An Informed Faith Adapted from an article by Rev John T Squires
The exercise by men and women of the gifts God bestows upon them: celebrating women in leadership in the Uniting Church.
The National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia recently installed the Rev. Sharon Hollis as President of the Assembly for the next three years (2021–24). At the same meeting (being held online because of the COVID pandemic), members of the Assembly elected a female PresidentElect, the Rev Charissa Suli, who will serve as President-Elect for three years, and then she will take up the position of President in July 2024. For the next three years, the President, the Past President, and the President-Elect will all be females: the Rev Sharon Hollis, Dr Deidre Palmer, and the Rev Charissa Suli, respectively. In addition, the current General Secretary of the Assembly is also female: Colleen Geyer. Her term has just been extended by the current Assembly. It is a striking symbol, when considering the national leadership of Christian churches across Australia, that all of our key leadership are female. The symbolism is potent, when Heads of Churches gather: women in such ranks have, to this point, been somewhat rare. The Uniting Church contribution
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has been, and will continue to be, a reminder, of the importance of providing a female perspective when issues of national social and political importance are being considered. (It’s a message that our national political leadership seems incapable of hearing and implementing—despite the power of the #EnoughIsEnough movement from earlier this year.) Women in leadership is not an unusual thing for the UCA. Women have served in leadership roles in a number of denominations.
But amongst the historic mainstream denominations, the Uniting Church stands out from Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, with many more women stepping forward into leadership. The same comparisons can be drawn with Baptist, Church of Christ, and Pentecostal churches over the past half century. This is completely consistent with the affirmation made in the Basis of Union— the document on which the formation of the Uniting Church was based. Paragraph 13, after recognising the existing ministries in the three participating denominations at the time of union, states, ‘The Uniting Church will thereafter provide for the exercise by men and women of the gifts
