Uniting Church in Australia

Task Group on Sexuality

Recommendations to the Eighth Assembly - July 1997

That the Assembly:

1. Affirm the joys and responsibilities of God's good gift of sexuality.

2. Recognise that all practices of sexuality which are exploitative and demeaning are unacceptable and contradict God's purpose for us all.

3. 1. Recognise that the work of the Task Group on Sexuality is another step in the Church's understanding of issues of sexuality and encourage the use of this Report as a resource for study, discussion and dialogue.

3. 2. Request Uniting Education to gather and develop other resources to assist the Church to continue reflecting on issues of sexuality and faith.

4. Request the Standing Committee, following consultation with the Commission on Doctrine, to appoint a group representative of the different perspectives in the Uniting Church in Australia, to prepare and make available material on ways in which the Church understands and uses the Bible in seeking to live in faithfulness to the Gospel.

5. Approve the following policy Statement on Marriage:

The Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia declares that:

* Marriage for Christians is the freely given consent and commitment in public and before God of a man and a woman to live together for life.

* It is intended to be the mutually faithful, lifelong union of a woman and man expressed in every part of their life together.

* In marriage the man and the woman seek to encourage and enrich each other through love and companionship

* Where sexual union takes place the partners seek to express mutual delight, pleasure and tenderness thus strengthening the union of their lives together.

* In the marriage service the woman and the man make a public covenant with each other and with God. It is an act of worship which, in the company of family and friends, affirms their trust in each other and in God and supports their determination to grow together.

* In marriage, children may be born and are to be brought up in love and security, thus providing a firm foundation for society.

Separation, Divorce and Re-marriage

* An inability to sustain the marriage relationship breaks the commitment to be together for life and may be painful for the couple, the children in their care, as well as for the parents, friends and the Church community.

* In cases of the irretrievable breakdown of marriage, the Church acknowledges that divorce may be the only creative and life giving direction to take.

* The Church has a responsibility to:
a) care for people, including children, through the trauma of the ending of a marriage;
b) help people where appropriate to grieve, repent, grow in self understanding, receive grace and forgiveness;
c) support them as they find God's call for new life.

* The grace and healing of God are available to people who are divorced thus freeing them to marry again.

6. Establish the policy the Uniting Church marriage celebrants strongly encourage couples seeking marriage to undertake appropriate preparation.

7. Encourage Uniting Church couples to take advantage of appropriate relationship enrichment and education programs.

8. Encourage synods and presbyteries to identify suitable resources for individuals and couples for professional counselling, recognising the special needs for those who have experienced divorce or abuse.

9. Request the Commission on Liturgy to facilitate the development of liturgical resources both to recognise the end of a marriage and assist in the process of grief, repentance and moving on in God's grace.

10. Request the Standing Committee to appoint a group which includes gay and lesbian members to consider and bring recommendations to the Ninth Assembly [in the year 2000] on how the Church may respond to lesbian and gay people who wish to have their commitment to a life-long faithful relationship affirmed by the Church.

11. Affirm the 1987 decision of the Standing Committee that "all baptised Christians belong in Christ's church and are welcomed at his table, regardless of their sexual orientation", (ASC Minute 87.46) and declares therefore, that sexual orientation is irrelevant to eligibility for confirmation, membership and participation in the life and mission of the Church.

12. Affirm the principles in the Standing Committee decision in 1982, which states that:

1. "Standing Committee advise the Presbytery that in its view the sexual orientation of a candidate is not and has not been in itself a bar to ordination. A decision on the suitability of candidate may of course depend among other things on the manner in which his or her sexuality is expressed". (ASC Minute 82.12)

2. Therefore advise all ministers, parish elders councils, presbyteries and synods that applicants and candidates for ministry of the Word, ministry of Deacon and Specified Ministry of Youth Worker are to be assessed on an individual basis. (Regulations 2.2.1(a)(ii), 2.2.3(b), 2.2.4(d), 2.2.8, 2.2.11, 2.3.1(b))

3. Advise presbyteries and synods that because all applicants and candidates for ministry of the Word, ministry of Deacon and Specified Ministry of Youth Worker are to be assessed on an individual basis in accordance with the Regulations, it is invalid for any presbytery or synod to establish or maintain policies which prevent certain categories of people from having their suitability for ministry considered in the specified way.

13. Request the Standing Committee to prepare guidelines on how the councils of the Church can more sensitively and effectively handle the application and processing of those standing for leadership positions in the Church, including the way in which people understand and express their sexuality.

14. Discharge the Task Group on Sexuality.

April 1997

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