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Author: UnitingWorld

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News
May 20, 2025

See possibility in the face of poverty and climate change

UnitingWorld has launched its 2025 End of Financial Year Appeal, inviting supporters to see possibility where the world often sees only poverty.

This year’s appeal supports a bold initiative in Zimbabwe, where our local partner, the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, is transforming rural schools into hubs of resilience. The program tackles hunger, water scarcity and climate change by installing solar-powered water systems, growing school gardens and training families in climate-smart agriculture.

Thirteen-year-old Tanaka Chiza is one of the students already experiencing the change.

“Before, it was hard to concentrate in class when I was hungry,” she said.

“But now we have a garden and food at school. I’m learning how to grow vegetables and I want to teach my mother so we can eat better at home.”

The impact reaches far beyond school gates. Rev. Junior Paradza, a former lawyer turned minister, is helping lead the project.

“Water means everything in these villages,” she said.

“Now, families have enough to grow their own food. We’re seeing real change, and people are full of hope.”

Please give generously before 30 June.

Thanks to UnitingWorld’s partnership with the Australian Government, gifts can go up to six times further to support life-changing work in Zimbabwe and across the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

Visit unitingworld.org.au/possibility to learn more and make a tax-deductible donation.

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Pray
May 12, 2025

UnitingWorld and the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) are calling on UCA members to pray for peace as tensions rise dramatically between India and Pakistan, deeply impacting the lives of people living in border communities.

On May 6, India launched “Operation Sindoor,” a series of airstrikes targeting locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The strikes were in retaliation for a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, which killed 26 civilians. Pakistani officials report at least 31 people killed and dozens more injured in the strikes.

Security has been tightened across northern India, particularly in Punjab. Schools have been closed in Amritsar, Ferozepur, and Pathankot districts, and panic is spreading as people stock up on food and fuel. A nationwide civil defence drill has been conducted across 244 districts to prepare for possible escalation.

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire was announced on May 10, bringing a temporary halt to the worst fighting between the two nations in decades. However, sporadic violations have been reported, and many civilians remain displaced, hesitant to return home due to ongoing fears.

UnitingWorld’s partners in the Diocese of Amritsar report that all community development and education activities have been suspended, and staff are staying in close contact with local leaders to assess needs and offer support.

“The primary concern is the safety of communities residing in the border areas,” wrote Samson Ram, Project Officer for the Diocesan Social Empowerment and Education Project. “The prevailing atmosphere of uncertainty and fear has caused panic… people have started stocking up on food items, fuel, and other items of necessity.”

In a powerful display of unity and compassion, the Christian community of Amritsar, led by Bishop Manoj Charan, held a candlelight march to honour the 26 victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and express solidarity with their grieving families (header image and below). Bishop Manoj Charan said at the event,

“Let us unite in prayer, compassion, and solidarity, standing together against all forms of violence and hatred. In this time of grief, may the love and peace of our Lord be our guiding light, and may we emerge stronger and more united in our pursuit of peace and humanity.”

UnitingWorld’s National Director Dr Sureka Goringe is urging all supporters to hold the people of India and Pakistan in prayer, especially our partners in the Church of North India.

“As followers of Christ, we are called to respond to fear with faith and to conflict with compassion. We stand with our partners in prayer and love, believing in God’s peace that surpasses understanding,” said Dr Goringe.

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev. Charissa Suli, has sent this message of solidarity:

“In this time of escalating tension between India and Pakistan, our thoughts and prayers are with our cherished partners in the Diocese of Amritsar and the communities they serve. We know these rural border communities are under immense stress, with schools closed, daily life disrupted, and anxiety rising.

As the Uniting Church in Australia, we stand beside you in faith and compassion. We honour the courageous work of your leaders, who continue to bring light and care even in these difficult days. You are not forgotten. You are held in prayer.”

Please join us in prayer:

A Prayer from Rev. Charissa Suli

God of Peace, draw near to your people in Punjab. Wrap each family in your protection. Calm hearts gripped by fear, and guide leaders with wisdom and care. Strengthen your church to be a witness of peace and hope. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

We walk with you in love, hope, and unwavering solidarity.

A Prayer from Rev. Dr Apwee Ting

God of peace,
God of all peoples and nations,

We lift before You the people of Pakistan and India, especially as tensions rise along their shared borders.

Lord, in Your mercy, bring wisdom and courage to those in leadership.
May efforts for peace prevail over the threats of conflict.

Lead both nations toward a path of reconciliation, justice, and mutual respect.

We remember the communities who live in the shadow of uncertainty—in Kashmir, Punjab, Amritsar, and Gurdaspur.
You know their fears, their hopes, and their daily struggles.
Be near to them, O God.
Protect their homes, sustain their livelihoods, and restore their sense of safety.

We also pray for the Church in North India, especially the Diocese of Amritsar.
Strengthen their ministry, bless their projects, and empower them to be agents of healing, hope, and compassion in their communities.
May their witness be a light in the darkness and a refuge for the weary.

God of comfort, surround all who are anxious and afraid.
In the midst of tension and turmoil,
may Your peace take root.

Where there is despair, sow hope.
Where there is division, build bridges.
Where there is fear, pour out Your love.

We place our trust in You, O God—
Maker of peace,
Bearer of hope,
Giver of life.

In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.

by
News
April 17, 2025

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar on Friday, March 28th, the strongest the country has ever recorded. Tremors were felt throughout the region, as far away as Thailand and China. 

As of April 1st, the death toll has risen to over 2,000, with thousands more injured and in urgent need of food, shelter, clean water and medical assistance. 

Rev Charissa Suli, President of the Uniting Church in Australia has shared a pastoral statement in response to the devastating earthquake. 

“We join with the global community in mourning. We lament the loss of life and the destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, and churches. We are deeply concerned for those who remain buried beneath collapsed buildings, and we give thanks for the courageous search and rescue workers who are risking everything to find survivors. Their persistence is a beacon of hope.

The devastating effects of this earthquake will be felt deeply by this vulnerable part of the world, which continues to suffer from ongoing civil war and is without the resources to respond effectively to disaster. We are encouraged by the rapid response from the international community. Nations including China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Russia, to name a few have sent aid and resources. These signs of solidarity remind us that love and compassion transcend borders.

In this season of Lent, we remember that God is close to the brokenhearted. May we be vessels of that compassion—through our prayers, our offerings, and our care for our neighbours in Myanmar and Thailand. In this spirit, I encourage all Uniting Church communities to hold the people of Myanmar and Thailand in prayer, and to consider giving generously through trusted relief partners.”

Want to help?

UnitingWorld is working through our membership in the ACT Alliance, a global Christian humanitarian coalition, to resource a coordinated response.

Your donations will provide lifesaving aid to those hit hardest by the earthquake and help distribute urgent necessities such as food, water, shelter and medical aid to the people most impacted. 

Donate now! 

Make an online donation here or call 1800 998 122 (9am – 5pm) 

Pray for Myanmar and Thailand

 “Rev Charissa Suli has shared a prayer for those affected by the earthquake.

Loving and faithful God,
You are our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.
Today we lift before you the people of Myanmar and Thailand,
those who mourn, those still waiting for news,
and those working around the clock to save lives in the midst of devastation.

We grieve the lives lost and the homes destroyed.
We pray for the injured, the displaced, and the traumatised.
Be their shelter in the storm, their light in the darkness, and their peace in the chaos.

We give thanks for the hands and hearts offering help—
for the emergency workers, medical teams, neighbours, and leaders
responding with courage and care.

We are grateful for nations who have extended help and support.
Bless their generosity and multiply the impact of every effort.

God of all peoples,
bind us together across oceans and cultures.
As members of your global Church, may we be a witness to your love in action.
Move our hearts to give, to pray, and to stand alongside our neighbours in need.
We pray all this in the name of Christ,
our hope and our healer.
Amen.

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by
News
March 27, 2025

Budget sends a clear signal: Australia won’t abandon partners in our region 

UnitingWorld welcomes the Australian Government’s Federal Budget announcement to increase aid by $135.8 million, affirming our commitment to partners in the Asia-Pacific region amidst a rapidly shifting global landscape. 

“While traditional donors are scaling back aid, Australia has made it clear that we will not turn our backs on our friends in the region,” said Dr Sureka Goringe, National Director of UnitingWorld.  

“This increase in aid, while very modest as a percentage of the Federal Budget, signals that we are continuing to stand alongside our partners who face escalating challenges from climate change, health crises and economic instability.” 

“In a world that is increasingly dominated by strident voices that seek to sow fear and disunity, I commend the Australian Government for not stepping backwards on vital development assistance,” she said.  

A better balance with defence spending is urgently needed  

Despite the modest aid increase in this budget, Australia currently spends only 0.65% of the total federal budget on aid, the lowest it has ever been. New analysis from the ANU Development Policy Centre shows Australia now spends ten times more on defence than on aid—one of the widest gaps in the developed world. 

“This is an alarming trend,” said Dr Goringe.  

“UnitingWorld calls on all parties to recognise aid and development assistance as more than just an investment in our neighbours, but in our shared future—strengthening peace, stability and resilience across our region.”

“We echo the call of our sector through the Safer World for All campaign, to see aid grow to at least 1% of the Federal Budget, ensuring that we continue to meet the challenges of our time with generosity and vision.” 

Sign the open letter: Australian Christians support Australian Aid!

by
News
March 25, 2025

Australia is now spending ten times more on defence than on foreign aid, which is one of the widest gaps in the developed world according to new data modelling from the Australian National University. 

At a press conference in Parliament House this morning as part of the Safer World for All campaign, Uniting Church in Australia President Rev. Charissa Suli joined key voices from politics, security and faith to urge Australia’s leaders to commit to growing aid, before the gap widens further. 

“Australian Aid transforms lives—and I’ve witnessed that first-hand. After the devastating volcano and tsunami in Tonga in 2022, I travelled there and saw the incredible impact of our aid program—vital supplies, shelter, and long-term recovery support,” said Rev. Suli. 

“Tongan communities still tell the story of those first days of fear and uncertainty. Through the ash and silence, the first humanitarian plane they saw carried the image of a kangaroo. It’s a moment they will never forget.” 

“As a person of faith, I believe love must be shown in action—and our aid program is exactly that: a lifeline, an act of justice, and a reflection of our shared humanity”

Rev. Suli publicly released a letter signed by the heads of every major Christian denomination in Australia. 

“Australia’s aid program is supported by all of Australia’s mainline churches, and we stand together here today. Our support for Australia’s aid program goes far beyond words, we wholeheartedly co-invest in it as partners,” said Rev Suli.  

“We urge our nation’s leaders to affirm their commitment not just to preserve aid, but to let it grow, forging stronger partnerships and transforming more lives together.” 

Independent MP Zali Steggall also spoke about aid’s role in helping Pacific nations adapt to the climate crisis. 

“Aid that supports climate resilience for our Pacific neighbours isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s a smart, strategic move for Australia. By helping communities withstand rising sea levels, extreme weather and displacement, we’re strengthening relationships, promoting regional stability and protecting lives,” she said.

“It’s not enough to invest in defence alone. True security means helping our neighbours prevent crises — by building resilience before disaster strikes.” 

Aid funding has seen significant cuts in the last decade and made up only 0.68% of the Federal Budget in 2024-25. The Safer World for All campaign is calling for aid to make up 1% of the 2025-26 Budget. 

Church leaders and members have conducted over 55 meetings in the past six months with MPs from all parties, organised by Micah Australia. These meetings, led by constituents who care deeply about Australia’s role in the world, have highlighted the strong and widespread support for aid within the Christian community. 

Regardless of the outcome of the 2025-26 Budget, the Australian Church is committed to ongoing support for Australian Aid.

Sign the open letter: Australian Christians support Australian Aid!

UnitingWorld is a member of Micah Australia and supports the Safer World for All campaign. The campaign brings together voices from faith, development, security, and the community to advocate for a stronger, values-driven approach to Australian Aid. 

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by
Blogs
March 11, 2025

More than two thirds of Australians in a recent survey conducted by The Conversation admitted they avoid news at least some of the time, with news about climate change ranking third highest on the topics we scroll past.

Why? Does it feel too big to fight? Too overwhelming and negative?

Probably.

But for men, women and children who are already in the fight of their lives, small things can make a big difference. And you can help make those small things happen.

What can a seed provide?

Imagine you’re a family in Timor-Leste, living in an area prone to land slides and soil erosion, making it hard to grow food and leaving you constantly anxious about your house and family being swallowed by mud during the next storm – which are coming more and more often.

UnitingWorld partners are helping people plant out these areas to stabilise the land, absorb carbon, re-vitalise the soil for crop growth and provide protection from disaster.

Just $25 can provide seeds for the project.

 

 

Do kitchen gardens make a difference?

Imagine you’re a mum in Maluku. You worry constantly about the high price of food right across your region, forcing you to choose imported, low nutrition food. Food supply is difficult because of conflict over land and water and less predictable patterns of rainfall. Your youngest child is showing worrying signs of malnutrition.

UnitingWorld partners are helping people start their own productive kitchen garden to grow their own healthy, nutritious food – they’re supported with drought resistant seeds, irrigation techniques and training to improve the soil.

$90 from a donor in Australia this Lent can provide a place for you in the program.

 

Could a school be part of the solution?

Imagine you’re a child in rural Zimbabwe, watching the anxiety grow in your parents as your family crops fail once again. The rains won’t fall, or they fall too fast. Your parents give up their own meals to make sure you don’t go to bed hungry.

UnitingWorld partners are using schools as a hub where kids have reliable access to clean water, disaster risk reduction training and gardens to grow their own food – building the whole family’s resilience to climate shocks.

$250 can help support the program in a school – reaching hundreds of kids and families. 

 

If you think climate change is too big to fight, ask the families, mums and children of the world’s hardest hit regions. They’ll tell you the smallest things can have a big impact. And they’ll tell you your contribution matters.

In 2025, UnitingWorld’s Lent Event is focusing on 40 days of action for God’s creation.

Why? 

1. Our partners tell us climate change is the most critical issue facing their communities. Worldwide, changing climate and more disasters mean the poorest in our midst are going backwards in the challenge to grow food, find clean water, make a living and prevent death from disease.

2. We know that what we do together *actually* *genuinely* works. We meet people and hear stories of the way that our partners are saving lives and bringing hope person by person, in some of the world’s most vulnerable places.

Please GIVE today

 

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by
News
February 18, 2025

“You are here because you care about your community … you care about your country … you care about your culture and you want to play your part in making your community stronger.”
– Senator Penny Wong

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong addressed the Pacific-Australian Emerging Leaders Summit (PAELS) hosted by Micah Australia and the Pacific Conference of Churches in November.

Now in its third year, PAELS gathered a diverse delegation that included 34 young leaders from 16 Pacific Island nations, nine First Nations leaders and 23 leaders from the wider Australian family. UnitingWorld helped bring 11 delegates from our Pacific partner churches and 17 young leaders from Uniting Churches across NSW, VIC, QLD and WA to PAELS 2024.

It was great to see so many young people forging deep and valuable connections with other young leaders and change makers from our partner churches across our region.

Victoria Su’a Falo, a first-time delegate from St Johns Uniting Church in Essendon (VIC), said it was a powerful time spent shaping her values as a Pacific emerging leader. She said:

“I felt a strong sense of unity and empowerment being amongst Pacific indigenous, First Nations communities, Pacific diaspora and extended Australians.”

Following advocacy training in groups, PAELS delegates spent a full day of meetings with Members of Parliament to share their vision of a safer, more just and sustainable future.

Special thank you to the Synod of the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania and Uniting Mission and Education (UME) in NSW for sponsoring Uniting Church delegates to attend from interstate.

 

First published in UnitingWorld Update 2025-01 – download the full magazine PDF here.

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Campaigns, Village and Economic Development (West Timor, Indonesia)
February 17, 2025
A huge thank you to everyone who gave any of the life-changing gifts from our Everything in Common gift catalogue during Christmas, and to everyone who made a donation. At time of writing, you’ve helped raise more than $350,000 through the catalogue, supporting our partners to impact their communities in so many different ways. Thank you!

New for Everything in Common 2024 was our Healthy Kids and Mothers card, helping provide care and nutrition to expectant mothers, newborns and families in the Alor and Rote Islands in Nusa Tenggara Timur (West Timor Province), Indonesia.

These islands are home to some of the poorest communities in Indonesia, where many people still live off the land in traditional subsistence lifestyles. With the rise of imported foods and uncertain growing seasons, families struggle to get the food and nutrition they need. Mothers and babies are the hardest hit, with malnutrition leading to high-risk pregnancies and stunting of children.

Our local partner, the Christian Evangelical Church in Timor, and their development agency TLM are determined to make change, both now and into the future.

Working in eight villages, our partners are:

  • providing health checks and education for pregnant women, new mums and their children
  • distributing locally-grown fresh vegetables and resources for families to grow their own food
  • installing clean water sources in villages that need it.

Looking beyond, our partners are using the villages as models to inspire others, working with local governments and church communities to tackle the heath crisis for good. We’ll keep you updated about progress with stories like Irma’s (shared below).

First published in UnitingWorld Update 2025-01 – download the full magazine PDF here.

“She is so healthy…”

Our church partner in Nusa Tenggara Timur (West Timor Province), Indonesia, distributes vegetable seeds for expectant mothers to provide for healthy nutrition during pregnancy, and for the family in the future.

Irma (pictured) said “growing vegetables is good for pregnant mothers, health workers … told me that. [When] I gave birth to my third child, she is 3.8 kg. She is so healthy, maybe because I consumed a lot of vegetables.”

This project was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). 

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Campaigns
February 14, 2025

As the saying goes, “Big change comes from small actions, repeated”.

Monthly giving as a UnitingWorld Global Neighbour is a way for you to ‘put on repeat’ your commitment to building a more just and equitable global neighbourhood.

Poverty and injustice have complex causes, and there are no quick fixes. Regular giving provides our partners with a reliable income stream to deliver powerful and effective programs, day in and day out, until the work is done.

Why give monthly?

Express your faith and values

Live out your values of justice and compassion as part of a community of givers, celebrating stories of progress and equipped to pray for our partners.

Have a greater impact

Monthly giving is one of the most powerful ways to support people fighting poverty. It creates a secure funding base for our partners, faster response in disaster, lower fundraising costs and more lives changed.

Accountability
As a monthly giver, we’ll tell you where your donations are used and how we’re resourcing our partners to continually assess, monitor and improve the projects you support.

Join our network of faithful monthly givers, working together to build a more just and equitable global neighbourhood. 

Become a UnitingWorld Global Neighbour today! Find out more or sign up at www.unitingworld.org.au/globalneighbour.

 

First published in UnitingWorld Update 2025-01 – download the full magazine PDF here.

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Blogs, Campaigns
February 14, 2025

In a fast-paced world dominated by 24-hour news cycles, consumer culture and the dizzying expansion of technology, the season of Lent can feel like a relic of the past. One more tradition squeezed out by our busyness and distractions. As Ecclesiastes 7:12 reminds us,

“God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.”

But perhaps now, more than ever, Lent is a rare invitation to pause. To follow Jesus into the stillness of creation. It’s a time to give our full attention to God, to live more simply and to act generously out of love for our neighbours and this beautiful, fragile world.

Climate change is undoing decades of progress, driving poverty, food insecurity and forced migration across our world. There’s profound injustice at its heart: those who’ve contributed the least to this crisis are suffering the most, while those who’ve burned the most fossil fuels have largely insulated themselves from its effects.

What can we do? We can follow Jesus.

Our world urgently needs a movement of attentive and generous discipleship.

Lent can be that annual ‘spark’ that reminds us of who we are in Christ, and all the love and hope we have to offer a hurting world.

We’ve heard our church partners’ call for solidarity and support to help vulnerable communities build resilience to climate impacts. We invite you to join us in answering their call:

“We hope and pray the world will join us.”

Below, members of our partner churches from across the Pacific share about their experiences of climate change and environmental degradation.

“In Kiribati, we are experiencing coastal erosion, and we believe that increasing sea level rise contributes to the losing of some of our lands.”
Teraoi, Kiribati Uniting Church
“Climate change is severely impacting our land [West Papua]. In the highlands it is becoming harder to grow potatoes and catch animals. Without our staple foods it affects our health and nutrition.”
Ekyen, Evangelical Christian Church in Tanah Papua
“Here in Tuvalu, young people have anxiety about sea-level rise, droughts and migration. I fear for the loss of our culture and traditions, but I tell myself: “God has given us this land, and we must hold onto it for future generations to enjoy.”
Tetavaa, Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu
“Across our communities in Kiribati, climate change is causing reduced rainfall, droughts and lack of accessible clean water.”
Bubutei, Kiribati Uniting Church
“The dry season [in Solomon Islands] feels hotter and longer. Mass logging has removed so many trees, king tides wash the fertile soil away and it doesn’t come back. I’ve seen small islands that now look like deserts.”
Caleb, United Church in the Solomon Islands
“In Fiji, we feel the rising sea levels. There are burial sites that are now underwater and villages that are being forced to relocate. We all think it is a serious issue that needs to be tackled, and we pray the world will join us.”
Rev. Asinate, Methodist Church in Fiji

 

Lent Event offers a way to step into action, faithfully and meaningfully.

Commit to 40 days of faithful action for God’s creation. Fundraise or donate for communities on the frontlines of climate change. Speak out for justice.

Throughout Lent, we’ll share stories from our partner, the Free Wesleyan Church in Tonga, showing how your actions will help transform lives across the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

Will you join us? By acting together, we can challenge the status quo of a distracted and disconnected world, make a real difference in the lives of our neighbours, and inspire vital hope and courage for the future.

Sign up, get ideas for action and connect with a community of like-minded people at www.lentevent.com.au.

 

First published in UnitingWorld Update 2025-01 – download the full magazine PDF here.