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an inclusive church

President John Mavor told a press conference that the Assembly had endorsed the Uniting Church as an inclusive church, and that gay and lesbian people were very welcome.

• official policy on homosexuality

• Mavor on immigration

"We must try to stand in the shoes of those who have lost touch with the church. We sometimes hide the word of grace,"

"We must learn also to stand in the shoes of those who are different from us or who think differently from us."

"We should try to stand in the shoes of those who are alienated by injustice. Too often we are blinded by our comfort. But when we are confronted by Jesus, we must become signs of grace for God's love and justice for others."

Rev. Pamela A Kerr, Moderator of the Uniting Church in Victoria.

"People can disagree about issues but still come away respecting each other," said Rev Christine Bayliss-Kelly. It's a feature of the sexuality task group she has noticed, too. "Each time we've met with three or four [task group members], they've really listened to each other. They're very good at respecting each other's views." As for the issue itself, she points to both the areas where people agree and to what Jesus said about homosexuality: "His silence is deafening to me. That means I can live with the uncertainty, trusting that somehow God has it in hand."

"Central to Jesus' teaching ministry was the Reign of God. Jesus called people into friendship with God and to live as a community of friends. This is a neglected dimension of Jesus' teaching which again, we believe, might bear much fruit in our thinking about sexuality and the nature of the church." Rev. Alistair Macrae, Chairperson Assembly Task Group on Sexuality

The day Rev Dr Dorothy McRae McMahon acknowledged the reality of her sexuality was the day she felt whole and integrated for the first time in her life. "I had an unutterable experience of the grace of God," the Assembly's Director of Mission said. "I experienced affirmation of my creation."

One dilemna for the Uniting Church is that many Evangelicals, Aborigines and members of ethnic minorities attracted by its social activism are strongly opposed to homosexuality.

"The question of sexuality has become the dividing issue, just as the dividing issue in the nineteenth century was race."
former Dean of Harvard Divinity School, Bishop Krister Stendahl

"I do not think that the total rejection of of the practice of gay sexuality can be morally sustained"
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, Tony Coady

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