Uniting – the other Christians?
Posted: June 18th, 2012 | Author: media.room | Filed under: In the news | 1 Comment »The Age’s atheist blogger Dick Gross has singled out the Uniting Church as an unsung progressive institution. In his latest post Gross comments on the work of the Uniting Church while noting the distinct lack of a public profile in comparison with other Christian denominations.
“The size of the Uniting Church in the educational and hospital sector is huge. In aged care, it provides the largest network in the country, bar none. In several states it is the biggest human services provider after government,†Gross writes.
“It is the third-largest church, counting more than a million Australians who are at least nominal Uniting Church members. Nonetheless, the Uniting Church is invisible in public debate and its leaders unknown. Indeed, how many people knew that the state leaders are called the “moderators” of the Uniting Church?â€
Gross has invited comment from readers –
“What is your view? Do you think the Uniting Church hides its light under a bushel or is justifiably ignored because it doesn’t deserve our attention? Do you think the more progressive people in the Uniting Church are godless hypocrites or deep-thinking members of an important institution? How would you make the Uniting Church sexy (in a media sense), or is it too worthy to ever be interesting? Are the less godly adherents good for atheism or bad?â€
I feel that the UCA isn’t hiding its light under a bushel, but neither is it standing there going “look at me, look at me”. Sometimes both of these things can be frustrating from a UCA membership perspective. I like that we are constantly striving to live out what we see as Christ’s call on our lives. I like that we do stand up the helpless and offer a helping hand in Jesus’ name. But I would very much dispute that the UCA doesn’t know what it believes. So long as we stay strong to the Basis of Union and commit ourselves (as the basis says) to studying God’s word, then I feel that we are making an impact by just going about “being Church” rather than worrying about what others think of us.