Following the 10th Assembly, the opinion of the right and of conservative, evangelical members of the Church has been more easily found.  The media often presented misleading information and it appears that many people within our congregations responded to media reports rather than to the Assembly reports.  In fact, the UCA Assembly President, Dean Drayton, has issued two pastoral letters to explain what the Assembly really decided.  FoU Executive has made press releases through the UCA Media Officer but these have been slow to enter print.  When we approached the task of writing press releases, Rev. Dr Dorothy McRae McMahon kindly supplied the following paragraph.

We will never see the full picture of God’s creative imagination. Those of us who are of  sexual orientations other than heterosexual believe that we are part of God’s good creation and that God does not mock us by creating us and then denying us the joy of the fullness of love. We also believe that there are many more creativities than procreation for all sorts of people and that the gifts for creative ministry may well lie in homosexual people. The Uniting Church has agreed to explore this in ways which will allow for these gifts to go on being tested among the people, in the light of competent and creative ministries already receive by the church. It has also confirmed that all people are saved by the grace of God alone and that this truth is embedded in baptism and in membership of this church. Whether a person has that grace affirmed as an infant or as an adult does not change the Biblical truth that we are all saved while we are yet sinners.
Dorothy McRae-McMahon 
August, 2003.

It is hoped that through this page, FoU members will be able to find useful information and stimulating articles. 
This month we offer two versions of a response to Resolution 84 that came from Wal and Malcolm and another response from Paul Somerville.  We also offer a flight of satirical fantasy and an article on Christian Ethics from Wal and a great article on Christian unity from Jack Spong.

Why "VOICE"?  I took it from the Greek text, (trans. the voice of one crying in the wilderness)  Mk. 1:3. Phone seemed odd and too easily misread as 'phony', so VOICE it is.  That seemed apt, as the voice of liberation and the cry from the Cross.  Now, before you add, "but Mark 1:3 speaks in reference to John the Baptist, not Jesus,", I raise an issue of textual interpretation that asks, "does it?"  However, that is for next time.  See you then.
Wal Anderson
Web Editor

Affirmation - the original draft 

A response to resolution 84, from Wal and Malcolm.

Affirmation - the short version

A shorter version of the above.

Thoughts (Dorothy, Paul and Jack Spong!)

Dorothy McRae-McMahon and Paul Sommerville comment of the 10th Assembly and resolution 84.

Jack Spong's article on Church unity.

Cisafim Revisited

A satirical tale of emus and marital ethics.

Sexual Ethics in the UCA 

An article on Christian ethics in the Uniting Church, post resolution 84.

Our web site has been down on several occasions since we changed it to Uniting Enterprises- a free service to UCA groups.  I apologise for that inconvenience.  I am told that Geof Hurst (our web host at Uniting Enterprises) is changing the site to a bigger server that will give less delays and down time. 

During the Assembly, our web pages were frequently visited.  Over the month of July we received 146 visits- some from overseas via Google and AltaVista search engines, but most were from Australia. We will monitor the response to this page and assess its value by your interest levels and responses. 

EMAIL

Uniting Network

Unity

Friends of Unity

SA Synod Historical Society

Jason's Web Pages (SkinnyPreacher.com)

Oasis: a place to reflect on the background to resolution 84, again, from Jason.

Researching Theology: Wal's Bible Studies.

Uniting Network (NSW):-the site managed by Uniting Network members in NSW and hosted by the Board of Education.

Report of Religious Roots of Homophobia Conference Sydney, Australia: 25-26 February 2001.

Uniting Church In Australia

PFLAG Australia: Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, NSW.

Effective Living Centre, Adelaide: Supporting Church and Community

Recovery from Bible Abuse: a response to the abusive use of the Bible against gay, lesbians and others

Whosoever: An Online News Journal For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Christians.

Reconciling Congregation Program: United Methodists - All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to God's self and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . . Corinthians 5:18

World Council of Churches' Web page.
Details of the Decade to Overcome Violence are to be found here.