Dear members and friends,
We write to let you know that after 31 years of operation the Executive of the Uniting Network Australia has decided to close the organisation as of 31 December 2025. UNA is the last remaining LGBTIQA+ specific support and education in the life of the Uniting Church. The journey started with the formation of Cross Section NSW/ACT in NSW/ACT in March 1982.
For more than 30 years the Uniting Network has been transformative in the life and witness of the Uniting Church across the country. We give thanks to God for the engagement of many LGBTIQA+ people, and allies who have shared their lives, their stories, made space, and encouraged us to look beyond our differences to see the divine imagined in each and every person.
The work of Uniting Network has been pivotal in our growth as a whole people of God. As we bring this chapter of Uniting Network to a close we lay down our burdens acknowledging there have been moments of pain and sorrow across the years which some have borne heavily, these too are part of our story and transformative witness.
We believe that the many members and friends of UNA, and synod groups, have contributed to a greater awareness and acceptance of LGBTIQA+ people in the UCA. There have been changes and for the better, which is not to say that we have achieved all we set out to do many years ago.
There are new beginnings with the establishment of the Uniting Church Assembly Pride Circle as an official group within the life of the Uniting Church to support queer Pride. The Executive is pleased with the composition of the Pride Circle (all queer folk) and have allocated remaining member funds to the ministry of the Pride Circle.
We celebrate all that has been achieved in and through our work and look with hope to the continuing pilgrimage of welcome and inclusion in the life and witness of the Uniting Church to come.
At our final meeting, Executive member, the Revd Vicki Aitken, offered the prayer which follows this letter.
Yours in Christ
(Revd) Amanda Nicholas, Co-Convenor
Warren Talbot, Secretary
Prayer for the closure of UNA
Lord God,
You created us in all our diversity in your image…in the image of your trinitarian personalities. And you declared that all you had made was good. So we finish today’s last ever meeting of the Uniting Network Australia with a sense of celebration and pride for all that have been achieved, all the relationships that have been formed and all the encouragement given and the solidarity experienced.
Thank you Lord for all that the Uniting Network has achieved over it’s 31 years, all those people that were apart of the Uniting Network from the beginning. Those who went before us or with us who carried the torch of social justice passion and who helped make an impact on the UCA and the steps that have been made for LGBTQIA+ inclusion.
We thank you that the Pride Circle has now been established at Assembly and that more might be achieved for our LGBTQIA+ siblings in Christ. So we don’t end in sadness but with hope for the future. As we pass this passion and responsibility on to the Pride Circle we pray that your Holy Spirit would give the Pride Circle advocates and panel wisdom and discernment as they move forward. And that you would give all those past and present executive and members from the Uniting Network your peace that transcends all understanding as they set this work and time to rest.
We ask this in Jesus’ mighty name,
Amen.