NSW Ecumenical Council

- Updated 1st October 2014 The NSW Ecumenical Council comprises of fifteen churches in the state of New South Wales and
the Australian Capital Territory. Its ecumenical endeavour is about churches working together in
mission. This mission has three foundations: maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of
peace [Ephesians 4: 3], being committed to the Gospel and to proclaiming it together, and living
out the implications of the Gospel for service in the world.
The Council is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy
Act. This policy outlines how the Council uses and manages personal information provided to or
collected by it. The Council may from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take
account of new laws and technology, changes to the Councils operations and practices and to
make sure it remains appropriate to the changing school environment. The Council does not
disclose personal information except within the bounds of legislation. For security reasons
personal information is not accessible from the Internet.
The mission of the NSW Ecumenical Council is spelt out in its STATEMENT OF OBJECTS

Basis
The Council is based on the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour
according to the scriptures and the readiness of the churches to fulfil their common calling to the
glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Objects
The Council exists:
o to bear witness to the unity of the Church as both gift and calling and, in the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, to promote a more profound communion-Koinonia; to be an instrument of the
churches in New South Wales whereby they may grow in the understanding and fulfilment of
their common calling to unity and to mission; to facilitate the quest for unity in the Church by
enabling the churches
o to address together causes of division in the faith and order of the Church, and
o to pray together, acknowledging their common heritage in worship; to encourage understanding
of, and participation in, the world-wide mission of God; to resource and support the churches in
that mission, so that, by joint study, consultation, reflection and action,
o they may confront men and women more authentically with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
o they may respond more effectively to human need and to the scriptural imperative to seek
justice for people everywhere; to bear witness to the gospel by promoting dialogue with people
of other faiths and ideologies in New South Wales.

Member Churches

Anglican Church

Antiochian Orthodox Church

Armenian Apostolic Church

Assyrian Church of the East

The Bruderhof

Congregational Federation
of NSW

Greek Orthodox Church

Indian Orthodox Church

Coptic Orthodox Church

Lutheran Church of NSW /

NSW District

Mar Thoma Church

Syrian Orthodox Church

The Salvation Army

Religious Society of Friends

Uniting Church Synod

of NSW and the ACT

Initiatives
NSW Ecumenical Council is involved in many initiatives such as Peace & Justice, Taize
Pilgrimage, Theological Reflections and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander.
Peace and Justice
This Commission gives advice to the Executive and Council on a wide range of matters related to
issues of Peace and Justice. Its membership comprises people with skills and commitment to
many of these areas and it receives reports at each meeting on projects and programs which the
Ecumenical Council supports. Examples are as follows:
o Asylum Seekers and Refugee: Jo Lee, from the House of Welcome highlighted that in 2011
there were 15.2 million refugees and 900,000 asylum seeker applications had been made
internationally. This was to highlight the poor response of Australia where 4,700 visas had been
granted to boat arrivals. There has been an increase of asylum seekers in the community with
between 300-400 are released per month. This puts pressure on them and organisations that
assist. They have work right but no other rights and there is the risk of homelessness. HOW
now has 16 houses in Sydney and 7 case workers.
o Peace-Making: The Council has supported the annual observance of the International Day of
Prayer for Peace on September 21, which is held at St Davids Uniting Church, Lindfield.
Information was given about the WCC assembly to be help in Busan, South Korea, with the
theme, God of Life, Lead us to Justice and Peace, in October/November 2013 and there was
some discussion to what might be planned for Sydney. Promotion was given to the NCCA
Statement for Social Justice Sunday 30 September 2012 on the topic, Peace in the
Marketplace So all may live in dignity. It has contributions from several member churches and
is available on the NCCA website
o Caring for Creation: the Commission has encouraged the Council to study work being done
within member churches on matters of caring for Gods creation. Reports have been distributed
and action proposed
o Canberra Christians for an Ethical Society: the Commission receives reports on the program
offered to members of the public in Canberra covering many contemporary issues. These are
shared with the Council through reports to the Executive Committee.
The P & J Commission has recently produced a list of Church Agencies involved programs of
peace and justice (see separate entry on website).

Taize Pilgrimage
A parable of community, the ecumenical community of Taize brothers located in France has
long been a site of pilgrimage for young people from all parts of the world. Taize shares the
values of social justice and the prayer of the heart, and is perhaps most famous for its music
meditative chants and can be sung in any language.
Over several years the NSW Ecumenical Council has hosted visits from a Brother from the Taize
Community in France, as part of our churches common commitment to a spirituality of peace and
reconciliation.
This relationship takes different forms from year to year: including special events in schools,
churches, quiet days and retreats, and conversations with people of all kinds of different
backgrounds. Always the intention is not to create a Taize movement here but to enable seeds of
hope to be planted which may encourage Australians to share the kind of pilgrimage of trust in
Christ for which the Taize community prays and lives out daily. The gifts which the this continuing
relationship has given to many include:

o
o
o
o
o

the beautiful music of Taize, which touches us deep within, and draws us to closer
comm_UNION_ with God and each other;
the living example of prayer and service, which encourages us to run, embracingly towards the
Lord;
the words from Taize: the letters, the prayers, the stories, which stir us to contemplate the
richness of faith, and to convert these contemplations into action;
the space of Taize, that special refuge in the French countryside, where so many are welcomed
with warmth, openness and love;
the essence of Taize, which unites us, which draws us into comm_UNION_, which lights our
lives and which touches our hearts. We pray for the Taize community as it continues this
beautiful and sacred mission. We rejoice in the ministry of the Taize community, which
encourages us to embody Christs example. May the spirit of Taize continue to enrich us and
this world. May hope, love and peace burst forth. Amen

Theological Reflections
The NSW Ecumenical Council is a means by which its member churches seek to celebrate and to
manifest their unity.
To this end, the Council:
o provides a forum in which the churches may grow together in their understanding and
proclamation of the Gospel;
o provides appropriate opportunities for churches to explore theological and ecclesiological
issues, and to come to a deeper understanding of each other and grow towards a richer
convergence with each other;
o provides the means for considering and developing more inclusive models of community and
ministry, especially reflecting on the role of women in our churches;
o provide resources designed to facilitate such theological reflection in local contexts;
o provide appropriate opportunities to explore theological and ecclesiological issues relating to
other faiths. The Council also provides a range of resources to assist. These include the
Proclamation for the Practice of Pulpit Exchange.
This Commission provides opportunities for the Council to reflect on issues related to the
theological, biblical and historical basis of ecumenism and recommend contemporary ways in
which these foundations can be used for building structures through which the churches can
achieve the goal of Christian unity. An excellent example of the stimulus which can be provided is
the study of a recent paper by the Revd Dr Michael Kinnamon on Conciliar Ecumenism
Today, which the Theological Reflection Commission began at its meeting in November 2012.
Kinnamon first addresses the Theological Foundation of Ecumenism, and writes:
Before talking specifically about councils, we should acknowledge the broader theological
context. Three convictions seem particularly significant, and may be sufficient to stimulate our
conversation.
1. The Chief Actor in the ecumenical movement is the creator God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, and
present through the Holy Spirit. Whenever the movement moves, it is not our achievement
that we celebrate, but Gods grace and power for which we give thanks.
2. Gods purpose (mission) is the wholeness, the shalom, of all creation; and God has called forth
the church, the communion of Christs disciples, to be a sign, instrument, and foretaste of this
divine mission. It follows that the ecumenical movement is ultimately concerned with the
wholeness of the world and penultimately concerned with the wholeness of the church. (This
reordering of the sequence of priorities [God-world-church, rather than God-church-world]
represents a significant shift in ecumenical theology over the past forty years.)

3. Unity is a key mark of the church, a characteristic that is crucial to its participation in Gods
mission. The churchs unity, consistent with the first point (above), is not our achievement. In
the words of the Toronto Statement, the churches which confess Jesus Christ as incarnate Lord
do not have to create their unity; it is a gift of God. But they know that it is their duty to make
common cause in the search for the expression of that unity in work and life. The task of the
ecumenical movement, therefore, is to address divisions of human making in order that Gods
gift of reconciled community may be visible to the world, to be the setting for the churches to
become what they are, the one body of Christ, in order that together they may witness to Gods
will for righteousness and peace throughout creation.
He then poses some warnings about inadvisable assumptions about ecumenical councils:
1. An overemphasis on councils as churches together runs the risk of diminishing their potential
for prophetic, pioneering witness. A council is both a fellowship of the churches and a
distinctive, structured organization, both a community of the churches and an instrument of the
ecumenical movement. As such, said Lukas Vischer at the 1971 consultation, a council should
be a thorn in the flesh of the churches, prodding them to go beyond what they initially see as
their agenda. But the challenge (the thorn) will likely be resisted unless the churches recognize
that it comes, ultimately, from the mutual commitments they have made.
2. An overemphasis on the unity agenda runs the risk of diminishing the integrative, multidimensional character of councils of churches. Councils, unlike church union dialogues or
single-issue coalitions, are the place where all of the streams of the movementjustice, service,
mission, worship, education, as well as church unityfind expression and are brought into
relation with one another. To say it another way, unity is central to the agenda of councils so
long as we recognise that the churches are divided not only by the traditional themes of Faith
and Order (e.g., sacraments, ministry, and authority) but also by racism, violence, poverty, and
such questions as to how Christians best witness to Christ in an interfaith world.
Issues such as these are considered at Commission meetings, and regular reports given to the
Ecumenical Council and its Executive. A current project of the Commission is related
to Reflective Ecumenism.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander

The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission of NSW Ecumenical Council exists to:
o Provide a forum for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples to speak and take action on
issues of faith, mission and evangelism; of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander spirituality and
theology; and of social justice and land rights
o Serve as a united voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in New South Wales
and the Australian Capital Territory, in consultation with ACT Churches Council
o Help rebuild self-esteem, pride and dignity within all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Communities
o Promote harmony, justice and understanding between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples and the wider community of NSW and the ACT
o Provide a basis for further political action by church-related Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
groups, other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations, and the member
churches of the NSW Ecumenical Council
o Share in furthering the objectives and promoting the programs of the churches in New South
Wales and the Australian Capital Territory
Indigenous members of several churches are active in the formation of this new Commission.
http://www.nswec.org.au/