St Matthew's Uniting Church Baulkham Hills

24/06/2026

This week's national update

21/06/2026

Today is the 49th anniversary of the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia. Here is a message from the President of the National Assembly. Charissa Suli.

21/06/2026

Today on the eve of the 49th anniversary of the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia we thought about what it means to be the Church together.

In our 9.30am service we were blessed to have our young people lead us in thinking about this idea about what it means to be Church in the Learning Together part of the service.

They then set us an activity to add our hand print to an art work as a symbol of unity and participation

20/06/2026

The Uniting Church Anniversary -
Jon's piece from our weekly newsletter

This Sunday we will mark the 49th anniversary of the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia. The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is Australia's third-largest Christian denomination. It was formed in 1977 by the union of the Methodist Church, most of the Presbyterian Church, and the Congregational Union. The inauguration took place on the 22nd of June, which is why we are marking it on the Sunday closest to that date.

The Church is not an ‘it,’ we are a ‘we.’ Just as the church is never the building but the people, we are the Uniting Church. We are not an institution. We may be classed as a denomination of Christianity and the Christian Church, but we are still part of the worldwide fellowship of believers and the faithful who seek to live in the way of God who was and is revealed in the person of Jesus, the Christ/Messiah.

The UCA is the first Christian church to be created specifically in and of Australia. We strive to be and are known for being a progressive, inclusive, and socially active denomination. In using the word ‘progressive’ we don’t mean it in the theological sense, for we have people in our Church both conservative and progressive theologically, but in the sense that our founding document, The Basis of Union, committed us to, which is a church that is moving forwards as we follow in the way of Christ.

This statement from the end of our Basis of Union is a good description of what it means to progress and grow in faith, hope, love, life and witness. “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.” https://uniting.church/basisofunion/
What is the Uniting Church in Australia? What are we on about and called to be” On our National Assembly Website is the following description:

“Since we began in 1977, we have been following Jesus, working for justice, growing as disciples and serving communities in these lands now called Australia. From our capital cities to the heart of the outback, you will find around 1600 congregations and faith communities joyfully worshipping in more than 45 languages, including First Nations languages. In Australia’s 2021 Census, more than 670,000 people identified themselves as having an affiliation with the Uniting Church. In the work of our agencies, we serve alongside local communities and our Church Partners across the Pacific, Asia and Africa to inspire a better world.

We believe all people are made in the image of God and deeply loved. As members of the Church, we make up the one body of Christ. We encourage one another to learn more about and grow with God, to care for each other and God's creation, to seek justice and to live lovingly in the world.” https://uniting.church/about/
In the Uniting Church we don’t have hierarchies of power. We have interconcilliar councils. Our congregations are part of the regional church organisation called the presbytery. The presbyteries form together the synods. The synods, being formed by congregations and presbyteries form the National Assembly. Our leaders don’t have authority in or of themselves in their role, but are there to help us all join together in discerning what God calls us to be and do.

“We take seriously our belief that every member has a part in the ministry of Christ - each of us contributes our gifts to participating in God's mission. That is why we use a model of consensus-decision making when our councils meet. The focus is on listening to the Spirit before we speak and discerning the will of God for the Church together.” https://uniting.church/about/

If we want to think about our future moving forward, I encourage us all to check back with the past and read or re-read the Basis of Union https://uniting.church/basisofunion/ because it is an amazing statement of faith and it sets the ethos of the Church.

Having set our foundations with this basis of being Church together, at our inauguration we the Uniting Church also proclaimed our desire to progress in following God whom we know in Christ and experience as Holy Spirit through a ‘Statement to the Nation.’ This was published in most of the nation’s major newspapers. I encourage you to read the full statement.

Here is a linkhttps://uniting.church/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1_StatementNation1977.pdf

The ‘Statement to the Nation’ is an amazing statement which is just as relevant in helping us think today about who we aspire to be as it was almost fifty years ago. It outlines the Church's ongoing commitment to social justice, human rights, environmental stewardship, and advocating for vulnerable and marginalised people in society. If we are to be a vital and active Church, faithful to the mission of God, then we should continually seek to live into this powerful vision in our life and witness at all levels of our Church.

The anniversary of the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia is not just a time for celebrating or reminiscing, even though these are good things to do. The anniversary, in this liturgical season of After Pentecost, when we are thinking about how we are going to keep going, growing and living out our faith as the Church, is a good time to revisit and reflect upon what it means for us to be the Church. Thus, the UCA anniversary gives us much to read and something to really think about.

God bless.
- Jon

18/06/2026

The latest update from our National Assembly

17/06/2026

On this night of the second State of Origin football match (that is Rugby League for those not from Australia) we share Jon's Learning Together talk from Sunday about what it means to get picked to play on Jesus' team.

Using Snakes of Origin lollies and the State of Origin Rugby League...

14/06/2026

Each month on the second Sunday of the month we have a community meal in place of a service. It is a pot luck dinner where everyone brings something to share. This month we had a great crowd, great conversation as well as great food.

13/06/2026

Here is Jon's piece from this week's newsletter.

Missional Compassion

Compassion is part of the character of God. Jesus is God-incarnate, so it is not surprising that Jesus was full of compassion. Jesus had compassion not only for people as individuals, but also for people in general in crowds. In Matthew 9:36 it states, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

The word for compassion that is used in the Biblical Greek, which is the language the New Testament was mostly written in (with a few Aramaic words included) is ἐσπλαγχνίσθη [esplanchnisthē]. As Dean Drayton raised two weeks ago and I spoke about last week, this is a powerful, visceral ancient Greek verb used frequently in the New Testament to describe Jesus being "moved with compassion" or "moved with pity." The word means to be moved as to one's bowels, hence, to be moved with compassion – i.e. to feel with and for someone as to be so moved by having such compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity).

When we think about the character of God being compassionate then οἰκτιρμός [oiktirmos] is used. This word focuses on the deep feeling of pity, grace, and tender concern that one experiences when seeing someone in distress. It represents the deep emotional yearning to relieve another person's suffering. This feeling is the way God is moved by compassion to relieve our suffering and to come to save us.

Here is a video by the Bible Project about compression and the character of God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJEtyAiAQik

Jesus is not just the way God lived out compassion, that is by him being God working for our salvation, redemption, transformation and healing. Jesus is the living compassion of God. God in the person of Jesus literally experienced as a human all that we humans experience. Through the Cross and all the hardship and suffering surrounding it, Jesus as Immanuel – God with us, knows truly what it is like to be human and die in some of the hardest and most unjust ways.

Jesus also becomes the way God experiences from a human perspective compassion for people. He saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. This is whilst he went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. [Matthew 9: 35]. He had compassion for people who had personal issues. However, he also had great compassion for people in their wider human condition.
The compassion of God lived in Jesus, The Christ/Messiah, is why John 3:17 states that, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

God has compassion for us and works to save us. This is part of God’s mission. Thus, as people who are Christ-ians, who seek to follow and embody the love, grace, compassion and way of God in the person of Jesus, we are called to have compassion on others, both as individuals and in their struggles as part of the human condition and all the problems, hardships and injustice in the world we inhabit and contribute to. We are not called to judge people, but be moved in compassion to helping them.

There is a term which is about seeing the bigger picture than just the wrong people do and judging them for it. It is just culture. Just culture is usually used in workplaces to work towards a workplace environment that balances accountability with continuous learning. Instead of punishing staff for making mistakes, it focuses on identifying system flaws and understanding why errors occur.

This approach encourages employees to report mistakes and near-misses without fear of retaliation. Just culture creates a psychologically safe environment where employees trust they will not be automatically punished for human errors or honest mistakes. People may be held accountable for mistakes, but the system is also held accountable for any contributing to the circumstances which resulted in people making the choices they do, and then people are helped to learn to be and do better, as the institution works to be and do better. is a form of institutional compassion.

The story of the woman brought to Jesus after being found in the very act of adultery [John 8:1-11] is an example of how the compassion of God in Christ worked for a just culture. Jesus, knowing that there was great injustice and inequity in that no man had been brought before him as well, called the system into question by challenging the accusers of the woman, who wanted to judge and punisher in condemnation, by saying, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” All left and the woman was there with Jesus with no one else to condemn or punish her. He then said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” He still held her to account but also held the system and those who upheld it. He did not fail to hold her to account but did so with gentleness and compassion.

Institutional compassion expands the fairness of just culture into an organisational ethos. It ensures that whenever a failure or adverse event occurs, the organisation cares for all involved parties—including the patients, their families, and the staff members, who are often referred to as the "second victims." As the Church, engaging in the mission of God, we are called not to judge others. We are called to embody compassion, not just in personal acts of kindness and care to people, but in the way we create the ethos of the Church. We are called to care for all people and be seeing the complexity of need in any situation.

We all fall short of the glory of God. We all sin. [Romans 3:23] We are flawed and we fail to live and love as God wants us to. God has compassion for us. God is compassion for us in Christ and being alive in us as Holy Spirit. We need to remember that part of our work is to make sure our religious communities and our wider communities, our institutions and our organisations all foster just culture and institutional compassion.

God’s mission of compassion and how it shapes our being human as individual and as religious and secular communities is therefore something to very much think about.
God bless.

- Jon Humphries

Compassion is a deeply emotional word used to convey the strong bon...

12/06/2026

Thank God for all the humble people who serve and minister as volunteers in the life and witness of our Church. In seeing these everyday legends of other congregations, we know so many in our own who are equally worthy.

The Uniting Church in Australia warmly congratulates all members of our Church community who have been recognised in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours List.

From insightful authors and compassionate community carers to enlightening theologians and dedicated educators, 17 individuals with strong ties to the Uniting Church have been honoured for their remarkable contributions across a wide range of fields, as well as their faithful service to both the Church and the broader community.

Recipients of the King’s Birthday Honours are nominated by members of the public and assessed by the independent Council for the Order of Australia before being recommended to the Governor-General, Her Excellency Sam Mostyn AC. The process highlights the important role communities play in recognising those who serve with distinction.

We celebrate and commend each Uniting Church member awarded a medal for their outstanding dedication to the life of our nation.

Ro Allen – Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the community through social reform and human rights advocacy. Ro worked for UnitingCare Australia from 1996 to 2010, serving as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cutting Edge, and Founder, The Diversity Project at Uniting Victoria and Tasmania.

Stuart Connew – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to music, and to the church. Among a vast arrange of musical appointments, Stuart is a former organist of St Ives Uniting Church and organist and choirmaster at PLC Pymble.

Fran Doig – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through charitable organisations. A member of Wangaratta Uniting Church since 1965, she volunteers for the local Uniting Church Op Shop and Coffee, Craft and Childcare. She was also Wangaratta Citizen of the Year in 2018.

Margaret Freeman – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the church. As well as a wonderful contributor to her local church, Margaret serves as a Church Services Volunteer at Uniting Mirinjani Weston residential aged care centre.

John W. Flynn – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, to equality and accessibility, and to Auslan training and education. John attends Adelaide's Burnside City Uniting Church.

Robert Glass – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community of Ballarat. A much loved member of Brown Hill Uniting Church since 1981, Robert has also been the church’s Chairman and Council member for the last eight years. He has previously served as Treasurer of the Ballarat North Combined Churches Council.

Winwood Howard – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through a range of organisations. A member of Coffs Harbour Uniting Church, he has devoted more than 60 years to the life and mission of the Methodist and Uniting Churches. A lay preacher since 1958, he has served in leadership roles at congregational, presbytery and Synod levels, including with Wesley Central Mission. His commitment to community service also extended nationally through a decade on the Lifeline Australia Board.

Rev Emeritus Professor Phillip Hughes – Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the sociology of religion, to academia, to social cohesion, and to the community. A Uniting Church minister 1987, Phillip has made an enormous contribution to the church and theological colleges. He has also authored/co-authored 56 books in sociology of religion.

Dr Rodney Kirkpatrick – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to community history. In addition to being a respected historian and journalist, Rodney has faithfully served the Uniting Church as an Elder and Secretary at St Paul’s Uniting Church Stafford, as well as Elder and Church Newsletter Editor at Centenary Uniting Church.

Anthony (Tony) Larkin – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to secondary education, and to school sports. Tony devoted more than four decades to education at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School, a Uniting Church school, serving as teacher, Vice Principal and Principal. His leadership shaped generations of students and staff.

Anne Jillian (Jill) Oliver – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through a range of roles. An associated member of Uniting BreezeWay, she has also provided longstanding service with Rotary, including leadership roles with Alfredton Rotary Club and Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children.

Robert (Dawson) Petie – Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to industrial relations, to corporate governance, and to the community. He served as a Board Member of UnitingCare Queensland for 13 years, including as Deputy Chair from 2006–2018 and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Diana Sawyer – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the communities of Barwon Southwest. Diana devoted decades of service to the Manningham Uniting Church through leadership, youth ministry, pastoral care and community support. Today, she is still actively involved in her local community, particularly the Queenscliffe Historical Museum, where she has volunteered since 2008.

Rev Dr Noel Schultz – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the Uniting and Lutheran Churches. A respected pastor and author, he has held key leadership roles in the Uniting Church, including Director of Pastoral Care and Community Education at St Michael’s Melbourne and pastor of East Kew Ministry. He also served as President of the Uniting Church Adult Fellowship.

Enid Tink – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community of Ravensthorpe. Enid has faithfully served the Ravensthorpe Uniting Church as a member, fundraiser and active participant in the Ladies Guild. Enid’s contribution extends to numerous local organisations. She was Ravensthorpe Citizen of the Year Award in 2002.

Lois (Madge) Vanstone – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to music, and to the community. A dedicated musician and community volunteer, Madge’s service has enriched the lives. A parishioner of Wandearah Uniting Church, she has shared her musical gifts in aged care and community settings for many years and is a Life Member of the Northern Country Music Association.

Peter Whiting – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community of Adelaide. A long-standing Lay Preacher, for 52 years at Adelaide West Uniting Church and currently at the Seaford Uniting Church and Church of Christ Combined Congregation. He volunteers with Meals on Wheels and supports numerous community organisations as a pro-bono auditor.

10/06/2026

This is a great episode with a great person. Sara is the wonderful pastoral ministry leader with us at St Matthew’s Uniting Church Baulkham Hills. Sara has an amazing story of struggle and resilience.
When you hear her story, it becomes clear where her drive for compassion comes from.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes discussion of mental illness...