TO THE EDITOR: (OF AN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER)

We are appalled at the inaccuracies that have appeared in the local and national media regarding the Uniting Church's decision at its national Assembly in Melbourne. We are deeply disappointed that leaders of other churches have written letters to the Editors attacking the Uniting Church and distorting the facts.

Our Uniting Church Assembly DID NOT change the rules of its Church, or its theology. The Assembly resolution was a clarification of its previously stated and known positions:

First, it is the responsibility of each Presbytery (church district) to call and ordain suitable candidates for ministry, both men and women. A person's lifestyle as well as their beliefs, gifts and abilities will continue to be its criteria.

Second, it has always been the responsibility of each congregation to call their own ministers, pending Presbytery approval. The church will not force a congregation to call a minister it does not wish to have, for whatever reason. In fact, we demand higher standards of our church leaders (including elders and teachers) because of their duty of care.

Third, it is the responsibility of every congregation to welcome all people into Christian fellowship and worship, as Christ himself welcomes all people from every walk of life. Our church does not bar anyone who loves the Lord Jesus from the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. We do not refuse the child, the young person, or adult.

Any church that denies a person the right hand of Christian fellowship is not a church of God. For all people are created in the image of God ("Male and female he created them." - Genesis 1.27). Christian people are called to bring God's friendship, compassionate justice and peace to a world of poverty, hatred and bigotry.

We have been described by some in the media of becoming a "Gay Church". We have not. But we are an inclusive church, called to bring the Good News of God's love to all people everywhere regardless of race, colour, gender, or sexuality.

The Uniting Church in its faithfulness to Christ and the Gospel offers Christian hospitality and community. We are a church committed to love and decency, as well as truth and honesty - faithful to the teachings of Christ in the Scriptures.

We are Uniting because we seek reconciliation among all peoples. We seek to break down the barriers that divide us from each other. We seek to draw all people to the love and power of God, regardless of who they are or what they have been.

(Signed) Two Uniting Church pastors