Uniting Climate Justice Activation

Ensure your congregation has someone nominated to be a Uniting Climate Activation captain. We want to make sure our communities get involved in this and also speak directly to those with decisionmaking power in government.

MP meeting request

To ensure the best chance of getting a meeting with your Federal member during the month, send out a meeting request as soon as possible. (Although late September would be ideal for a meeting, October is also ok.)

You should print out the Uniting Climate Action Network Statement about what we’re calling for and write a letter on behalf of your congregation to your MP. They can either be delivered to the MP, in the meeting you’ve organised, or dropped off / mailed.

We’ve also prepared a template you can adapt to make things as easy as possible!

Not sure who your MP is? To find your federal electorate and member, search your postcode on They Vote For You. If you’re still not sure, you can cross-check by searching your suburb on the Electoral Commission website.

Once you know your local MP, you can find their electorate postal address on the Australian Parliament website: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members

If you get a confirmed meeting with your MP we have more resources available to give you more support.

Talk to your congregation about the month of action. Play the launch video from Rev Mata Havea Hiliau, Moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW&ACT about the importance of this moment and why we’re getting invovled.

If you have a climate banner*, hang it on your church building (if it’s not up already). Take a photo as a congregation and share this on your church’s social media pages (if you have any) and share it with UCAN. 

✅ What you’ll need: climate banner (if available), permission & coordination with the Minister/Service leader, phone or camera, someone to record and/or take a photo, video pre-downloaded (link to be sent to signed up captains)

Make sure you test the video works, and the banner is up beforehand!

1. 💬 Tell your congregation about the Activation on Sunday (or feel free to write it in your own words)
   • Scroll down for a sample address to introduce the Activation and the banner action.
2. 📹 Play the video in your service about the reasons the Uniting Church is getting activated and the importance of this moment.
3. 🎬Record your own – after the service, ask everyone to assemble outside under or around the banner. Make sure both the banner and your church name (if possible) are visible.
   • Explain: Congregations across Australia are recording the same short message to demonstrate that we, the Uniting Church, stand together for climate justice. Appearing is optional – please only join the group if you are comfortable with UCAN using the recording publicly.
   • Ask the group to look towards the camera and say together: “Uniting Church for climate justice!”
4. 🤳 Post the video (and/or photo!) on any church social media accounts you have. Tag Uniting Climate on Facebook and Instagram (if you know how).
5. 💌 Send us a copy of the video and/or a link to your social media post – advocacy@uniting.org
   • WeTransfer is useful for sharing large files — a step-by-step guide is available if you need help!
   • We will be re-sharing these on our own social media to build the momentum

*Don’t have a banner? Consider getting creative and DIYing one like our friends at Tuggeranong Uniting Church! It’s a great opportunity to get congregation members involved. Australian Religious Response to Climate Change also have some you can order or get inspiration for slogans!

Launch address to Congregation

Good morning. My name is __________, and I am helping our congregation participate in the Uniting Climate Action Network’s Month of Action. Over the next four weeks, Uniting Church congregations across Australia will be learning, praying and acting as a part of the worldwide Season of Creation. This year’s theme is Living Water, inspired by Ezekiel’s vision of a river flowing from God’s sancturary and bringing new life wherever it travels.

During September, we will be taking simple actions including watching a short video, writing prayers for ministers and climate decision-makers and more. As we begin today with a video, I invite you to reflect, and consider what climate action means to us as a congregation.

After the service, you can speak with me about the Month of Action, and we’ll be recording a congregational video outside at [location].

Invite people to write a short prayer after worship, taking a group photograph with congregation members holding their prayer cards, selecting one or two prayers for a video reading, and sending cards to Chris Bowen.

✅ What you’ll need: printed prayer cards, phone or camera, pens, envelopes, someone to take the group photo and record the prayer reading.

Identify and set up a space for congregation members to write ahead of time.

1. 🤝 Introduce the prayer cards – sample address linked
2. 📝 Host prayer card writing session after the service, offer assistance to anyone unable to write by hand. (Note: participants don’t need to write in English if they’d prefer not to – politicians have access to interpreters as needed!)
   • Helpful tip: a writing action is most effective over morning tea or supper after immediately after worship – this maximised participation, and guarantees you’ll receive the cards back.
   • You can also find more tips on running an effective gathering courtesy of the Sydney Alliance.
3. 🙏Document the prayers – ask willing participants to gather for a photo holding up their cards. Select one or two prayers of your choice to capture in a video (make sure they’re ok with being recorded.)
4. 📮 Mail them out – store the cards safely and then post them to:
   • The Hon Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy,
   • PO Box 6022, House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
5. 📸 Share your results send through your photos and videos to advocacy@uniting.org and/or post them to any social media accounts.
   • WeTransfer is useful for sharing large files — a step-by-step guide is available if you need help!

Prayer card address to congregation

Last week, we watched a short video about Season of Creation and this Month of Action. Today, we are invited to pray for the people carrying responsibility for climate decisions.

Australia will play an important role in the United Nations climate talks, working in partnership with the Pacific to host the Pre-COP meeting. We want to pray for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and for all those carrying responsibility in this year’s talks. After the service, you are invited to write a short prayer. You might pray for wisdom and courage for our leaders, for Pacific communities, for workers and communities experiencing change or for creation.

After writing the prayers, we will post our prayers to the Minister as an expression of support, encouragement and a reminder to be bold in his role.

I will be [location] after the service, please come and write a short prayer!

We are rallying around an international treaty around pushing for countries to shift us away from the fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) we know are responsible for making climate change worse. This week we are inviting congregation members to add their support to this multifaith movement around what is called a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. We are working with our partners at Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) on this.

✅ What you’ll need: full multifaith letter printed, printed signup sheets (2x), pens and clipboards.

Sample address with the excerpt of the letter in advance, practicing aloud (if helpful). Check with the service leader how much time is available. Arrange for someone to record the reading in the service.

1. 🕊️ Share the information about the multifaith initiative for a shift towards clean energy – sample address linked
2. 📹 Record the address ask someone to film as you read the excerpt and email it to us and post on any socials available
   • WeTransfer is useful for sharing large files — a step-by-step guide is available if you need help!
3. 📋Collect signatures using the signup sheets provided
4. 📮 Photograph the completed sheets email them to fossilfueltreaty@arrcc.org.au (CC: advocacy@uniting.org)

Treaty – sample address to congregation

This week we are getting involved in an international campaign around faith voices supporting a shift away from fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil that we know are making climate change worse. Here is an excerpt from the full treaty you’re invited to sign on to at the end of the service:

We stand united as people from many faiths and spiritual paths. The Earth is given in sacred trust for all living things – not as a commodity but as a gift to be honoured. Our traditions speak clearly – we have a sacred duty to defend the integrity of creation, and to protect human rights into coming centuries.

Our sacred texts call us to protect the Earth and all communities who are already suffering the effects of climate change. And yet, despite the clarity of science, we are failing our responsibility. Many governments, and vast financial interests, push back on the Paris Agreement’s goal of a 1.5°C maximum warming by 2050, paying no heed to the stream of climate calamities that we daily witness. They place profit above life, stealing from our children and coming generations.

While the cost of action will be expensive, the cost of inaction will be astronomical on life and property over coming centuries. It is short-sighted and foolhardy to enrich the few at the expense of the many.

The transition towards renewable energy is a matter of survival. To continue expanding fossil fuels is to act without integrity. We therefore call on every government to act with courage equal to the crisis and to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty that will:

• Immediately stop approvals of new fossil fuel projects;
• Rapidly phase out existing fossil fuel production, ensuring impacted workers are treated with dignity;
• Finance a global just transition to safe and affordable renewable energy for all people.

We plead with the leaders of every nation: Choose courage over complacency, protect our common home and act with urgency.

If you support this call, you are invited to read the full letter and sign. If you would like to sign or learn more, I will be available at [location] after the service.

Recap of month and commissioning of delegation. The UCAN statement and congregational letter will have either been delivered, or will soon be delivered to your local MP.

✅ What you’ll need: UCAN Statement, phone or camera for photograph, month of action recap information (if you’re registered as a captain, check your emails!), UCAN signup sheet (linked below)

1. 📢Recap the month of Action – check your emails for the final blurb for your service with statistics and national engagement overview.
2. ✝️Prayer read the commissioning prayer for the delegation to meet with MPs (check the liturgical resources to be provided an suggested prayer)
3. 💚Close the activation and invite congregation members to officially join UCAN to keep up the good work
4. 📧 Email advocacy@uniting.org completed signup sheets

Canberra City and To e Talatalanoa Uniting Church representatives at MP meeting from 2025

If you get a confirmed meeting with your MP we have more resources available to give you more support

Is your congregation resistant or disengaged? If you’re looking for ways to build power and connect with other likeminded people in your congregation or community, our partners at Renew Australia For All have some great resources! These include a guide on having powerful 1:1 conversations. These conversations can be a building block for bigger actions and to build a coalition of people interested in taking action

Are you and your congregations extra enthusiastic and looking to scale up your engagement?

Here are some bonus actions you and your fellow congregants can take: