You are warmly invited to join us on Monday 31 July when the Hon. Bronwyn Pike, CEO of Uniting Vic. Tas., will launch For I Was Hungry: Congregations and Church Agencies in Relationship, edited by John G. Flett, Professor of Contextual Theology at Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity. Copies will be available for purchase from Uniting Academic Press.

This is a significant book for the on-going life and structure of the Uniting Church and brings together an distinguished team of contributors.

The Basis of Union - the foundational document of the Uniting Church in Australia - clearly prioritises the congregation as the 'embodiment of the church' yet also assumes the need for agencies to carry out the work and mission of the church beyond congregations. When the Basis was being devised, congregations were strong and vibrant, the voice of the church carried authority in the community, senior staff in the church's agencies - education, finance, hospitals and other caring establishments - were assumed to share and promote the faith convictions of the church.

Times have changed; and this collection of informed essays explores the consequences of changes in church and society, the growing dependence of agencies on government funding, issues of compliance, competencies, responsibilities. The key concern of For I was hungry is a division between congregations and agencies - both imposed and perceived - and asks sometimes uncomfortable questions about mission and witness, ownership and connections, oversight and responsibility, secularisation and the serious decline in local membership.

All welcome but registration essential for catering please.

Time: 3.30 – 5.00

Date: 31 July 2023

Location: Yagilaith, Pilgrim Theological College, 29 College Crescent, Parkville VIC 3052 and online via Zoom (Zoom link will be emailed at 1pm on the day of the event)