In 1985 the Uniting Church declared itself a multicultural church, embracing the growing cultural diversity of its membership. Today in the Uniting Church we worship in 30 languages other than English (not including Indigenous languages); we have more than 195 groups who worship in a language other than English; and we have 12 national conferences which support congregations and communities of the same culture.
The Uniting Church rejoices in its diversity of races, cultures and languages as God’s gracious gift and seeks be a true multicultural church living its faith and life cross-culturally.
The Being a Multicultural Church Circle seeks to create genuine ways for diverse voices and contributions to be respectfully heard across the wider membership of the church.
This Circle is for everyone, whether you are part of a small or big community, speaking English or not, recently arrived or having lived in Australia for generations.
Circle members will be invited to share their own stories of faith, hope and love in Christ Jesus. The Circle will be a platform to learn about and contribute to cross cultural learning, ministry with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups, intentional intercultural ministry and formation for the next generation.
The Advocate for the Being a Multicultural Church Circle is Rev Dr Matagi Vilitama.
We asked Matagi to tell us about himself.
Hope in the Empty Tomb
By Rev. Charissa Suli, Assembly National Consultant Ke tupulekina ‘etau Tui ‘i he Otua mo vahevahe ‘a e Ofa ‘a Kalaisi – “to grow our faith in God and share the love of Christ” was the Easter theme for the Cecil Gribble Congregation in the Sydney Central Coast Presbytery. For the first time the congregation
Living the message of Easter
The Uniting Church is made up of many culturally diverse communities that bring their own cultural traditions and different understandings of faith. At Easter, many of our multicultural communities draw upon the rich cultural traditions of Easter in their home countries and the expression and meaning given to Easter in those places. Rev. Ajub Jahja,
Blessed to Bless - INC 2019
By Alfian Oematan, Secretary of the UCA Indonesia National Conference The 14th Indonesian National Conference (INC) took place on 5th-7th April 2019, at St Andrew’s Gardiner Uniting Church, Melbourne. The theme was, “Blessed to Bless”. We really feel God’s blessing on us as an Indonesian congregation in the Uniting Church in Australia, but it cannot
What I miss at Easter
Levon Kardashian reflects on Easter in his home country of Lebanon and adapting to a different experience in Australia. In our Church which has symbols for everything and everything symbolises something, this Easter I was looking for the symbols my home church has to mark Christ’s death and resurrection, but I could not find them.
Your Invitation to Share
Fakaalofa atu, Where are we in our multicultural ministry in our Synods, Presbyteries and CALD communities? I’d like to encourage our panel members, the multi/cross cultural workers in all councils of the church and all our circle members to use our Being a Multicultural Church Circle Facebook and the Newsletter as platforms to: engage our