# UnitingWorld > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/UnitingWorld > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/UnitingWorld.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitingWorld > Source revision: 1304598001 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Australian church foreign aid charity}} thumb|The UnitingWorld logo '''UnitingWorld''' is the international aid and partnerships agency of the [Uniting Church in Australia](/source/Uniting_Church_in_Australia), based in Sydney Australia. As a partner of the [Australian Government](/source/Government_of_Australia), UnitingWorld receives funding to implement development and poverty alleviation programs in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.{{Cite web|url=http://dfat.gov.au/aid/who-we-work-with/ngos/Pages/list-of-australian-accredited-non-government-organisations.aspx|title=List of Australian accredited non-government organisations (NGOs)|website=Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade|language=en-us|access-date=2019-07-19}}{{Cite web|url=https://uniting.church/b15-unitingworld/|title=UnitingWorld report to Uniting Church in Australia Triennial Assembly|date=2018|website=Uniting Church in Australia Assembly|access-date=11 November 2019|archive-date=12 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112012455/https://uniting.church/b15-unitingworld/|url-status=dead}} == History == The Uniting Church in Australia was established when most congregations of the [Methodist Church of Australasia](/source/Methodist_Church_of_Australasia), the [Congregational Union of Australia](/source/Congregational_Union_of_Australia) and most of the [Presbyterian Church of Australia](/source/Presbyterian_Church_of_Australia) united in June 1977. Each of these Churches had established their own overseas mission board by the 1850s: the Methodist Overseas Missions (MOM), the [London Missionary Society](/source/London_Missionary_Society) (LMS) and the Presbyterian Board of Ecumenical Relations and Mission (BOEMAR). At the time of union, these mission boards merged to form the Commission for World Mission, which eventually became Uniting International Mission (UIM).{{Cite book|title=The Uniting Church in Australia : the first 25 years|date=2003|publisher=Circa |editor=Emilsen, William W. |editor2=Emilsen, Susan E. |isbn=0958093822|location=Armagale, Vic.|pages=17–19|oclc=54072357}} In July 2000, Uniting Church Overseas Aid (UCOA) was established as a separate aid and community development agency of the Uniting Church in Australia.{{Cite book|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/108968|title=Overseas aid news|date=2002|publisher=Uniting Church Overseas Aid|editor-last=Uniting Church Overseas Aid (Australia)|location=Sydney}} UCOA and UIM worked in tandem, but under separate mandates; UCOA to deliver development projects and humanitarian aid alongside partner churches;{{Cite web|url=https://assembly.uca.org.au/images/stories/ASCMinutes/2005/asc0507attachb.pdf|title=MANDATE FOR UNITING CHURCH OVERSEAS AID|date=July 2005|access-date=6 November 2019|archive-date=2 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302094757/https://assembly.uca.org.au/images/stories/ASCMinutes/2005/asc0507attachb.pdf|url-status=dead}} UIM to support church leadership, advocacy and Christian discipleship within partner communities. In 2008, these agencies merged under the name 'UnitingWorld', and the twofold mandate remains. Today, UnitingWorld works in partnership with 22 overseas church denominations to support more than 250,000 people a year through sustainable [community development](/source/community_development) projects.{{Cite web |title=UnitingWorld Annual Report 2023 |url=https://unitingworld.org.au/annual-report-fy23/ |website=UnitingWorld}} == Partnership == The three denominations that united to form the Uniting Church in Australia each brought their own historic links with overseas churches and these connections have continued.{{Cite book|title=Crossing borders : shaping faith, ministry and identity in multicultural Australia|editor1=Helen Richmond |editor2=Myong Duk Yang|date=2006|publisher=Openbook Australia|isbn=1864072474|location=Sydney|pages=141–142|oclc=224450283}} Uniting Church members were still working in partner churches up until the 1970s, but the [decolonization of Oceania](/source/decolonization_of_Oceania) and the Asia Pacific and shifts in the theology of mission began to reshape how people engaged with partner churches. The various churches often decolonized even before national independence, with founding denominations coming to prefer independent indigenous churches over a traditional missionary approach.{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305348651|title="UnitingWorld: Partnership for effective involvement in mission including development"|last=Enright, K & Ware V|date=2012|website=ResearchGate|language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}} This allowed relationships between the Uniting Church in Australia and churches overseas to mature from dependency (for leadership, resources and funding) into interdependence and partnership.{{Cite book|title=Mission and development : God's work or good works?|date=2011|publisher=Continuum|editor=Clarke, Matthew |isbn=9781441153234|location=New York|pages=167–186|oclc=778454545}} == Mission and program areas == UnitingWorld's mission is to drive collaboration with the global Church to strengthen its shared ministry and address the causes and consequences of poverty, violence and injustice.{{Cite web|url=https://uniting.church/b15-unitingworld/|title=UnitingWorld report to Uniting Church in Australia Triennial Assembly|website=Uniting Church in Australia Assembly|access-date=11 November 2019|archive-date=12 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112012455/https://uniting.church/b15-unitingworld/|url-status=dead}} It focuses on five areas: Poverty alleviation, gender equality, leadership, climate change and disaster risk reduction, and emergency response. Recently, UnitingWorld has been supporting partner churches in the Pacific to develop contextual theologies for development in the areas of gender equality,{{Cite web|url=https://auspng.lowyinstitute.org/article/unlocking-gate-churches-agents-transformative-social-change/|title=Unlocking the gate: Churches as agents of transformative social change {{!}} Aus-PNG Network|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-12|archive-date=2019-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112012454/https://auspng.lowyinstitute.org/article/unlocking-gate-churches-agents-transformative-social-change/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-s-aid-png-need-gendered-approach|title=Australia's aid in PNG: the need for a gendered approach|website=www.lowyinstitute.org|language=en|access-date=2019-11-12}} disaster resilience and climate change,{{Cite book|title=A Theology of Disaster Resilience in a Changing Climate|publisher=Church Agencies Network Disaster Operations|year=2019|isbn=978-0-646-80858-1|location=Australia}} and child protection.{{Cite book|title=Child Protection and Care|last=Bird|first=Siera|publisher=UnitingWorld|year=2019|isbn=978-0-646-81035-5|location=Australia}} == National Director == Dr. Sureka Goringe has been the National Director of UnitingWorld since July 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.unitingworld.org.au/unitingworld-welcomes-new-national-director/|title=UnitingWorld welcomes new National Director|date=2017-07-11|website=UnitingWorld|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-07-19}}{{update-inline|ref is from 2019, is this person still the Director?|date=October 2024}} == See also == * [Christian Conference of Asia](/source/Christian_Conference_of_Asia) * [Pacific Conference of Churches](/source/Pacific_Conference_of_Churches) * [The Wayside Chapel](/source/Wayside_Chapel) * [UnitingCare Australia](/source/UnitingCare_Australia) * [Wesley Mission](/source/Wesley_Mission) * [World Council of Churches](/source/World_Council_of_Churches) == References == {{reflist}} == External links == * [https://www.unitingworld.org.au/ UnitingWorld] * [https://assembly.uca.org.au/ Uniting Church in Australia] Category:Charities based in Australia Category:Christian charities Category:Development charities based in Australia Category:International development agencies Category:Uniting Church in Australia --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [UnitingWorld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitingWorld) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitingWorld?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.