Check.Church

Uniting Church in Australia

United and uniting churches · 1977 · Australia

Australia's 1977 three-tradition union, deliberately named 'Uniting' rather than 'United' — union as an ongoing posture, not an accomplished event; its census-identification decline (870K in 2016 to 673K in 2021) beside 243K members is a clean self-identification-versus-membership exhibit for the methodology page.

Uniting Church in Australia was formed in 1977. Uniting Church in Australia continues today. Uniting Church in Australia's institutional line runs back through Methodism, Church of England, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Uniting Church in Australia stand 2 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1977
Family
United and uniting churches
Region
Australia
Also known as
UCA

What it was organized out of

On the tree

Uniting Church in Australia and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday100424431451105415341581170617291977The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredChurch of England (Anglican)Church of EnglandAnglicanCongregationalists (Congregational)CongregationalistsCongregationalPresbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789 line) (Reformed and Presbyterian)Presbyterian Church inthe U.S.A. (1789 line)Reformed and PresbyterianMethodism (Methodist)MethodismMethodistUniting Church in Australia (United and uniting churches)Uniting Church inAustraliaUnited and uniting churches

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Adherents

About 243,000 adherents (official census, as of 2018).

Source: UCA self-report (2018); census self-ID 673,260 (2021)

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.