Churches Working Together

“The National Council of Churches in Australia gathers together in pilgrimage those Churches and Christian communities which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures and commit themselves to deepen their relationship with each other in order to express more visibly the unity willed by Christ for his Church, and to work together towards the fulfilment of their mission of common witness, proclamation and service, to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

The National Council of Churches in Australia is an ecumenical council of member Australian Christian Churches.

The Ecumenical Movement in Australia

What is Ecumenism?

pdf Statement on Ecumenism (108 KB)  (8 April 2021)

A brief history of the NCCA

The modern ecumenical movement began to take shape as the 19th century drew to a close. Initiatives among students and between Church mission agencies led the way. This country saw the formation of the Australian Student Christian Movement (1896) and the National Missionary Council (1926).

Out of the devastation of World War II sprang the Australian Committee for the World Council of Churches (1946). This developed into the Australian Council of Churches which, in 1994, gave way to the National Council of Churches in Australia.

The movement for Christian unity in this country was, initially, an Anglican and Protestant affair. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches came in, in strength, during the 1960s and 70s. For Catholics, the 2nd Vatican Council opened up fresh possibilities for relationships with other Churches, and the transition to the National Council of Churches in Australia (1994) saw the Catholic Church become a full participant in Australia's national ecumenical body.

The NCCA is its eighteen member Churches in their commitment each to the others and all to the world for which Christ died. It works in collaboration with state ecumenical councils around Australia. It is an associate council of the World Council of Churches, a member of the Christian Conference of Asia and a partner of Pacific Conference of Churches and other national ecumenical bodies throughout the world.  

WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES		AUSTRALIAN PARTNER COUNCILS		CHRISTIAN  CONFERENCE OF ASIA		PACIFIC CONFERENCE OF CHURCHES

The National Council of Churches in Australia has adopted this policy in order to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988.

The policy should be read with the National Privacy Principles ("NPPs") set out in Schedule 3 to the Privacy Act. They are a set of basic standards for privacy protection.

1. In this policy, a reference to "NCCA" means the National Council of Churches in Australia.

2. The objectives of the NCCA are:

[a] to encourage and enable the member churches to develop their existing relationships by

[i] raising awareness among their people of Christ's gift of unity and of his call to express that unity through prayer, dialogue and shared engagement in mission; and

[ii] coming to know each other better i all respects, including the areas of spirituality, liturgy, theology, history, sociology and culture;

[b] to encourage and enable the member churches in the light of the Gospel to give prophetic leadership to each other and the community by

[i] developing a deeper understanding of evangelism/ evangelisation in Australia's cultural context;

[ii] addressing moral issues;

[iii] speaking out on behalf of oppressed people;

[iv] acting in solidarity with Aboriginal and Islander people; and

[v] responding to human need and acting on issues of justice, peace and creation;

[c] to promote relationships

[i] with non-member churches, state ecumenical bodies within Australia, regional and national ecumenical bodies in Asia and the Pacific, and the World Council of Churches; and

[ii] with people of other living faiths; and

[d] to undertake joint initiatives as determined from time to time by the National Forum at the request of member churches.

3. The NCCA is committed to complying with the NPPs in the various activities which it undertakes in accordance with its objectives. If there is any inconsistency between this policy and the NPPs, then the NPPs prevail.

4. In the course of its activities, the NCCA collects personal information regarding contact persons in churches and organisations, people who indicate interest in its activities or objectives, supporters, donors and other persons who have contact with it.

5. When the NCCA conducts fundraising activities, it collects personal information regarding donors and a transaction history on donations made to the activities. The information is used to contact supporters in order to inform, educate and fundraise.

6. The NCCA's primary purpose in collecting and using personal information is the furtherance of the objectives set out in paragraph 2.

7. The NCCA will only use personal information about an individual for a secondary purpose (i.e. something beyond the scope of the primary purpose) if that individual has consented or the use is otherwise permitted by the NPPs.

8. The personal information which is collected by the NCCA may include information which is within the definition of "sensitiveinformation" in the Privacy Act (e.g. information about a person's religious beliefs or affiliations). As a non-profit organisation, the NCCA is permitted to collect sensitive information without a person's express consent provided that the conditions set out in NPP 10.1 are satisfied.

9. The NCCA will take reasonable steps to keep personal information secure and will, subject to the NPPs, comply with any request from a person to correct or remove his or her information.

10. The NCCA, in furtherance of its objectives, undertakes some of its activities in conjunction with State ecumenical councils, members churches and other directly related bodies. Personal information may be used or disclosed to those organisations in the conduct of these activities. The NCCA may also disclose selected information to persons conducting research in accordance with its objectives, and to consultants e.g. for development and implementation of fundraising appeals and education programs. In such cases, the NCCA will require those organisations or persons to adhere to similar standards for privacy protection to those which are set out in this policy.

11. The NCCA will appoint a Privacy Officer who will be responsible for storing, correcting and giving people access to personal information collected about them. The NCCA may charge fees for access to personal information.

12. The NCCA's Privacy Officer, in consultation with the General Secretary will be empowered to receive and deal with any complaint that the NCCA has not complied with this policy or the NPPs.

28 June 2002. .