CouncilConstitutionRegulations

Constitution and Regulations

Church Councils were introduced by the 8th National Assembly of the UC in 1997 to replace the former Parish Council and Council of Elders.
The Council is governed by the Constitution and Regulations of the Uniting Church in Australia; a copy of which is held in the Church Office. Some key Regulations concerning the duties and responsibilities of council are shown in the page CouncilRegulations. See also: http://assembly.uca.org.au/resources/regulations-2008/regulations
The Council is the only body that needs to be appointed by a congregation and is accountable to the Congregation in all things.
Pursuant to UCA Regulation 3.1.12 (b), Glen Waverley, due to the size of the congregation and the number of elders, requested Presbytery to exempt us from the requirement that every Elder be a member of the Church Council, as this would have created a Church Council of more than 70 people. A Church Council of 25 was approved where more than half the members must be Elders. This remains the composition of the Church Council.
At Glen Waverley the Council and Elders have also signed a covenant concerning the relationship between each Elder and the Council. This arose at the time of creation of the single church council and recognised the somewhat “unique” position of Glen Waverley with a large number of Elders exercising ministry. The covenant is shown in section 3.1.

This was reversed by action of the congregation meeting CongMeetingMinutes20130701, where Glen Waverley adopted a single council of 10 Elders & Councillors