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Waring (wombat season) Easter
Hi everyone,
The season of Easter has arrived. Christians around the world share the greeting,
“Christ is risen! Risen indeed!”
The Uniting Church talks about Christ’s resurrection as the start of "a new order of righteousness and love." (Basis of Union #3)
Here, the word righteousness translates the Greek word dikaiosuné, however some biblical scholars translate this word as liberation, deliverance or justice. Righteousness, in the Christian tradition, isn’t primarily about moral purity, but about the right-making ways of God.
Uniting, as a contemporary expression of the Uniting Church’s commitment to social justice and community care, is in the right-making business. Our role is to provide community services that reduce the impact of poverty, trauma and disadvantage; to make right the ways our society undermines the dignity and agency of people.
In this edition of Community in Mission (now an email-only newsletter) you’ll find stories about Uniting’s right-making work: from housing to early learning, our big vision for 2030, and stories of people’s lives.
We’d love for you to share these stories: perhaps by sharing one each week with your congregation as you gather for worship, or by forwarding this email to people in your network.
We tell these stories to remind ourselves that our work is not primarily about us, nor our own moral uprightness, but about taking our place within a new order of justice and love.
Matt Julius, Church Engagement Worker
Something for Sunday.
You might like to share this video about Uniting's 2030 Strategy during one of your worship services.
You can do this by playing the video directly online (by clicking on the above image) or by inserting the video into a PowerPoint slide:
- Create a new slide
- Click Insert → Video → Online Video
- Paste this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5USAJIunWY
- Make sure your computer is connected to the internet during the service.
Advocacy: Victoria is at a critical juncture as we head to a state election later in 2026.
Families, young people and individuals are facing intensifying pressures rooted in structural inequities across housing, financial security, social services and community infrastructure.
These pressures are increasing demand for crisis responses, overwhelming frontline systems and undermining the aims of Victoria’s major reform agendas.
The 2026–27 Budget presents a significant opportunity to shift from short‑term, reactive responses toward a strategic, early‑intervention approach that strengthens the foundations of wellbeing, reduces long‑term system costs, and delivers better outcomes for Victorians.
To respond to these challenges, Uniting recommends four priority reform packages, supported by a series of portfolio‑specific recommendations. Click on the images below to read further.
For Jen, accessing Uniting’s Heritage Service was life transformative.
In 1949, when she was just 2 years old, Jen spent 9 months at the Presbyterian Babies’ Home in Camberwell, Victoria. It was a fragmented time in her life, and one that had constantly been shrouded in shame.
Our Heritage Service team took Jen through records which enabled her to learn the details of the cascade of disasters that had overtaken her family, from her movements as a tiny child in a country town living with parents who were no longer able to care for her, her stay in the Home, to her finally re-uniting with her parents.
Click on the image above or the button below to hear Jen's story.
You may like to share this video during one of your weekly services.
Insights into family support.
Research exploring consumer experiences of family services has uncovered how families navigate parenting and family violence supports, with findings highlighting both key differences in their respective journeys, and the practices that help them thrive.
In the lead-up to the Victorian Government reforms under the Strong Families, Safe Children agenda, Uniting undertook research to:
- Better understand consumers’ experience throughout their engagement with Uniting Family Services
- Provide insights to guide preparation for upcoming enhancements to the family services platform.
New social housing in regional Victoria.
In case you missed it, the April issue of Crosslight featured this article about our recent regional developments in Wangaratta, Bendigo and Ballarat.
Across Victoria, the decades-long housing crisis has moved far beyond statistics.
In many towns the private rental market has deteriorated to the point where some families are staying in cars, frontline service workers are unable to secure rentals near their jobs, and support agencies are facing confrontational levels of demand.
Federal cost-of-living reporting identifies housing stress as one of the sharpest pressures on households.
Uniting aims to share stories about our work in each edition of Crosslight, so keep an eye out.
For many Uniting Church communities, these pressures are visible every week, says Kristie Looney, Executive Director, Housing and Property at Uniting Vic.Tas.
For Kristie, the work she does around housing is personal.
“I was a young teenage mum and raised my son in community housing,” she says.
“Ensuring people have the same opportunity I was given has always driven me.”
Would you like to share a story about work your congregation is doing in the community?
We'd love to share the work your congregation has done to support your local community here.
Stories should be approximately 200–300 words with 2-3 photos.
Upcoming event: Tuning in to Teens.
20 May – 24 June (6–8PM)
Tuning in to Teens is a 6-session online parenting program designed to help parents and carers gain confidence in supporting their teens.
The program provides tools to help parents both understand and respond to teenage emotions and manage their own emotional responses.
Uniting's Church Engagement team supports Uniting's relationships with the wider Uniting Church.
Jessica Hateley-Browne Director of Mission
Cheryl Lawrie Senior Manager – Mission & Ethos
Matt Julius Church Engagement Worker
