Congratulations to you and your loved one!
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.
The Uniting Church understanding about marriage and same-gender marriage
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:
- the woman and man make a public covenant with each other and with God, in the company of family and friends;
- the couple affirm their trust in each other and in God;
- the Church affirms the sanctity of marriage and nurtures those who pledge themselves to each other in marriage and calls upon all people to support, uphold and nurture those who pledge themselves to each other in marriage.
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:
- the two people make a public covenant with each other and with God, in the company of family and friends;
- the couple affirm their trust in each other and in God;
- the Church affirms the sanctity of marriage and nurtures those who pledge themselves to each other in marriage and calls upon all people to support, uphold and nurture those who pledge themselves to each other in marriage.
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.
Resources on Marriage and Same-Gender Relationships
This resource aims to answer questions about the decision regarding marriage made at the 15th Triennial Assembly Meeting in July 2018.
