great australian presbyterians
The
Presbyterian Contribution:
A Centenary Colloquium
Bruce Christian, Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia
What happened was
that in New South Wales about half the Presbyterian churches joined the
Uniting Church, and the other half stayed as the Presbyterian Church of
Australia. In Victoria and Queensland it was about a quarter who stayed
Presbyterian and three-quarters went into the Uniting Church. In the other
States, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, only a small number
of congregations stayed Presbyterian, the large majority went into the
Uniting Church. So in those States it has had a more devastating effect
on us than in New South Wales. But since 1977, the church in Australia
has kept together well, and the larger States have supported the smaller
States, and we've planted new churches, and we've grown since that time.
So that the Presbyterian Church of Australia which continued as it was,
has grown. But it did have quite an effect, and there was an emotional
effect too. There were people who'd worked together in Assemblies before
who were then going to be in different churches, and there was a lot of
hard work to be done to keep up good relationships and things like that.
See Radio National, The Religion Report, Wednesday 18/07/01, www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s331270.htm