Towards a Theology
of Social Service
UnitingCare Leaders Forum
October 10-11, 2017
Colleen Geyer
Assembly General Secretary
Rev Dr Ji Zhang 张骥Assembly Theologian in Residence
40-Year Celebration of
Uniting Church in Australia
The Basis of Union
Statement to the Nation
Current ministry with the First Peoples Collaboration and mission together
Covenant with First Peoples
As the Church believes God guided it into union so it believes that
God is calling it to continually seek a renewal of its life as a
community of First Peoples and of Second Peoples from many
lands, and as part of that to
Recognise that:
When the churches that formed the Uniting Church arrived in
Australia as part of the process of colonisation they entered a land
that had been created and sustained by the Triune God they knew
in Jesus Christ
Through this land God had nurtured and sustained the First Peoples
of this country, the Aboriginal and Islander peoples, who continue to
understand themselves to be the traditional owners and custodians
(meaning ‘sovereign’ in the languages of the First Peoples) of these
lands and waters since time immemorial.
Commemorating the Inauguration of
the Uniting Church in Australia
22 June 1977
Statement to the Nation
We acknowledge with gratitude
that the churches from which we
have come have contributed in
various ways to the life and
development of this nation. A
Christian responsibility to society
has always been regarded as
fundamental to the mission of the
Church. In the Uniting Church our
response to the Christian gospel
will continue to involve us in
social and national affairs.
Inner unity and outer service• The Basis of Union: Unity is our identity.
• The UCA confesses Jesus Christ as the sole foundation of the whole church, and places the Uniting Church in a network of theological, ecumenical, social and cultural, and international connections.
• Statement to the Nation: Social Service is our identity.
• Social service is in the DNA of the whole church. A responsibility to the society is fundamental to the UCA mission. Its response to the Christian gospel would include a commitment to serving people through its community services.
Collaboration and Mission Together
We are pilgrim people
• The UCA is not a fixed entity, but our post-denominational identity is
always in the making by the Spirit of God.
• We are pilgrim people on the way towards a promised end. On the way
Christ feeds the Church with Word and Sacraments and the gift of the
Spirit. (The Basis of Union, Paragraph 3)
Church’s Mission
God’s Mission
Tension between the Church and Social Service
Calling to take part in God’s Mission
The Oneness of Life: 葛洪守一,以知其子,复守其母,Knowing the children is a pathway to affirm the mother.
The Church and the Service
• The division between the Church
and Social Service is not only
operational, but also ontological.
• The Sacred and the Secular:
Mission of the Church is to bring
salvation to the world.
• The doctrine of salvation is single-
directional, from the Church to the
world, not other way around.
• Social service is secondary to the
Church’s primary mission.
Church’s mission
to the margins • Church was at the centre of the
society.
• Now Christendom has ended. Our
Congregation-based ministry has
declined.
• UCA congregation is average a
classroom size.
• Service was in the margins.
• Now we are living in a pluralistic
world. Our service-based mission
has increased.
• UnitingCare is serving 1 in 12
Australians.
Our being in God’s becoming
• “Our church is in Exile”, the 12th President, Alistair.
• “God is changing us in a powerful way”, the 13th President, Andrew.
• “The church is all about making an impact – not merely surviving”, the 14th President, Stuart.
• In the Preamble, God is moving from the centre to the margins, like the Incarnation.
• After WCC and CCA, God is in the minority churches, like the Risen of the Crucified Lord.
• After the Middle East, God is hope, like the community of the early church.
We are in the Global South, a new centre of Christianity in the Asia-Pacific.
In 1910, 80% of Christian population are in the Global
North.
In 2010, 64% of Christian population are in the Global
South.
We are like our partners, a minority representing single
digit of population.
We are like our partners, the Church live within diverse
cultural and religious contexts.
God’s mission
from the margins
• Church’s mission to the margins:
mission was from the privileged to
the marginalised.
• God’s mission from the margins:
service in the margins is a pathway
for church’s growth.
• Mission is about to incarnate the
life of Jesus in a vast network of
human relationships.
• Relationship, relationship,
relationship: Mission is about
drawing people into God’s life at
the margins of faith.
The Service is
the Church
3 Relationships of
Social Service and the Church
What the Church does: worship, witness, service
What the Church is:
a) The People of God
b) The Creation of the Spirit
c) The Body of Christ
God is calling a new
church into being.A movement from “Church Service” to
“Service Church” – WCC Ecumenical
Diakonia
“The Son of Man does not come to be
served but to serve, and give his life as
a ransom for many”. (Mark 10:45)
God has already been calling a service
church into existence for 40 years.
Loving God and loving neighbours are
two sides of God’s love for the world.
既知其子, 复守其母. To fully know her
children is [a way] to reaffirm the
mother.
Service Church is the People of God
• The first article of faith is not the doctrine of salvation, but the doctrine of suffering 人间疾苦.
• The birth of the Church was to break down the boundary of insider/outsider, make the “Jesus-Sect” radically open to all people of God.
• Service Church is in solidarity with the poor, the marginalised, the voiceless, the vulnerable, and the fallen.
• Compassion for life is the common good among the stakeholders: the church, the people, the government.
Service Church is
the Creation of the Spirit
• From the Inner life of the Trinity to the
Economy of God’s creation - we are
standing at the opening space of God.
• Mission is Incarnation, “the Word became
flesh and lived among us”, (John 1:14)
putting roots down in the Land and living
among the people.
• From “Mission to the Gentiles” to “Mission
with the Gentiles”.
• Prolongation of a dynasty and longevity of
a person are the same - preserving Qi and
loving people 养气爱民.
• The essence politics is not power, but
preserving life. The UCA will always be in
the society.
Service Church is
the Body of Christ
• Social Service is in dialogue with the
communities – all relationships belong to
the UCA.
• “The rising of the fallen” 落而起之 is the
embodiment of Christ’s death and
resurrection.
• Christ calls people into the fellowship of
his sufferings, to be the disciples of a
crucified Lord, in his own strange way
Christ constitutes, rules and renews them
as his Church. (Basis of Union,
paragraph 4)
• Life is inwardly connected; the Body of
Christ is where Christ is witnessed.
The Pilgrim People
of Reconciliation
40 years is not long, but with remarkable
achievements: “30,000 employees,
40,000 volunteers, 6 programs in 1,600
locations, 1 in 12 Australians”.
This journey is the UCA in the making.
The Uniting Church affirms that it belongs
to the people of God on the way to the
promised end. The Uniting Church prays
that, through the gift of the Spirit, God will
constantly correct that which is erroneous
in its life, will bring it into deeper unity with
other Churches, and will use its worship,
witness and service to God’s eternal glory
through Jesus Christ the Lord. (Paragraph
18)
The Service is the Church
Zhuangzi and Butterfly 庄子梦蝶
The Church lives between the Christ-event and God’s final consummation.
Two Discussion Questions:
a) Is UnitingCare doing mission on the behalf of the Church? Or, is Social Service also shaping the life of Uniting Church?
b) Is the ARCCS the Church? Has the ARCCS been life-giving to the whole UCA as the Body of Christ?