Theology, Formation and Leadership Commission update

By Dr Damian Palmer, Executive Officer, and Rev Dr Cathie Lambert, Chair of the Commission for Theology, Formation and Leadership.

The Commission for Theology, Formation and Leadership had its second in-person meeting at Trinity College Queensland on 11-12 June. It was wonderful to have President Charissa Suli with us for the two days as well as some members of the Commission for their first time in person.

There were two major agenda items prioritised for this meeting. The first was to establish a process for moving towards a common higher education provider for Uniting Church theological colleges. Some different approaches of arriving at a decision were discussed and, very quickly, the Commission resolved to take a more collaborative and consultative method. The complexities of coming to the decision were discussed in depth to determine a realistic timeframe. The Commission developed a detailed process which will utilise an external facilitator to guide a conversation between the Commission, Ministerial Education Boards and other stake holders. We are confident our process will decide upon a common higher education provider by the Assembly meeting in session in July 2027. We look forward to communicating our process and engaging with relevant stake holders in the Synods shortly.

The second large agenda item was to progress on developing an organisational structure to enable the Commission to effectively do its work. We began this task with lots of sticky notes and butcher’s paper. After gathering a list of the areas of work from the Commission’s Terms of Reference and the previous Standards for Ministries Committee Mandate, we had a better sense of the many and varied aspects of the Commission’s work. In groups, we brainstormed ways of managing the tasks in an efficient and collaborative way.

The Commission identified the need for some task groups to manage some areas of work and the possibility of creating “communities of practice” to establish greater collegiality and collaboration across the church. Our discussion also asked how the Commission would relate to the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress to empower, allow self-determination, and develop mutual support. Our structure is still a work in progress, but we were able to identify some projects requiring immediate attention and authorised the creation of a working group to begin this work.

As a result of our discussions, the Commission resolved to invite Congress to lead the Commission in all or a significant part of one of its in-person meetings in the next year. We are conscious that we often invite representatives from Congress to be part of our meetings expecting these members to operate within our systems and methods of decision making. The Commission’s resolution will allow Congress to lead us so that we might learn from and with First Peoples who have much to teach us about education, formation and leadership. We look forward to sharing what is learnt in this time and space.

We are grateful to Trinity College for hosting the Commission in June. Our next meetings will be online before meeting in Adelaide at the end of the year.