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CHAIRPERSONS OF COMMITTEES
NOMINATIONS
Nominee – Admission of Ministers Committee
Chairperson
Rev Dr John A Evans
John has been the chairperson of the Committee since its
reconstitution as the Admission of Ministers Committee in
2012. Prior to that he has served on the former Assembly
Reception of Ministers Committee. He led the review of the
reception of ministers process that resulted in the current
structure being adopted at the 2012 Assembly.
John brings an extensive and wide experience of the
Church. He has served in fours synods, with congregational
and various other appointments, including being the
General Secretary of the Western Australian Synod. He
currently is in placement at the Church of All Nations,
Carlton, Victoria.
Nominee – Adult Fellowship National Committee
Chairperson
Mrs Margaret Pedler
I was born at Glenelg in South Australia in 1948, one of the
“baby boomers” generation. I moved to Prospect when I
was a teenager and worshipped at Prospect North
Methodist Church. After I left school I was employed at
A.B.C. Radio as a Secretary to the head of Rural
Department. I married my husband, Daryl, in 1970 and
moved to Cummins on Eyre Peninsula in 1974. Our two
children Nigel and Naomi were born whilst we lived in
Cummins. We moved back to Adelaide in 1979 and
attended the Blackwood Uniting Church.
We moved to Warrnambool in 1987. I joined the State
Council as a Presbytery Representative in 2001. In 2003 we
moved to Hazelwood North in Gippsland and worshipped at
Traralgon Uniting Church. Whilst in Gippsland I served on
the Church Council, a member of Presbytery and continued
on the State UCAF Council as a representative. I was State
President in 2007 and 2008 which was a thoroughly
enjoyable experience.
In 2012 we moved back to Warrnambool due to my
husband’s employment. Since being back here I continued
on State Council as Treasurer and as a member of the
“NetWork” committee. I am involved with our local UCAF
group, which is a very important part of my church life. am
also Secretary of the Hopkins Region Admin Group which is
an administration group for all the churches in our Region. I
have just recently become a member of Presbytery again.
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
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Nominee – Historical Reference Committee
Chairperson - tba
Nominee – Frontier Services Chairperson
Mr Jim Mein
AM, FCA, FCPA, FAIM, FLGAA. Currently a Board member
of Frontier Services Interim Board and Wesley Community
Services Ltd (NSW and ACT Synod); National Coordinator
of UCA responses to Charities Reforms; Member of the
Affinity Intercultural Foundation Advisory Board and MLC
School Burwood (and Treasurer); Past Moderator of the
Synod of NSW &ACT and past Executive Director of that
Synod’s Uniting Resources and Uniting Financial Services;
past member of the Assembly Standing Committee 1994 to
2006 and an observer member in 2005-2007; and many
other roles in aged care, schools, community services,
congregations and the like.
Nominee – UnitingWorld
Relief and Development Chairperson
Rev John Ruhle
Work History
2009- present
Minister of the Word at The Gap UCA
Full time placement involved in all aspects of Team Ministry
and in the life of a growing, vibrant urban congregation
2012 – present
Member of Pastoral Relations Committee of the Moreton
Rivers Presbytery
2005 – 2008
Lay Education and Discipleship Facilitator
Employed as a member of the Ministry Team in the Mid
Lachlan Mission Area based in Forbes, central NSW.
Focus on team ministry and training and equipping of lay
people.
2009 – present
Minister of the Word at The Gap Uniting Church Full time
placement involved in all aspects of Team Ministry and in
the life of a growing, vibrant urban congregation.
2012 to present
Member of Pastoral Relations Committee of the Moreton
Rivers Presbytery
2005 - 2008
Lay Education and Discipleship Facilitator Employed as a
member of the Ministry Team in the Mid Lachlan Mission
Area based in Forbes, central NSW. Focus on team ministry
and training and equipping of lay people.
1997 - 2003
Rural Bank Positions
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
Started banking as a rural graduate with the NAB and
finished as a Rural Bank Manager with Suncorp managing
branch staff and a $50 million portfolio of clients.
UnitingWorld / NGO Experience:
2014 to present
Chair of the UnitingWorld Relief and Development National
Committee
2012 to 2014
Chair of the International Programs Committee of
UnitingWorld Relief and Development
2006 to present
Member of UnitingWorld Relief and Development National
Committee During this time I have also chaired the
International Programs Committee and I am the current
acting chair for the National Committee
2009 to present
Chair of the Timor Children’s Foundation
The foundation is a not for profit Qld based group who have
been supporting work in East Timor for over 20 years. We
currently support a scholarships program and also a
children’s home in East Timor.
Nominee – UnitingWorld
Church Connections Chairperson
Andrew Roderick Glenn
Work History:
1975
Lecturer in Microbiology and Biochemistry at
Murdoch University in Perth
1979
Senior Lecturer
1985
Associate Professor
1993
Personal Chair as Professor
1994
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research).
1998 Vice President (Research) and Pro Vice Chancellor
(Research) at the University of Tasmania.
2007 Retired and made Emeritus Professor by the
University of Tasmania
Governance / Consulting Experience:
Member of close to twenty company boards in the research
and technology or educational services sectors.
Chaired company boards
Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Consulting work advising universities or state governments
around the country on research management
Uniting Church involvement:
Confirmed in the Methodist Church in Adelaide
Commissioned as a lay preacher in the Uniting Church in
1990
Member of the Uniting Church in Australia since the time of
union
Chair of the Ministerial Education Board in Western
Australia
Chairperson of the Presbytery of Tasmania
Member of the Assembly Standing Committee
Currently part of the Major Strategic Review of the synod of
VicTas
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
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Member of the National Reference Committee of Uniting
Justice
Member of the Hobart North congregation in Tasmania.
UnitingWorld Experience:
Chaired the Church Connections National Committee for
over two years
Nominee – Formation, Education and Discipleship
Chairperson
Rev Dr Ian Price
Rev Dr Ian price was ordained in 1978, and has served in
three parishes. He was briefly the Executive Director of the
Board of Education in NSW, before returning to Adelaide,
taking up the post of Associate Director of MediaCom. In
2002, he was called to the position of Executive Officer of
the Mission Resourcing Network in the UCA in SA. He held
the position for nine years. He was then appointed to the
role of Strategy and Planning Officer for the UCA in SA,
simultaneously taking up the role of CEO of MediaCom
where he is currently. Ian is the chairperson of the
Formation, Education and Discipleship Working group of the
Assembly and has served on the Assembly Standing
Committee for the last three years.
Ian is passionate about resourcing the church. Involved in
the founding of Seasons of the Spirit, he has also assisted
in developing a number of resources for pastoral care;
stewardship and mission funding; worship and Christian
education. Above all else, he is concerned to help local
congregations see members grow deeper in their
discipleship, spirituality and personal mission, as
congregations become vibrant and vital communities in
Christ serving God's mission.
Nominee – Legal Reference Committee Chairperson
Mr Warwick van Ede
Warwick has been a member of the ALRC for over 15
years, is a previous member of the NSWACT Property
Trust, was formerly the legal adviser to the NSWACT
Committee for Discipline, and was the founding Convenor
of Appeal Panels for the NSWACT Synod. He is a lawyer of
over 20 years experience, currently practising with Emil
Ford Lawyers, Sydney.
Nominee – Defence Force Chaplaincy Convenor
Rev Dr Murray Earl
Murray Earl is an ordained minister of the Uniting Church.
He has served the church in rural and city ministries and
has been an Air Force chaplain for over twenty years. After
some reserve service, he discharged from the ADF in 2013
and is currently the RACS member for the Uniting Church
and Convenor of the UCA DFCC. He lives in Port
McDonnell South Australia, leads services in country
churches, and maintains ongoing connections to the ADF
and UCA Chaplains. Murray is married to Jenny.
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
Nominee – Theology and Discipleship Convenors’
Forum Chairperson
Rev Carolyn Thornley
Rev Carolyn Thornley has been the chairperson of the
Theology and Discipleship Unit over the past triennium and
is willing to continue in the role. She is Dean of Candidates
at United Theological College and has been the acting
principal. Before ministry she was a teacher in New
Zealand, Fiji and Australia. She has served in
congregations and as Presbytery Minister of Parramatta
Nepean Presbytery. She is an accredited supervisor of
ministry practice. She has served on the Australian Council
of Churches Overseas Programs Committee, the NSW
Ecumenical Council, Uniting International Mission
Reference Group and the UCOA Board. She chairs the
Conveners’ meetings which bring together the conveners of
a number of working groups in order to foster
communication and co-operation.
Nominee – Multicultural and Cross-cultural Ministry
Chairperson
Rev Kisoo Jang
Kisoo is and experienced and respected Minister of Korean
background. He has been the Presbytery Minister for the
Korean Presbytery, served in several Congregational
settings, planted new communities, assisted in developing
new forms of Cross-cultural education, served on every
Council of the Church, and developed excellent networks
among colleagues, both within and beyond the Church. His
gentle demeanour and deep wisdom have earned him the
respect of people across cultures. He first served on the
National Reference Committee as a translator-interpreter
and he is able to understand the subtleties of intercultural
communication. Kisoo is currently the Minister-in-Placement
at the Han-bit Korean Church in Box Hill, Melbourne. He
has also served in Placements in NSW, supply in South
Australia, and consulted in other Synods. He has a good
grasp of the National context.
Nominee – Church Polity Chairperson - tba
Nominee – UnitingJustice Chairperson
Dr Deidre Palmer
Dr Deidre Palmer is currently serving as Moderator of the
Uniting Church in South Australia. She will conclude this
placement on October 30, 2016.
Deidre is a senior lecturer in Christian Education for the
School of Theology of Flinders University and the Adelaide
College of Divinity. She is currently an adjunct faculty
member for Uniting College.
Deidre is also a social worker. Prior to becoming Moderator,
she worked part-time for four and a half years as a
counsellor with UnitingCommunities in their Childhood
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Sexual Abuse Counselling team. She is a member of
Rosefield Uniting Church.
Deidre is very much shaped by and passionately committed
to the Uniting Church’s understanding that our participation
in God’s mission in the world calls us to act justly and work
in solidarity with those who have been denied justice.
Deidre believes that the hope which shapes us as a church
is God’s vision, revealed in Jesus Christ, of a world of peace
with justice, compassion, love and reconciliation.
Deidre is proud that the Uniting Church has embodied this
hope in many ways, in our advocacy for asylum seekers
and refugees; in addressing poverty locally, nationally and
globally; in seeking to live in ways that are nonviolent and
working for peace; in developing approaches to the
environment and our earth that reflect God’s care for the
creation. Deidre’s particular interests include justice for First
Peoples, domestic violence and age and gender
discrimination.
Deidre has been involved with various aspects of the life of
the Assembly of the Uniting Church over the past 30 years,
having previously served on a number of committees
including the Uniting Education Reference Group, the Board
of Coolamon College, the Commission for Mission, Church
Polity Reference Committee and as Chair of the Ministerial
Education Commission. Deidre currently serves as a
member of the Assembly Standing Committee,
the Formation, Education and Discipleship Working Group
and
the National Task Group responding to the Royal
Commission.
Deidre would be delighted to support the work of the
Assembly and its justice unit through serving as Chair of the
UnitingJustice Australia Reference Committee.
Nominee – UnitingCare Chairperson
Mr Peter Bicknell
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:
BA. M Soc Admin. JP
CURRENT INVOLVEMENT
Chair UnitingCare Australia National Committee
Member 1995, Chair 2006-2015
Chair Portway Housing Association Inc
Member 1993, Chair 2007-15
Chair Adelaide Brighton Cement Community Liaison Group
2006 -15
Chair; Energy Industry Ombudsman (SA) Board
Member Uniting/Methodist Church since 1962
Recent Involvements
Chair UnitingCare Wesley Port Adelaide Inc Member 1993,
Chair 2007-2014
Mental Health Commissioner, Australian Government
Mental Health Commission
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
INTERESTS Family, Social Inclusion, Housing, Primary
Health, Mental Health, Child & Family policy & services,
Consumer issues, Education in disadvantaged areas, sport
and Christian community service.
Nominee – National Working Group on Doctrine
Convenor
Rev Alistair Macrae
Rev Alistair Macrae has been the convenor of the Doctrine
working group over the past triennium and is willing to
continue in the role. He is minister of Wesley Uniting
Church in Melbourne. He was President of the Uniting
Church from 2009-2012. He served as the executive
director of the Uniting church Centre for Theology and
Ministry in Melbourne 2004 – 2009. He was Moderator of
the Victoria and Tasmania Synod from 2000 – 2003.
Previous to that he served in rural, regional and inner city
congregational placements. He has degrees in Arts,
Theology and Philosophy from Melbourne and Dublin.
Alistair brings wide experience in the life of the church to the
Doctrine working group as it seeks to resource the whole
church.
Nominee – National Working Group on Worship
Convenor
Rev Dr Graham Vawser
Graham was ordained into the Methodist ministry on 22
October, 1975, and has been a minister of the Word in the
Uniting Church since inauguration.
His academic qualifications are as follows:
2012 Doctor of Philosophy (Flinders University of SA
2000 Master of Theology (Flinders University of SA).
Thesis: ‘The Uniting Church commits its ministers to preach’
(BoU, Para 5): a review of the foundational and historical
documents of the Uniting Church in Australia, identifying the
place and importance of preaching in the life of that Church.
1995 Master of Theology (Qualifying) (Flinders University
of SA).
Thesis: Backgrounds to New Testament Preaching: Judaic
and Greco-Roman Sources of the Preaching of the Early
Church as seen in the Letters of Paul;
Reading Topic: An understanding of preaching as it
developed from the late Medieval period through the
thought of Luther and Calvin and into the English
Reformation.
1983 Awarded Diploma in Liturgical Studies (Melbourne
College of Divinity).
Part II Major Essay in the area of Liturgy in Relation to
Catechetics and Christian Education – Topic: What creative
relationships do you see between Christian Public Worship
and the teaching role of the Church?
1979 Awarded Bachelor of Divinity (Melbourne College of
Divinity).
1972 Awarded Bachelor of Arts (Flinders University of SA).
Graham has served in 6 Uniting Church (and 1 Methodist)
placements:
09/2008 – current Minister in the Brighton Congregation
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
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01/2000 – 08/2008 Minister of the Word in Payneham Rd
and Argent Congregations
1993 –1999 Minister of the Word in West Hindmarsh
Parish.
1984 –1992 Minister of the Word in Strathalbyn Parish.
1978 –1983 Minister of the Word in Southern Yorke
Peninsula Parish
June – December 1977 Minister of the Word in Hawker
Uniting Church Parish.
January 1975 – June 1977 Minister in Hawker Methodist
Circuit
From November 2005 – 2007 Graham was Moderator of the
Presbytery and Synod of SA. He was Chairperson of the
Presbytery of Mt Lofty from December 2001 to December
2003, and had served as Worship Consultant of Adelaide
North West Presbytery from 1993 to 1999, where he had
oversight of presbytery worship events (ordinations,
inductions, and commissionings).
From 1984 till 1991 Graham was a member of the Assembly
Commission on Liturgy, and part of the team which
prepared Uniting in Worship. he was convenor of the
working group on the Marriage Service, and as a member of
the Commission was active in the review of drafts of all the
worship resources.
In the late 1980s and 1990s he taught and tutored both
candidates for specified ministries and students in the lay
ministries programmes, in the areas of worship and
preaching.
Nominee – Relations with Other Faiths Working
Group Convenor
Rev Michael Barnes
Michael has reflected upon his interfaith dialogue and cross
cultural experience during the course of his ministry, the
learning from his academic background and his continuing
commitment to interfaith and peace building and believes he
has the experience, passion and the skills to offer
leadership to the Assembly in the capacity of the Convenor
of the Relations with other Faiths Working Group (RoFWG).
Interfaith Dialogue Experience.
Michael has been a participant in the National Uniting
Church Jewish Christian Dialogue for ten years till 2010 and
was Convenor of the Dialogue for the last four years of that
period. He has found the notion of Jesus as a faithful Jew
very important in interpreting the scriptures for
congregational ministry and the work of interfaith.
Experience with Interfaith Networks and Cross Cultural
Relationships.
Michael has had ministry placements in various
congregations in the NSW ACT Synod. In those
congregations Michael has experienced and ministered into
a wide variety of cross cultural contexts, including those of
the Tamil Sri Lankan community. During his ministry
Michael has been a part of local interfaith networks and has
strong relationships with Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and
Buddhist communities. He has offered educational
experiences with others about different faiths to
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
congregations. He has supported the Australian Muslim
community as the threat of Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) has grown internationally by supporting and
initiating local interfaith peacemaking efforts after the
Sydney Martin Place siege.
Michael strongly believes that living in a diverse and
fractured community requires building bridges of interest,
understanding, peace and tolerance. This is an important
part of God’s mission in a multicultural and multifaith
society. Michael has lived and worked in third world
countries and has had the experience of living with those
persons from another faith. He has led an interfaith
programme to India for 10 weeks in 2006.
Academic Background.
Michael has undergraduate degrees in Arts (Honours) and
Theology and a Master in Theology. He is looking to pursue
interfaith doctoral studies on pilgrimages to Gallipoli from
the Turkish Muslim experience.
Nominee – Christian Uniting Working Group
Chairperson
Rev Dr Morag Logan
Rev Dr Morag Logan is nominated as chairperson of the
Christian Unity working group. Maureen Postma has been
the chairperson and will step down from this role while
continuing on the working group to the end of 2015. Morag
has been involved in the Christian Unity working group for a
number of years and has served as Deputy Chairperson.
Currently she is Presbytery Minister, Pastoral Care in the
Presbytery of Yarra Yarra. She is an associate faculty
member of the theological college as she has a Ph. D. from
Princeton Theological Seminary in Biblical Studies (Old
Testament). She has served in the Church of Scotland.
She has been chaplain of the University of Melbourne. She
is a member of the Victorian Council of Churches Faith and
Order Commission. She is currently a member of the World
Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission. She
brings experience, expertise and a commitment to
ecumenism to the role.
Nominee – Education for Ministry Working Group
Chairperson
Rev Dr Andrew Dutney
Andrew was the President of the 13th Assembly of the
Uniting Church in Australia. He is Professor in Theology at
Flinders University. Andrew has been a leader in theological
education for more than two decades. He was the Principal
of Parkin-Wesley College 2001-2008 and foundation
Principal of Uniting College for Leadership & Theology
2009-2012. Among his many publications in education is the
book “A Genuinely Educated Ministry”: Three Studies on
Theological Education in the Uniting Church in Australia
(Sydney, The Assembly of the UCA: 2007 and 2011). He is
the current chairperson of the Education for Ministry
Working Group. Andrew is a member of Pilgrim Uniting
Church in Adelaide.
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Profiles of Nominees – Fourteenth Assembly, The Uniting Church in Australia
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