Celebrating With Love to the World, “the gem of the Uniting Church”

The Uniting Church has a number of distinctive gifts to offer to the Australian church—and, indeed, to Australian society. One of those gifts is the unique resource that is With Love to the World. WLW is a daily Bible Study guide following the ecumenical lectionary, written by Australians (mostly Uniting Church), for the church in the southern hemisphere, with attention to the issues that matter most for folks downunder.

The resource began in March 1976 as a partnership between the Strathfield—Homebush Methodist Parish and United Theological College, then located at Enfield. It has always been oriented towards lay people in the church (although ordained people do also use it). The partnership has continued in strength for five decades, under the auspices of the Synod of NSW and the ACT. 

A fine celebration of the 50th anniversary of WLW took place on Sunday 8 March in the Carrington Ave Uniting Church in Strathfield. On this occasion, people who had enjoyed longstanding connections with WLW were present to celebrate. Some had travelled distances from country regions or from interstate. The church was filled with eager worshippers.

Notable amongst those present were two nonagenarians: the Rev. Shirley Maddox, a former Moderator of the Synod, and Ms Ruth Dicker, a former lecturer at United Theological College. Ruth and Shirley have both been involved with WLW in their own right over the years. Their late husbands were the key UTC personnel involved in establishing WLW: the Rev. Dr Gordon Dicker and the Rev. Dr Bob Maddox. Indeed, Shirley served as Editor of WLW for a remarkable 25 years!

Guest speaker for the occasion was the Rev. Professor Vicky Balabanski, Principal of the Uniting Church theological college in Adelaide. In a fine sermon she offered a series of insights about the story of Jesus meeting the woman of Samaria beside the well, relating them to the key purposes of WLW.

One person present reflected on the event; the Rev. Dr Rob McFarlane described WLW as “the gem of the Uniting Church” which has moved through a series of significant developments over the years. He noted “distribution of the resource across Australia and throughout the Pacific region, the development of an App as an alternative to the paper-based booklet, translation into other languages, and significant growing diversity among writers for each week”. 

Rob McFarlane himself received scholarship support from WLW during his time as a doctoral student, as did Vicky Balabanski, the current editor, John Squires, the current chair of the Scholarships Committee, William Emilsen, and 60 other people since the first scholarship was given to Howard Wallace in 1982. Every subscription to WLW pays for the resource and contributes to the Scholarships Fund, an investment for the future. One scholarship recipient affirmed how significant it has been for the UCA to become "a powerful source of theological, philosophical, ethical, and pastoral thinking in the churches and in society”. A booklet describing the study and the contribution of each scholarship recipient was distributed at the event.

The people of the Strathfield-Homebush Uniting Church offered fine music, rousing singing, a wonderful morning tea, and the space for those present to hear Doug Hewitt speak about the very early days of WLW, when Bob Maddox and Gordon Dicker held Sunday evening conversations about the lectionary passages featured in WLW. Peter Butler, Editor from 2006 to 2021, described how he saw the role of WLW was to inform people as they came to Sunday worship, as well as to encourage, comfort, and inspire people in their daily life of faith.

The current Editor, John Squires, then invited people to sing Happy Birthday as a cake was presented before he concluded with a brief statement about the purpose of the resource as it reflects the ethos of the Uniting Church. He saw that it needs to be Informed, Collaborative, and Diverse. Long may it continue to shine!

John Squires is the Editor of With Love to the World.

The partnership has continued in strength for five decades, under the auspices of the Synod of NSW and the ACT.