the importance of this work and are excited for the future ahead for all of us as the Uniting Church in Australia.  
 
Some of the areas we are discussing include creation of liturgies to support inclusive and affirming worship, a central accessible online location for resources, the creation of new resources to support and educate individuals, congregations, and agencies - with a particular awareness for how we can create Talanoa within our cultural diversity, as well as areas of policy and practice including culture of safety, ethical ministry, and standards for ministry formation. Long term we are also looking at the creation of a queer faith conference. We are looking forward to discussions with a wide variety of areas of our church and to bringing proposals to Assembly Standing Committee and to National Assembly. 
 
Our weekend together was further enriched by a visit to QTOPIA, a museum devoted to the stories of Queer History. This was a vibrant, and sobering reminder of the historical journeys and sacrifices that many before us made in order to allow us to be in a position to do this work within the church. On the Sunday we joined Pitt St Uniting Church for worship. It was a delight to find that Warren Talbot, who had been very involved in the Uniting Network, was the preacher. It felt very much like a “full circle” moment as we listened to Warren preach. 
 
We were very grateful for the invaluable assistance of the National Assembly in bringing us together. This helped us clarify and shape our agenda in a way that our previous work on zoom could not. We also appreciated the time of Rev Lindsay Cullen, who graciously spent time with us explaining many of the processes of the Uniting Church and its various councils. Anna Catliffe, from the Assembly office looked after many of the practicalities of bookings, lunches, organising meeting rooms and assisted us in a way that made the weekend run smoothly. Many thanks to all.
 
Lastly, if this is an area of interest or curiosity for you, if there is a particular area named above, you feel as though you could contribute to, please reach out to us and let us know who you are: PrideCircle@nat.uca.org.au
 
Pride Circle Co-advocates: Rev James Ellis, Rev Greer Hudson, Pastor David Landis-Morse
Pride Circle members: Mikali Anagnostis, Rev Vicki Aitken, Nicole Mugford, Chalise van Wyngaardt, Darce Lovely-Roelofs, Jen McLean, Juliette Zylstra, Rev Susan Lord, Matt Teran.

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