Progressive Christianity Forum

Jonathan has served churches across all Australia. Experienced in Community Development first in Chicago then when resourcing the Department for Social Welfare’s Community Councils of Social Development he has integrated this experience into ministry practice. Examples are working with the Mowanjum Aboriginal community in the Kimberleys in its transition from being a “Mission” to managing its own life and when ministering with the homeless in Bondi Beach. As an educator he taught courses for the Lay Education Centre, Parkin-Wesley College and UTC Sydney. He was the Assistant Principal at Nungalinya College, Darwin. His retirement interests include integrating theology with social praxis and support for an informed appreciation of First Nations’ peoples. He is an active as a member of the Unley Uniting Church. His doctorate from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California is on a theology of social transformation.

This presentation was originally given at a forum organised by the South Australian Anthroposophical Society in March 2023. It proposes that there are key issues which have to be addressed if life on earth is to survive. Never before has the whole of the world been subjected to the same forces, which threaten its very existence. Yet the implication of living in an Anthropocene epoch is that we can not only recognise and name these threats, they can also be addressed and different ways forward forged which can save life on earth. There are five key words which frame this presentation: globality, hybridity, absolutism, chosenness and religion. Be teased by the last sentence. Humanity’s future challenges us to forge a new overarching mythology which binds us together as a global family and transcends the reduced, life denying forces with a spirituality, and energy which reconciles, restores and unites us to live a common future – all creatures of the life-giving mother earth.

Esmond grew up in Wolseley in the South East, and began his working life as a secondary maths and science teacher.  A call to ministry in the late 60s saw him training at Parkin-Wesley College, then serving in parish ministry in the Uniting Church, celebrating 50 years of ordination in 2023.

In 1977 he moved into Higher Education where he worked for nearly 30 years at UniSA as the Manager of Student Services across 5 campuses ― managing a wide range of personal and practical services in areas that impacted student learning.  During this time, he completed a Masters Degree in Social Science (Counselling).

In retirement from 2010, he has been actively involved in supporting refugees, in Progressive Christianity, in ministry, and widely travelling. Meredith, his wife of 56 years, is a musician, and they have 5 children, and 8 grandchildren.

In recent years there has been a noticeable shift in attitudes towards spirituality, what some call a ‘spiritual awakening’ and others a ‘spirituality revolution’.  This transformation is characterised by a departure from traditional religious structures, old-style religion, and a growing interest in new patterns of faith, in spiritual practices geared towards a more personal and experiential engagement with the sacred.

In this session we will explore the concept of spirituality, its emergence, features, various forms of expression, and significance.  We will consider the collective yearning for meaning, purpose and balance in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, and the notion that as more people engage in this transformative journey, the ripple effects have the potential to shape a more conscious, compassionate and spiritually enriched world.

Mark’s lifetime passion for social work includes serving the Hindley Street Youth Project, Reconciliation SA and Palliative Care South Australia. In the 2000’s he was employed at Uniting Care Wesley Port Adelaide as Manager of Employment Access (EA) supporting people with mental health issues to have supported employment. Mark is a life member of SACOSS and helped to establish the Health Consumers Alliance in S.A. For over 40 years he has been involved in local congregations. He continues to support First Nations aspirations and is currently active on the Synod of South Australia Covenanting Committee. Mark remains active as an advocate for CALD (cultural and linguistic diversity), consumer health, young people, mental health, social policy, and workforce skills training.

“I’m Not Racist, But…!”

Drawing upon his experience as State Manager of Reconciliation SA (2010 – 2019), Mark will focus upon our understanding of race and racism in Australia. As well as expounding the Christian message of reconciliation, he will explore what reconciliation means in a post 2023 Referendum world. With the presentation being held just before NAIDOC Week in 2024, it will be timely to look at what we celebrate in the Australian community as well as what we stand to represent. Racism, who’s problem is it? What needs to be done to address it? What is our personal commitment and cost in combatting racism?

Reverend Professor Vicky Balabanski is a New Testament scholar at the University of Divinity and the EO/Principal of Uniting College for Leadership and Theology in Adelaide. Vicky is an ordained Uniting Church Minister of the Word. Her expertise is in the Synoptic Gospels, John’s Gospel, Colossians, Receptive Ecumenism and Ecological Hermeneutics. She is the General Editor of the Earth Bible series, collaborating with Professor Gerald West in South Africa which emphases interpreting Scripture in harmony with the Earth, the interconnected web of life. Her Earth Bible commentary, “Colossians: An Eco-Stoic reading” (Bloomsbury T & T Clark 2020), draws on Stoic philosophy to enrich ecological interpretations. Vicky is a member of the international Society of Biblical Studies in 2017 and has been a keynote speaker for World Diakonia conferences, the UCA President’s Conference in Fiji, 2019, and the Christian Conference of Asia, Kerala (2023).

Surely everything that could be said about the Bible has already been said?

Not at all! Using new methods and perspectives, there is ‘yet more light’ to be found!

This evening’s presentation will introduce two tricky New Testament passages, showing how they can be reinterpreted using new methods and perspectives.

Fergus is an Adelaide writer, lay preacher, teacher, a member of the PCNet SA Task Group and current chair of the Effective Living Centre. Author of many essays, articles and sermons, you can catch his latest piece in the PCNet August Newsletter: “Jesus didn’t come to alleviate the suffering of the world—but yes he did!”. Due for release in January 2025 through ATF Press is “The God Who Doesn’t Exist”—stay tuned for launch details.

Polarization in the church is old news: ever since James and John caused a barny amongst the disciples by wanting to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand respectively (Matthew 20:20-24), the church has found it almost impossible to agree on just about anything—multipolarization is the word, not just bipolar. Persecution of alleged heretics, schisms, breakaways, fundamentalist splinter groups, you name it—disunity is the norm, the occasional burst of unity the exception.

In November’s PC Forum session we’ll explore the current polarization between conservative evangelicals and liberal progressives, both locally and internationally, try to tease out what exactly it is that divides us, then see if we can find ways of bridging the divide. Please come with your own thoughts/suggestions on this very pressing contemporary issue for the church.