September 2007: Pass it on, urges X-it!

"For three years you're it - then you're X-it," said Past President Ian Tanner when he passed the mantle of President of the Uniting Church in Australia to his successor, the late Sir Ronald Wilson.

Those words are foremost in my mind as I wind up my three years as your first full-time Moderator, ready for Niall Reid to bring his special God-given gifts into his ministry as your Moderator for 2007-2010.

I thank God and the Synod for calling me in 2003 to be the Moderator-elect to succeed the Rev. Alistair Christie. I am thankful and very much privileged to have been challenged to provide leadership at such a critical time in the history of the Uniting Church - a time when the sexuality in leadership issue was causing untold tension and division, and the future of the church seemed threatened as we declined statistically as a denomination.

As a lay person who still loves serving our amazing God, I have been a very lucky servant to have been gifted with experience and opportunities to invest in the moderatorial role.

I have been enriched by my primary task of developing and articulating a vision of what the Uniting Church in Australia might and can be with the power of prayer, intentional vision and a deeper commitment to our Christian faith.

I am convinced that with God, as the God of change, the probable can be possible; especially achieving the vision of the Uniting Church in Australia being a 21st century church movement of passionate faith sharers, "moving with God, transforming community".

I was challenged in my preparation year to increase my theological awareness and eliminate "church speak" from my written and conversational language so I could be a role model to faith sharers connecting community and Jesus.

This is anything but easy for long-time church members. However I strongly assert that those two goals have accelerated my faith development, my love of God in Jesus, and vastly improved my effectiveness in presenting Jesus to the world, God's world, the community.

Just the ability to say "who is Jesus to me" in secular language has given me greater confidence to share my faith.

I have enjoyed and learned so much from my reading, my research, my conversations inside and outside the church, my involvement in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, and my visits to so many congregations and institutions over the whole Synod.

Life-long new friendships, new networks and new ideas are just a few dividends from God's call to be Moderator.

The opportunities to visit the grass roots of the church have encouraged me to see and present the future of the Uniting Church in Australia in positive terms. However I realise that much has to be done to transfer our leadership to the younger generations, so the church can move with vision now, while still valuing the mentoring wisdom of the older generations.

My life-changing time with rural congregations and communities has been an indelible lesson about resilience, teamwork, community and compassion. Out of disasters can come greater awareness of our neighbours.

Similarly, my faith and cultural study tour of Islam in Turkey and the Auburn fire which destroyed our church hall unexpectedly revealed malevolent elements in the media and in society, where racism and fear is corrupting the world and endangering communities.

Working with difference, yet recognising our unity in Jesus Christ presents the churches with the wonderful opportunity to work together to build or re-build communities. Similarly, the inclusion of leaders from other religions will accelerate community building, for we all want a peaceful and harmonious world; a world in which we all love our neighbours.

I thank everyone and all congregations for your prayers for Gill and myself, your encouraging words, your involvement in the vision development exercise, and your financial and hands-on support of the Moderator's Drought Appeal.

Let us be the Uniting Church in Australia movement, visible as community builders, sharing our faith as we "move with God, transforming community".