Ministers Desk 26th October 2014

Reflections on Synod 2014

What is Synod?

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) comprises of 4 different councils – Congregation, Presbytery, Synod and Assembly.  These councils are not hierarchical, but have their own responsibilities.  The Synod is the State Council.

Synod is held approximately every 18 months and was recently held between 10-15 October at the Uniting Church owned Alexandra Park Conference Centre.  There were more than 300 people registered as delegates (a mixture of ordained and lay people) and more than 500 people attended throughout the event.  Naturally, the mainstream media did not attend what is a church good news story!  Fortunately, our own Uniting Communications covered the event via website updates, Facebook and Twitter.  Look for an article in the Nov edition of Journey.

Synod should not be confused with the Bayliss St Auchenflower office where staff work for the ‘Synod’ (the State office).

As the Synod meets only every 18 months, it is represented by the Synod Standing Committee (SSC) between Synods.  SSC makes the necessary strategic decisions to allow the UC to function effectively.  In business terms, SSC can be equated to a Board of Directors.

Emmanuel UC was represented by 3 people at the 2014 Synod – Chris and Helen Barnard and Peter Cranna.

The theme of the Synod was ‘A charge to keep’.  Read Numbers 9 to gain this context.

If you want to explore much more about Synod than I have included in this report – please go to http://journeyonline.com.au/category/31st-synod/

Journey on line has a comprehensive coverage – including some really cool photos.

Highlights

There were many:

· Worship and bible studies – it’s great to be able to worship every day with fellow Christians.  The bible studies were led by Trinity Theological College lecturers – all were great

· Hearing the reports from the 8 Queensland Presbyteries and the work of Uniting Care

· Catching up with people that I have met before and making new friends

· Discussing issues that are important in the life of the church

· Appointing many people to various committees of the church

There were 3 events that people should be aware of:

1. The Moderator-elect was inducted as Moderator.  For the next 3 years Rev David Baker is the Moderator of the UCA – Queensland Synod.  The Moderator is the person that represents the UCA in speaking about issues and attending many events – amongst many other things!

2. A recommendation was put to the Synod to appoint Gary Doyle as General Secretary (in business terms, this position would equate to CEO) for the next 5 years.  Gary is a lay person and is currently the Principal with the John Flynn College – part of James Cook University in Townsville.  Gary will commence early in 2015.  This appointment was required as it was the first Synod held since the resignation of the previous General Secretary in very early 2014.  During 2014, someone most of us would know well, Rev John Cox, was asked by the SSC, and agreed, to be the General Secretary

3. In planning for the 31^st Synod, Rev David Baker decided to introduce something quite different to enable discussion about issues.  He introduced the concept of Open Space – which requires much more than the space I’ve got to explain!  Having said that, it was a great success.  It was conducted over the final 1 ½ days of the Synod (once everyone had been informed of the issues arising from the various reports and after being presented with the results of National UCA census data and other demographic information).  The overall theme of the Open Space was – ‘Our church is on life support – what is our call now?’  The outcome is that people from the Synod gathering have agreed to pursue specific action on 16 particular topics that were identified.  There was considerable energy displayed during this Open Space time and this was demonstrated by the commitment of many to follow through on important issues.

While Synod is a large time commitment (5 days), it has the potential to be quite beneficial to people personally and the church generally.  I’m of the view that it achieved its potential this time.

Peter Cranna