Here we are looking for communities of faith that operate in non-congregational contexts, such as within schools, agencies and care facilities. We are particularly looking for ongoing communities of faith that may exist in these spaces that gather for ‘worship, witness, service and making and growing disciples.’

Some indicators could be, for example:

• A ongoing community gathering at a school where the participants would view this as their primary community of faith

• An ongoing community of faith that gathers within a Uniting Church agency where the participants would view this as their primary community of faith

Tuesday 12th of September, 1:30pm-3pm AEST (1pm ACST and 11:30am AWST).

Register for Focus Group 1 - Communities of faith in agency and chaplaincy context

Here we are looking for communities of faith with an active outreach ministry such as community services or justice ministry connected to the community of faith.

Some examples could be, for example:

• Parish missions

• Government funded services

• Paid staff or a large cohort of volunteers involved in an outreach ministry

Tuesday 19th of September, 1:30pm-3pm AEST (1pm ACST and 11:30am AWST).

Register for Focus Group 2: Communities with Integrated community services/justice-focused outreach

Here we are looking for communities of faith that are engaged in ministry to youth, younger people and young families.

Some indicators could be, for example:

• Communities of faith that employ a youth/families worker

• Communities of faith that have a service specifically for youth and families (e.g., evening service)

• Communities of faith that have more than 10 children from different families under the age of 12

Thursday 21st of September, 7:30pm-9pm AEST (7pm ACST and 5:30pm AWST).

Register for Focus Group 3: Communities with ministry to young people

Here we are looking for communities of faith that are larger churches within the Uniting Church.

Some indicators could be, for example:

• Communities of faith that consistently gather 150+ attenders at an in-person church service on a regular basis

• Growing communities of faith with multiple services and multiple locations

Thursday 21st of September, 7:30pm-9pm AEST (7pm ACST and 5:30pm AWST).

Register for Focus Group 4: Larger church communities

Here we are looking for communities of faith that are mid-sized churches within the Uniting Church. These communities can most often sustain a full-time (or near full-time) minister or other leader.

Some indicators could be, for example:

• Communities of faith that consistently gather between 70-120 attenders at an in-person church service on a regular basis

• Communities of faith you perceive as relatively stable that have regular and consistent ministry and may own their own building

Tuesday 26th of September, 1:30 -3:00pm AEST (1pm ACST and 11:30am AWST).

Register for Focus Group 5: Mid sized church communities

Here we are looking for communities of faith located in the heart of Australia’s largest cities. We are particularly interested in understanding the shape of our inner-city communities and how this may have changed over the last 20 years.

We want to connect with leaders and people in these communities to better understand their context, opportunities and challenges.

Wednesday 27th of September, 1:30pm-3pm AEST (1pm ACST and 11:30am AWST).

Register For Focus Group 6: Inner-City Communities

Here we are looking for key regional communities of faith located in provincial centres (towns of +20,000 population). These locations around Australia are often economic and service hubs for the region of which they are a part and a significant contributor to the leadership of the wider Church. They can also often be hubs for presbyteries and zones within our Church.

We want to connect with leaders and contexts in this space to understand the opportunities and challenges in regional Australian churches.

Thursday 28th of September, 1:30pm-3pm AEST (1pm ACST and 11:30am AWST).

Register for Focus Group 7: Communities in Regional Centers

Here we are looking for communities of faith that are pioneering digital and online ministries.

Some indicators could be, for example:

• Communities of faith that meet exclusively or predominantly online

• Communities of faith that continue to provide hybrid online/face-to-face services and do this in a way that fosters community between both online and physical

• Communities that have succeeded in building online community and where people feel connected to an online community even if they cannot gather in person

Thursday 28th of September, 7:30pm-9pm AEST (7pm ACST and 5:30pm AWST).

Register for Focus Group 8: Online communities/effective online ministries.

Here we are looking for a conversations with UCA faith communities and small congregations. We are particularly looking for communities that are exploring what it means to be a small community of faith.

Some indicators could be, for example:

• New faith communities, i.e. communities of faith that utilise the “Faith Community” regulations but that weren’t previously a Uniting Church congregation

• Older faith communities, i.e. communities of faith that now utilise the “Faith Community” regulations but were previously a Uniting Church congregation

• Congregations that utilise the “Small Congregation” regulations

Date: Tuesday 3rd of October

Time: 11:30am-1pm AEDT (11am ACDT and 8:30am AWST)

Register for Focus group 9: Faith Communities and Small congregations

Here we are looking for clustered communities of faith across Australia. Communities could have chosen to organise themselves as clusters for a variety of reasons, for instance, because of distance, to enable team ministry and sharing of resources or to combine and streamline congregations across a smaller area.

Some indicators could be, for example:

• Communities of faith in rural/remote/regional/provincial clustered contexts and zones

• Communities of faith in clustered in shared ministry or governance through suburban clusters

Tuesday 3rd of October, 1:30pm-3pm AEDT (1pm ACDT and 10:30am AWST).

Register for Focus Group 10: Clustered communities

Here we are looking to hear from some of the best examples of the multicultural tapestry that is the Uniting Church in Australia.

There may be more than one focus group offered in this space in order to ensure a good spread of community languages, unique perspectives and circumstances.

We are particularly interested in:

• Communities of faith made up predominantly of a single cultural or linguistic grouping other than English

• Communities of faith with an intentionally diverse set of cultural groupings

• Communities of faith with a vibrant multicultural service

• Communities of faith that are particularly multicultural and intentionally intercultural and intergenerational

Tuesday 3rd of October, 7:30pm-9pm AEDT (7pm ACDT and 4:30pm AWST).

Register for Focus Group 11: Culturally and linguistically diverse, intercultural and multicultural communities

Here we are looking for a fruitful conversation with some of the Uniting Church’s most recent church plants, whether linked to an existing Congregation or not, fresh and innovative expressions of the life of the Uniting Church.

Some indicators could be, for example:

• More youthful UCA communities of faith primarily made up of people aged under 50 years of age

• Communities of faith that have intentionally birthed one or more church plants

• New church plants and communities of faith that begun in the last 10 years

• Innovative and experimental communities that have a main meeting time other than Sunday

• Communities of faith that meet somewhere other than in a traditional church building

Thursday 5th of October, 7:30pm-9pm AEDT (7pm ACDT and 4:30pm AWST).

Register for Focus Group 12: Church Planting