We are delighted you are getting married and that you are interested in celebrating your Christian wedding service in one of our beautiful and historical churches.
If you are interested in celebrating your wedding at one of our Uniting Churches, you can search for your local Uniting Church here.
Marriage is a gift God has given to humankind for the well-being of the whole human family.
Within the Uniting Church, there is a diversity of religious beliefs and ethical understandings, developed through continuing faithful discernment and held with integrity on matters relating to sexuality and marriage.
The Church accepts this diversity within its life and makes the decisions necessary to enable its ministry and members to act with integrity in accordance with their beliefs.
The Uniting Church in Australia recognises two statements of belief on marriage:
(i) The belief expressed in the 1997 statement, ‘Marriage for Christians is the freely given consent and commitment in public and before God of a man and a woman to live together for life. It is intended to be the faithful lifelong union of a woman and a man expressed in every part of their life together. In marriage, the man and the woman seek to encourage and enrich each other through love and companionship. In the marriage service:
Where sexual union takes place the partners seek to express mutual delight, pleasure and tenderness, thus strengthening the union of their lives together.
In marriage, children may be born and are to be brought up in love and security thus providing a firm foundation for society’.
(ii) The belief expressed in the 2018 statement, ‘Marriage for Christians is the freely given consent and commitment in public and before God of two people to live together for life. It is intended to be the faithful lifelong union of two people expressed in every part of their life together. In marriage, the two people seek to encourage and enrich each other through love and companionship.
In the marriage service:
Where sexual union takes place the partners seek to express mutual delight, pleasure and tenderness, thus strengthening the union of their lives together.
In marriage, children may be born and are to be brought up in love and security thus providing a firm foundation for society’.
Ministers and celebrants authorised by the Uniting Church in Australia may exercise the freedom to decide whether the minister’s or celebrant’s religious beliefs allow the minister or celebrant to accept requests to celebrate marriages, as authorised under the Marriage Act and according to the rites of the Uniting Church in Australia.
Please note, the rites of the Uniting Church currently allow for marriages between a man and a woman, as expressed in the 1997 statement above.
New rites to accommodate the 2018 statement allowing for marriage between two people have been prepared and are authorised for use from Friday 21 September 2018.
Church Councils have the authority to permit or refuse the use of any property held for the use of the Congregation for the celebration of marriages, as authorised under the Marriage Act and according to the rites of the Uniting Church in Australia.
This resource aims to answer questions about the decision regarding marriage made at the 15th Triennial Assembly Meeting in July 2018.
Phone: (08) 9260 9800 or 1300 736 692
Postal Address: GPO Box M952, Perth WA 6843
Physical Address: 85-89 Edward St, Perth
Email: wasynod@wa.uca.org.au
The Uniting Church Western Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters on which we live and work. The Uniting Church Centre sits on the lands of the Wadjuk Nyungar people and we pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the Nyungar people as the sovereign First Peoples of this place.
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