Called to Serve: Ordained ministry in congregations across the Uniting Church WA, a personal perspective
Rev Dr Ian Tozer reflects on ordained ministry in congregations across the Uniting Church in Western Australia from Union in 1977 until the present day, and then looking ahead to what the future might hold.
Article originally published in the August 2025 edition of Revive magazine.
In the last 48 years, dramatic changes have occurred in the placement of ministers across the Synod. Now large areas of Western Australia have little access to an ordained minister. This has become the norm in rural areas for years. Many rural congregations only occasionally have ordained ministers – often retired – to lead their worship or provide support. Now it’s increasingly a pattern in metropolitan congregations. What do these changes mean for the Church, for congregations, for ministers…? These questions have become pressing.
A brief history
At union in 1977, the Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians who joined the Uniting Church were divided into parishes, usually with multiple congregations, although there were some single congregation parishes. Almost all parishes had a minister in placement. Some parishes had teams of ministers. This did not mean every congregation had a minister leading worship every week, and indeed, not all congregations gathered for worship every week. However, ministers were available for most.
During the first decade, when vacancies occurred outside Perth, some rural parishes were served by ministers from other congregations. I recall a minister going one Sunday a month to lead the communion services in multiple congregations of a rural parish, or ‘eight-day ministries’, where a minister from another congregation would go to a vacant rural congregation lead worship across two Sundays, spending the week in the Parish before returning home.
Already in the first decade, financial stresses meant that ‘top-up’ grants were required to maintain ministry in some parishes. There were some congregations where ordained ministry was supported by such grants, including some in the metropolitan area, such as Kwinana and Girrawheen. The church determined this to be a priority.
However, as the decade went on, financial stresses became more pressing more widely across the church. Rising costs and declining populations accompanied rural mechanization and the emergence of the ‘get big or get out’ principle. Larger farms mostly meant fewer farming families. The withdrawal of government services because of changing policies also impacted the size and flows of population in rural WA.
By the end of the first decade, more and more rural parishes were without placements because of costs and the wider Church’s reduced capacity to provide grants to assist them.
In the second decade of the Uniting Church, from 1987 to 1997, the rate of these changes increased. By the late 1990s, most rural parishes as originally established were without placement. One response was regional groupings, with ordained ministers seen more rarely. In other words, the model was left in place except that that these ‘larger parishes’, meant the nature of the ministry that could be provided was different. There was a loss of the intimacy and detailed knowledge between the minister and the people. The hope was that these ministers would focus on resourcing ministry in congregations by equipping lay leaders. Other factors came into play. With no placed minister and the rise of civil marriage celebrants and civil funerals, some lay persons began to offer Christian marriage or funerals in the name of the Uniting Church.
At the end of the second decade, the UCA Assembly (in 1997) determined that the parish structure should change. Congregations became the primary unit of the life of the church. Instead of separate Parish and Elders’ Councils, the responsibilities of both were incorporated into the responsibilities of one Church Council.
By the beginning of the third decade, greater demand for grants and less capacity to provide them meant that places like Kwinana and Girrawheen lost their funding. Financial constraints became more widespread across the church. This had an impact on placements.
A number of ministers served part-time in congregations and part-time outside (for example, in some form of chaplaincy). Some ministers were content to serve part-time. By then, a number of metropolitan congregations began to combine or co-operate with another in order to share a ministry. Similarly, more and more rural placements were under pressure, and, over this decade were unable to support placed ministers.
At the beginning of our third decade, the capacity of presbyteries to fulfill their responsibilities diminished. One reason was that there were fewer placed ministers on the membership of the presbytery and lay leaders who had previously been able to serve in wider church roles were fully occupied maintaining the life of their congregations. So, by the end of our third decade in 2007, the Uniting Church WA had joined the previous five presbyteries into one.
As we entered our fourth decade, more and more metropolitan congregations lost the ability to support placed ministers. This led to some amalgamations and some congregational closures. By that time, some of these congregations, like their rural congregations, had gone years without a placed minister. The Church has made many attempts to provide ministry through rural resource ministry, although that is currently now only one part-time position.
It seemed that there may be a crisis because of the numbers of placements and the numbers of ministers. There were fewer candidates for ministry. However, several factors meant that the crisis did not emerge. Congregations able to afford ministers began to reduce in number. A significant number of older ministers retired. Some were or became to serve part-time, particularly as they neared traditional retirement age. Some served past the age of 65. An equilibrium (of sorts) was maintained. By then, the pattern of ‘you get a minister if you can afford one’ was thoroughly established.
This is a pattern which we might well think about.
In my experience, metropolitan congregations have fewer connections with rural congregations. And although numbers of retired ministers offer themselves very freely to go and provide Sunday worship supply, this number is diminishing.
As we near the end of our fifth decade, many rural congregations have closed or ceased to gather for worship. As a result, some travel greater distances for worship. Some have begun to attend other denominational services, and some have simply dropped out.
Metropolitan congregations were thoroughly impacted by financial constraints, so have become unable to support a minister. More and more have simply continued their life as best they are able under local lay leadership.
There is much more that could be said about our history. These are only my first thoughts to show some of the broad trends.
The shape of ordained ministry
My prayer is that we will begin our sixth decade with new clarity, new options, and new ways of serving for those called to ministry in the Church as we continue being in ministry with Jesus.
Near the end of our fifth decade, the shape of ordained ministry in the Uniting Church in Western Australia is in a very different place.
At this Synod, near the end of my 44th year since ordination, we will begin a conversation about the deployment of ministers. Some find the word ‘deployment’ disturbing, as it may imply that ministers are simply workers. Some wonder about what ‘call’ means now. However, ‘deployment’ is used in our regulations.
We are planning a discussion that will begin to open up the issues. The ‘elephants in the room’ include:
- Congregations can have ministers if they can afford one – in other words, we have moved to a ‘user pays’ model;
- What does this mean for congregations with great need, gifted people, and sometimes significant ministry while being without a placed minister to provide leadership and support?
- What about opportunities that are being missed?
- We have begun to speak of ‘clusters’ and ‘hubs’ – what might this mean for ministers?
These are some of the challenges before us.
If you have views on these matters, please communicate them to Synod members from your congregation or others you know will be part of the Synod membership, in order that your views and the views of people you know may be shared when the discussion is held on the floor of Synod.
My prayer is that we will begin our sixth decade with new clarity, new options, and new ways of serving for those called to ministry in the Church as we continue being in ministry with Jesus.
Rev Dr Ian Tozer
Moderator, Uniting Church WA
You may also like to view a pastoral video message by the Moderator as we lead up to our 49th Annual Synod meeting on 13 & 14 September 2025