22 April 2026

National Update

Your snapshot of the Uniting Church in Australia

Featured Story

Liturgical Renewal Project gets underway

The National Assembly is embarking on an important season of reflection and renewal in worship. A new Liturgical Renewal Project is now underway, inviting the whole of the Uniting Church in Australia to help shape how we pray, gather and express our faith into the future.

Building on the Church’s long-standing commitment to “ordered liberty” in worship, the project will explore refreshed resources, including a new resource of worship, attentive to our intercultural, covenanting and diverse identity.

Through consultation, theological reflection and shared discernment, members are encouraged to contribute their voices as together we reimagine worship that is faithful to tradition, responsive to context, and open to the Spirit’s leading.

Learn more

COMMEMORATION

ANZAC Day message and prayer from Rev Matthew Stuart

As Australia commemorates ANZAC Day this Saturday, Army Chaplain and Uniting Church Minister Rev Matthew Stuart offers a reflective video message on remembrance, lament and hope. He names the reality of violence in our world and the difficulty of prayer in such times, inviting us instead to honest lament: “Where are you, Lord?” Yet he also points us to Christ, the Prince of Peace, and the unexpected places God is found - among those who serve, suffer and speak peace.

PRESIDENT

President’s reflection: Listening to the Household of God

Last week, President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Charissa Suli attended the Pacific Conference of Churches in Fiji, where she listened to the household of God from across the Pacific. She has written a reflection of her experience, highlighting the wisdom, pain and hope shared among Pacific churches. She challenges us to be in genuine communion with the body of Christ across the region, listening, learning and walking together.

OUR PEOPLE

Easter Madness provides a place to belong

Earlier this month, around 170 young people gathered for Easter Madness 2026 on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, exploring what it means to truly belong. Through worship, friendship and honest conversation, participants reflected on belonging to Jesus, community and God’s mission – discovering they are never alone, but part of a loving, faith-filled family.

ECUMENICAL

Resource available for upcoming Pacific Day of Prayer

The National Council of Churches in Australia has released a liturgical resource for the Pacific Day of Prayer on 1 May. Prepared by the Papua New Guinea Council of Churches, they reflect Papua New Guinea’s Jubilee year and invite the region into prayer for unity, healing and restoration under the theme, “Mystery of Communion for National Peace, Healing and Restoration”.

Join The Wesley Centre’s online seminar, Ethics of Images: Deepfakes, AI, and Abuse, next Wednesday night, 29 April. Hear from Lizzie O’Shea and Mark Zirnsak, as they unpack harms, legal challenges, and the urgent quest for a safer digital world.
In a divided and fear-fuelled world, art can open new perspectives. The Teeny-weeny Gallerini outside Port Adelaide Uniting Church sparks conversation and connection between strangers, while inviting people inside to ask questions about life and faith. Read more in the Synod of SA’s latest New Times.
ICYMI: This Friday marks 111 years since the beginning of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, when approximately 1.5 million Armenian Christians were killed between 1915 and 1923. Retired Uniting Church Minister Rev Dr Krikor Youmshajekian has written this prayer for use in commemorations across the church and wider community.

April
24 Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
25 ANZAC Day

May
17-24 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
21 Net Zero Roundtable #1
24 Pentecost
26 Sorry Day
27 National Reconciliation Week (until 3 June)
31 Trinity Sunday

June
14-20 Refugee Week
16 Net Zero Roundtable #2
22 49th Anniversary of the Uniting Church in Australia
28 UnitingWorld Sunday

Click here for the Uniting Church Assembly 2026 calendar.

ACT: Family & Young People’s Ministry Facilitator - Gungahlin UC

NSW: Chaplain - Wesley Mission

NSW: Lay Pastor - Lithgow Parish

NSW: Banking Associate - Uniting Financial Services

NT: Minister - Living Water UC

NT: Remote Ministry Project Officer - Northern Synod

NT: Student Services Officer - Nungalinya College

QLD: Ministry Agent - Rosewood/Walloon UC and Fernvale UC

QLD: Minister - Maranoa UC

QLD: Minister - Granite Belt Parish

QLD: Youth & Children’s Pastor - Chermside Kedron Community Church

SA: Community Minister - City View UC

SA: Service Desk Officer - Uniting Communities

VIC: Bush Chaplain (High Country) - Frontier Services

VIC: Park Manager - Lake Tyers Camp & Caravan Park

VIC: Administration Officer - Uniting Vic.Tas

TAS: Sales Specialist, Tadpac - Uniting Vic.Tas

WA: Minister - Lighthouse Church Geraldton

WA: Minister - Wagin Group of Congregations

WA: Social Justice Officer - Synod of WA

Have a role you’d like us to advertise? Send us the details!

Join us in prayer for...

members of the Uniting Church to enthusiastically partake in the Liturgical Renewal Project. Guide those leading the project with God’s wisdom.
ANZAC Day services across Australia this weekend.
building stronger and authentic relationships with Pacific churches. May we listen, learn and walk together.
the young people of our church, particularly those who attended Easter Madness 2026. May God’s Spirit continue to guide each of them into right relationship with Christ and strengthen them in their faith.
Belarus, Moldova and Russia as part of the WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle.