Our Covenant in the Uniting Church
The Uniting Church covenant relationship with First Peoples is at the heart of our Church. It is a commitment to walk together with our First Nations siblings in Christ in their struggle for justice. In this covenant relationship, we acknowledge the ownership and sovereignty of First Nations people in this land and commit to First People's self-determination, truth-telling and working together for reconciliation.
In 1994 the Uniting Church in Australia formally entered into a Covenant with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress so that together we may contribute to a more just church and nation.
This Circle is a space for walking together as First and Second Peoples, for listening to and sharing of the experiences of our First Nations peoples and living out our covenantal relationship. Together we see a destiny together, praying and working for a fuller expression of our reconciliation in Jesus Christ.
OUR COVENANTING JOURNEY
Our covenanting journey began with the coming together of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress
Through a series of gatherings in the early 1980s, a vision developed among Aboriginal and Islander Christians from across Australia to come together to form a National Congress. In 1985, the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia unanimously welcomed the formation of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC). READ MORE
Entering a Covenant
In 1994 the Uniting Church in Australia formally entered into a Covenant with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress so that together we may contribute to a more just church and nation. On behalf of the Second Peoples of the UCA, the Uniting Church’s 7th President Dr Jill Tabart read a statement acknowledging past wrongs and making a new commitment to the relationship. On behalf of First Peoples of UAICC, Congress Chairperson Pastor Bill Hollingsworth responded acknowledging past pain and looking to future with hope. He presented a Covenant Painting to the UCA. Read the Covenanting Statement
Acknowledgement and Apology - Stolen Generation
In 1996 the Assembly Standing Committee on behalf of the Uniting Church in Australia acknowledged the trauma and ongoing harm caused by the racist policies and practice of separating Aboriginal children from their parents and community. Further the Church apologised to the Traditional Owners of Croker Island for taking over a large part of their ancestral lands without permission to provide care for children separated from their parents and for falsely leading them to believe that Croker Island would be their permanent home.
This acknowledgement and apology urged further action at state and national levels, and in 1997 the full national gathering the Assembly expressed its appreciation to Sir Ronald Wilson and Michael Dodson for the ‘Bringing them Home’ report and its recommendations. The Church committed to supporting the Report's recommendations, affirmed the 1996 apology and committed to advocate and act to seek justice, healing and reconciliation.
Preamble to the Constitution
In 2009 the Assembly of the UCA passed a resolution to revise the Preamble to the Constitution, acknowledging: Aboriginal and Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia; the tragic colonial history of injustice, violence and dispossession of First Peoples and the Church’s complicity in this history; the First Peoples had already encountered the Creator God before the arrival of the colonisers; the Spirit was already in the land revealing God to the people through law, custom and ceremony. Read the Revised Preamble.
Sovereignty
The 15th Assembly of the UCA held in 2018 resolved “to affirm the First Peoples of Australia, the Aboriginal and Islander Peoples, are sovereign peoples in this land”. In recognising this fundamental truth, the UCA affirmed sovereignty as described in the Statement from the Heart, as a “spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land…and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”. Likewise it acknowledged that this sovereignty “has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.” READ MORE
Living out the Covenant
Uniting Church congregations and presbyteries are encouraged to build relationships with local First Peoples communities, acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which they meet at all gatherings and to work together for reconciliation with and justice for First Peoples of Australia.
Living the Covenant Locally
Living the Covenant Locally is a grass roots movement, made up of congregations, faith communities, schools and agencies, who are growing in understanding, encouraging others, connecting with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) and/or other First Nations Peoples locally, and who then are equipped to take action, walking together as First and Second Peoples, in binding covenant relationship.
It is an opportunity to truly live the covenant locally in your faith life and mission through a commitment to learning, listening, reflection and action.
Assembly Covenant Action Plan
A Covenantal Vision Written by Stuart McMillan, Assembly Consultant CovenantingThe Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC or Congress) – First Peoples, nurtured and sustained by God before colonisation, are celebrated at the very heart of what it means to be the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA).This is the core commitment and vision encompassed by…
Save the Date: 30th Anniversary of the Covenant
Save the Date: 30th Anniversary of the Covenant 10 July marks 30 years since the historic signing of a Covenant between the Uniting Church in Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian CongressThis July the Uniting Church will be marking two significant anniversaries in the life of the church and our relationship with First…
Now more than ever: National Reconciliation Week 2024
As we mark National Reconciliation Week, we also approach the 30th anniversary of the Covenant between the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and the Uniting Church in Australia.In the video below, “What does the Covenant mean to me”, hear from Congress and Church leaders as they explore the significance of the Covenant and why…
COVENANTING NEWS
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- Sign up to the Living the Covenant Locally - a grass roots movement, made up of congregations, faith communities, schools and agencies, who are growing in understanding, encouraging others, connecting with UAICC and/or other First Nations Peoples locally. Commit to undertaking study as a group. This website is full of resources to Listen and Learn, Go Deeper and Take Action. https://uniting.church/livingthecovenantlocally/
- Display a Covenanting Pull Up Banner - one way to acknowledge the First Peoples in your area is to display one of these banners acknowledging country and celebrating the Uniting Church's Covenanting relationship with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
The Banner features the Covenanting painting received by the UCA's seventh President Dr Jill Tabart in 1994 from UAICC Chairperson Pastor Bill Hollingsworth. Find out more