What does the UCA look like?

UCA Young Justice – Becoming the church we wish we were.

Well for me in the last month I have had the privilege of ministry with around six hundred youth and young adults including about two hundred young adult leaders from around eleven cultural groups and six indigenous peoples.

Backing onto Vic/Tas Synod where I facilitated the involvement of young members at synod, affably named ‘Young Justice’ , was the Tongan National Conference (TNC). Here I was a privileged ‘Palangi’, invited to help support and provide input for the ‘Step up’ program that aimed for increased confidence in faith, culture and leadership. TNC was followed by the National Young Adult Conference (NYALC) where a hundred and thirty young leaders spent time together thinking about leadership, faith and the future of our movement. NYALC is hosted by the UCA President and Chair of Congress (UAICC) and had a third indigenous, a third multi cultural and a third ‘white’ participants. After this I travelled to Bendigo for leadership day.

Then I slept.

What does the UCA look like? This.

Our young leaders are collaborative; using the tools of their generation. At Synod, a statement by young justice was delivered by one of the group after a joint effort to produce their sentiments about the future focus of the synod mission on a closed social media group called the ’Bat Cave’. The TNC 2nd Gen team have monthly devotions via email and challenge each other to provide the best they can in service of God.

Our young leaders are committed. The leadership teams of young adults plan and debrief continually both online and in person. At TNC, the reflections of the day and briefing for the next days activities, usually happened around 2am, with a program that began with Zumba at 6am. The personal cost of leaders attending leadership training is more than the registration and flights but the time off work. They are solid people looking towards hope.

Our young leaders are deep. I heard testimonies of struggle with mental health, family, discrimination and racism. There were reflections on being between worlds as young people, as second generation and as migrant leaders. I heard the call for treaty, the longing for sovereignty and amazing grace of welcome from our first peoples. I heard the second peoples including the migrant culture groups longing for a way to understand themselves, the church and God as second people on aboriginal land. How do we understand sin when we all benefit from dispossession? I heard refugee and asylum seek voices naming the role of religion in colonisation and dispossession. I watched their posture of inclusion while attending an inter faith Eid ulk-Fitr lunch hosted by our Muslim friends. I was amazed as five hundred young plus people engaged in a scared space prayer experience with devotion, tears and a sense of hope.

Our young leaders are diverse. As Galations 3 proclaims, we are most definitely neither black, or white, jew or greek, male or female, slave or free, gay or straight, ordained or lay, documented or undocumented but we are all one in Christ. A fantastic vision of the kingdom.

As my role in the Synod comes to an end in December, I find myself reflecting on the past ten years has the Young Adults Discipleship Educator and it is heartening to see that that these sorts of gatherings and people will be a continuation of my dream for our movement. These are a glimpse of a true Australian Church that references it’s own identity and theology from covenant with first peoples, seeking to live as second people’s who embody justice, love, kindness, hope and inclusion as part of our compassionate spirituality.

We are becoming the church we wish we were.

Thanks
Adrian (Age) Greenwood

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.