National Council
Rev. Dr. Max Champion (Chair ACC)
Ordained in 1975 I have been a parish minister in city and rural parishes in Victoria and overseas for over 25 years. At present I am a minister at St John's, Mt Waverley. I am married with 4 children.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to provide leadership in a number of areas, particularly with groups that are committed to robust encounter of the Gospel with modern society. These include:
- Chair and member of Board of Communication, Synod of Victoria, (4 years) responsible for the church paper (Church and Nation) and radio and TV ministry.
- Chair of Doctrine and Liturgy Committee, Synod of Victoria (7 years).
- Chair of Forum on Faith and Society (15 years) which held quarterly seminars on theology and public issues, which published 15 Forum Booklets and The Auburn Report, to which I was a regular contributor on a wide range of topics.
- Chair of The Galatians Group (5 years), an ecumenical group which published the proceedings of annual conferences on aboriginal reconciliation, social justice, multiculturalism, education, values and the arts.
- Editor of and contributor to Forward Together: On What Basis? Essays on the Basis of Union (Forum Booklets No. 6, 1994), including articles by Rev Drs Davis McCaughey, Norman Young, George Yule and Gordon Watson.
- Editor of and contributor to The Unity of Worship and Mission in a Pluralistic Society (Committee on Doctrine & Liturgy, 1991).
- Synod elected representative to the 1994 Assembly of the UCA.
- Member of the Commission of Mission, Synod of Victoria (3 years).
- Director of the Armadale Centre for Church and Society (3 years).
- Member of Wesley College Council, Melbourne (7 years).
- Member of Queen's College Council, University of Melbourne (3 years).
- President of the International Student Association, Princeton Theological Seminary (2 years).
I studied in W.A., Victoria and USA. In 1988 I completed a doctorate in theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.
My thesis was on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran theologian and a staunch critic of Nazism. He was a key figure in the Confessing Church which opposed the Church's acceptance of National Socialism as being compatible with the will of God. He supported the Barmen Declaration (1934) which confessed the sole lordship of Christ over against Hitler. He was active in ecumenical circles in Britain, Europe and USA. He was hanged in a Gestapo prison in 1945 for his part in a conspiracy to kill Hitler.
I have been greatly challenged and encouraged by Bonhoeffer's courage and thought-provoking theology. In Letters and Papers from Prison he described Jesus Christ as the 'Man for others' who embodies the suffering love of God for self-willed people. In The Cost of Discipleship he spoke of God's 'costly grace' in Christ and criticised the 'cheap grace' which he saw in the Church. In Ethics he criticised 'thinking in two spheres' - private and public, spiritual and material - on the ground that Christ is the reality of the world. True faith, he said, doesn't look for 'God in the gaps' in our knowledge or at the edges of life, but in the midst of the world. Thus, the faith of the Church is not an escape from life - as many critics said - but a calling to practice a 'non-religious' faith at the centre of life.
Today, the Church is also faced with a cultural crisis which demands deep thought and bold action. The present crisis is not only about homosexuality. It is about a Church that cannot or will not challenge the 'culture of death' that permeates modern Western societies, including Australia. Too often, we haven't resisted frequent attacks on the human dignity for which we have been created and redeemed in Christ. In many places, the Church has meekly succumbed to strident criticisms of Christianity and, in order not to cause offence, has settled for the kind of tolerance and decency that is so widely applauded. Generally accepted values - such as compassion, diversity and inclusiveness - have largely replaced the distinctive marks of the Christian life - such as forgiveness, unity and discipleship 'in Christ.'
Rev Steve Estherby (Deputy Chair)
Steve was converted to Christianity in 1983 whilst a serving member of the defence forces. After completing his military service he trained for the ministry. Steve has pastored numerous congregations in NSW. He is currently the Pastor of the Northern Illawarra Congregation.
Steve was a member of EMU NSW executive since it was established, and was EMU National Spokesperson from September 2005 until the closure of EMU in early 2007. He has actively and vocally lobbied and worked for reform in the Uniting Church.
In the past, he has been a member of the NSW Council of Synod, JPSAC and ACCOMP, he is currently a member of the PRC of the Illawarra Presbytery.
He is married to Lyndal with three sons.
Rev Ivan Kirk (Secretary)
My service as a minister within the Uniting Church has spread over a number of different regions. Since January 2006 I have been serving as the Minister of St David’s Uniting Church, Coopers Plains which is in Brisbane. Prior to this I was the Minister at Coolum Beach Uniting Church (2000- 2006) which is a tourist region North of Brisbane and before this I served in a rural church at Biloela Uniting Church (1997-1999) in Central Queensland.
I am especially indebted to the theological superstructure Karl Barth outlined in his Church Dogmatics. His writings have taught me to think biblically and theologically and I owe this German theologian an enormous debt for the way his work has sustained my work in the ministry.
Prior to my ordination I gained academic qualifications in Arts and Business Administration and worked as a Librarian at the State Library of Queensland. I am delighted to be part of the confessional movement within the UCA. Its efforts to recover the importance of theological and doctrinal statements encourages me and I am especially drawn to the movement because its resolutions require me to believe and confess the Truth revealed in Jesus Christ.
I am married to Margaret and we have two daughters in tertiary education.
Dr Ian Breward (Vic)
Ian has been Archivist for the Synod of Victoria since 2000. Prior to that he was Professor of Church History at the Theological Hall, Ormond College, University of Melbourne from 1982-1999. He served on The Assembly Commission for Doctrine till it moved from Melbourne and still is on the Assembly Committee for reception of ministers from other churches. Currently he is on The Board of WVA and is a member of the Pt Melbourne Congregation.
Rev Don Purdey (SA)
After a Commonwealth public service career in Canberra of some 16 years, including 11 as secretary of Australia's counter-terrorism response committee, Don was called by God into ministry. Something of a shock to him at the time, he now deeply loves spending his life in service of the Gospel. Don, his wife Annette and their five children followed the call to South Australia where he was ordained in 1997. After three very happy years on the Eyre Peninsula, where he served as a member of PRC and as youth ministry co-ordinator for Eyre Presbytery, God surprised him again with a move to Glenunga in suburban Adelaide. Since 2001 Don has contributed to Synod life on the Stipends Committee, the Grants Committee and in helping to establish the Uniting Foundation for funding leadership development. Joining the SA Executive of EMU on arrival in Adelaide, God thrust him into its leadership just at the time of the 2003 Assembly, and he spent three years in a constant flow of meetings with the Synod, during which time EMU's formation of a provisional presbytery prompted a restructure of the SA Synod to include Networks of like-minded congregations. Don has been active at national level in EMU, RA and now the ACC, serving these groups with his skills in vision and strategic thinking, and in worship leading (with his trusty 12 string guitar!) which is one of the great loves of his life and ministry. Another is what he describes as "the humbling privilege" of speaking on behalf of the thousands of faithful church members distressed by the direction the UCA has taken. His desire is for the ACC to provide not just a "safe haven" for evangelicals, but a dynamic and effective movement for the growth and resourcing of evangelical congregations both within and beyond the UCA.
Rev. Rod James (SA)
Rod is a Minister of the Word, who after 25 year of parish ministry now conducts an itinerant ministry of preaching, teaching and resourcing. He also functions as a roving field worker for the Reforming Alliance and now for the ACC. He is based in Adelaide and his ministry takes him throughout Australia. Rod is the convenor for the Networks development Commission.
Mrs Margaret Macmillan (Vic)
Margaret has had extensive experience in education, teaching in government and private secondary schools in NSW and Victoria and spending 12 years working in various capacities in a large Anglo-Indian boarding school in India. She was also a CRE teacher in primary schools for 28 years. For 8 years she has been a Synod of Victoria Representative on the Council for Christian Education in Schools (now ACCESS Ministries) and is a member of the Board. For the last 30 years Margaret has been active in the parish of Whittlesea, just north of Melbourne, in various roles. From 1995 until its closure at the end of 2006, she was a member of the committee of EMU (Vic.), secretary from 1999. She is married, with 4 adult children. In recent years she has added to degrees in Arts and Education, a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry.
Rev. Hedley Fihaki (Qld)
I was born in Tonga 1970, came to Australia in 1977. I enjoy playing the guitar and watching Rugby Union, particuarly Australia vs. NZ. Current placement: Minister of the Word - Emmanuel Uniting Church in Cairns, North Qld 2005 – Present
Trinity Theological College North Qld Regional Campus Coordinator
Member: Qld Synod Multi Cross Cultural Committee
Member 11th Assembly UCA 2006 – present
Member of the 19th World Methodist Conference 2006, South Korea.
Member of the ACC Cross Cultural Commission
First placement: Bowen Uniting Church, North Qld. 2001-2004
Qualifications: B.A. GradDipTheol. MTh. MMin. Canditate Doctor of Ministry - Charles Sturt University/UTC. Research topic: “Mission of the church - Fostering engagement while maintaining the catholicity of the gospel”.
Ms Robyn McKay (SA)
Robyn is currently serving as the lay-minister in Peterborough UC (SA). Robyn has been on many committees and is presently a member of the SA Synod Standing Committee, and was a member of the 11th UCA Assembly.
Pastor Grahame Abrahams (NSW)
Grahame has been involved in the work of reform in the UCA for over ten years, and is currently a member of the ACC NSW state movement. He has been a lay pastor for over 16 years, and his current placement is Shellharbour Village.
Dr. Colin Adam:
Dr Adam retired from CSIRO in 2001 having acted as Chief Executive during 2000. Dr. Adam’s early business career included a decade of technology management positions within the US aerospace industry. He returned to Australia in 1987 as Chief of the CSIRO Division of Materials Science and Technology at Clayton, and was later Director of the CSIRO Institute of Industrial Technologies. He was appointed Deputy Chief Executive in 1996, responsible for the Minerals and Energy Divisions, and was responsible for all CSIRO's commercial activity.
He is one of the founding Directors of a new Private Equity Fund investing in high technology start-up companies, Principals Funds Management, established in 2001. Dr. Adam has served as a member of the Commonwealth Government’s Industry Research and Development Board and the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He was a member of the inaugural Board of the Australian Universities Quality Agency from 2001 to 2003. He serves on the Board of Ausmelt Ltd., Universal Biosensors Ltd., and Overseas Council Australia. He has previously been a Director of Memtec Ltd., Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd. and Melbourne IT Ltd., and was recently Chairman of TeleIP Ltd. He was Chairman of The Preston Group, a leading avaition scheduling and simulation company started by CSIRO with external venture capital, which was successfully sold to Boeing in September 1999.
Dr Adam is currently Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Australian Research Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals, based at Monash University, and of the Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing (VCAMM) based at CSIRO Clayton.
Dr. Adam has a Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering and a PhD in Metallurgy from the University of Queensland. He has held Adjunct Professorships at the University of Queensland, and at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is married with three adult children, and was an elder in the Morristown Presbyterian Church, Morristown NJ, from 1983 – 1987. His family has attended St.Johns Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, since 1987. He owns and flies a high-performance sailplane, and instructs with the Beaufort Gliding Club at Bacchus Marsh.
