The landscape of National Conferences in the UCA
October 5, 2022
Written by Rev Dr Apwee Ting
I’ve just returned from the 15th Fiji National Conference held at the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education on Kungarakany and Awarai country in Batchelor, 98km south of Darwin.
Over the four days, I could clearly feel how much the Fijian communities gathered, from the first generation to the youngest members, really appreciated the opportunity to come together and their share experiences as part of the Uniting Church in Australia.
National Conferences enable people who are connected by their culture and language, living in different states in Australia, to be united in one faith, as the followers of Christ, living on the lands of First Peoples.
The Uniting Church has long recognised itself as a multicultural church. For more than 30 years, National Conferences have played an important role in the life of the Uniting Church as a meeting place for church members who come from the same culture and language.
The diversity and different expressions of our National Conferences reflect the commitment of the church to give freedom to each National Conference to decide for themselves how and when they will meet, to worship together and to discuss mission and ministry as part of the Uniting Church. It is also up to each National Conference to discern the best form of the gathering. This may take the form of networking rather than a national conference.
National Conferences are also an important platform for the church to listen to the aspirations of minority church members or non-English speaking members. As a National Consultant with the Assembly, and as the former Multicultural National Director, it has been a privilege to attend many National Conference gatherings and to hear the stories, the joys and the challenges of the different cultural groups within the Uniting Church.
Since the Tongan National Conference began in 1987, there have been 13 National Conferences established in the Uniting Church: Tongan, Samoan, Fijian, Niuean, Indonesian, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tamil, South Sudan, Middle East and Ibero-Latino.
Each National Conference is unique and at the same time many have similarities with one another.
National Conferences from Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Niue, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Tamil and Korea are alike in that each member uses the same language to communicate.
Meanwhile, National Conferences from South Sudan, the Middle East and Ibero-Latino have members with different languages. The South Sudanese National Conference has members who speak Dinka and Nuer; members of the Middle East National Conference speak Arabic, Armenian, Aramac and Assyrian languages. There are Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese languages used at the Chinese National Conference, meanwhile the Ibero-Latino National Conferences uses Portuguese and Spanish.
Through the National Conferences, the church builds a good and trusting relationship between church members who come from various cultures, languages and ethnicities.
It is hoped that through our National Conferences, church leaders in Congregations, Presbyteries, Synods and the Assembly can listen to the aspirations of our diverse communities and find ways to work together to be part of an Intercultural Uniting Church.
