A Destiny Together: Uniting Church laments treatment of Indigenous Australians.

From the 17th - 23rd March 2014, the Uniting Church in Australia called upon its entire membership to engage in a week of prayer and fasting for the first people of Australia. Entitled "A Destiny Together" this week was the church's way of responding to the stories told to members of the national council of the church in Adelaide in July 2012. These stories highlighted the struggles of indigenous Australians living in areas affected by the Federal Government’s ‘Stronger Futures’ legislation and the ‘Intervention’ before that.

Part of the week of prayer and fasting was a public prayer vigil and service of lament held on the lawns of the Australian Parliament in the Nation's capital. Every state was represented at this public gathering, both indigenous and non-indigenous, attracting approximately 200 people. The service was led by the President of the National Assembly, Rev Prof Andrew Dutney and Chair of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) Rev Rronang Gurrawurra.

Pastor Stuart McMillen, the President -Elect of the Uniting Church National Assembly highlighted to Vision Radio that this was a historic moment for the Uniting Church "I believe this is very historic. I don't believe there has been another time in our history as the Uniting Church in Australia that the entire church has been called to prayer."

The mood of the gathering was hopeful and respectful. It was treated as a time of prayer and worship and more than that it was seen as a coming together of first people and second people for a common cause; a cause of social justice.



A Destiny Together from Matt Gees on Vimeo.