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17th ASSEMBLY
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Not on the Titanic: a reflection and a beginning

Andrew Johnson offers this reflection as he begins his role as General Secretary of the Assembly this week

October 23, 2024

by Andrew Johnson, Assembly General Secretary

“I do not believe we are on the Titanic…”

As I step into the role of Assembly General Secretary I have been reflecting a lot on the nature and state of our life as a Church. Over the coming months I would like to take the opportunity to expand on some of the themes in the acceptance speech I gave at the 17th Assembly. I wrote this speech at 3am the morning it was delivered, praying for inspiration and strength as I accepted at long last the sense of call God had placed on my life.

This month I want to focus on the metaphor of the Titanic which has become so prominent in our discourse as a Church.

One of the most popular questions we ask is, “Is this just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic?’ I recently discovered this phrase was first used, The Washington Post reports, in 1969 to describe reforms in the Catholic Church.

This prompted me to ask – do we think we are on the Titanic as a Uniting Church? Do we believe this enterprise of hope we embarked upon over 47 years ago is, like the Titanic, inevitably destined to sink?

"Do we believe this enterprise of hope we embarked upon over 47 years ago is, like the Titanic, inevitably destined to sink?"

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Early last year I rewatched the famous box office hit of the same name. Sometimes as I move around the Church, I find people reflecting the behaviour of its various characters. The old couple, in an embrace on the bed, as the water rises around them. The unscrupulous fiancé desperately trying to buy himself onto a lifeboat. The band playing to entertain the masses and distract them, to buoy their mood despite the chaos going on around them. The lead character, Jack, judging the physics, getting to the highest point, seeking to use all his wits to save them.

So do I think we are on the Titanic? Do I believe the future of the Uniting Church is a predetermined heroic tragedy? I do not believe that. I believe that God has a future for the Uniting Church. However, we need to be honest that at least for the foreseeable future it will be a smaller and more marginal future than what we believe we knew in the past.

Yet we have something of distinctive value to offer the mission of God in our nation and globally. Our theological culture, while in need of some ongoing work is marked by an openness and willingness to change, holding in tension diverse perspectives. Our ecclesial culture seeks to be inclusive, consensus building and collaborative.

As a friend said to me, ‘I don’t think God’s given up on the Uniting Church yet’. So, for me, if God hasn’t given up then why should I?

However, I have also found myself discovering a deeper and more profound truth. As a people who confesses Jesus Christ, the risen and crucified one as Lord we believe in the power of the resurrection. We do not believe that even if the life of the Uniting Church comes to an end that this is the end of our journey. We do not have a continuing city.

The Uniting Church was born in 22 June 1977 to die. We wrote this sunset clause in our own founding document! We believe that we will behold God doing a new thing. If we conclude that institutionally the Uniting Church will no longer exist, that is ok. We will have been prophets and martyrs to the gospel.

We are called to these ministries, along with the ministry of scholar and evangelist so that the world might know the risen, abundant life of God through Jesus Christ. It is in that hope that we will find renewal, in dying to self and rising with Christ. It is in that we will find the hope of the resurrection and new life.

It is in this vision that I find hope and strength for the journey ahead. God does speak to us both collective and individually in our work of prayer and discernment. As we continue our journey towards the promised goal, let us be nourished by the vision God has placed before us.

Gathered together –
the familiar and the unknown,
residents and visitors,
for the first time or the umpteenth time,
come, Holy Spirit.

Gathered together –
First peoples and Second peoples from many lands
where pilgrims and puzzled people have prayed,
where God has listened,
come, Holy Spirit.

Gathered together –
not knowing what we have in common,
not sure, perhaps, why we are here,
unable to read God’s mind,
come, Holy Spirit.

To open doors, dispel fears,
establish friendships,
reveal what is in us,
and bring us closer to Christ,
come, Holy Spirit.
Meet us here.

Welcome Service, An Iona Abbey Worship Book, 2017, Wild Goose Publications (adapted).

Andrew Johnson will be commissioned as Assembly General Secretary on 23 November in Canberra. The service will also be live-streamed. Find all the details and RSVP here.

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