Presbyterian Church of Australia

Presbyterian Church of Australia
Logo of the Presbyterian Church of Australia
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	conservative Calvinist
Theology	Reformed Evangelical
Polity	Presbyterian
Associations	World Reformed Fellowship
Region	Australia
Origin	24 July 1901, Sydney
Merger of	Presbyterian Churches of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
Separations	1967 Presbyterian Reformed Church 1977 Uniting Church in Australia
Congregations	600
Members	54,000
Source: The Key: 2006 Yearbook and Church Directory.

The Presbyterian Church of Australia is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Australia. (The larger Uniting Church in Australia includes most congregations that were formerly Presbyterian.)

When captain James Cook landed in Australia in 1776 he was sure to have had some Presbyterians in his crew. John Hunter the captain of HMS Sirius was a former Church of Scotland minister. Later Presbyterian Christianity came to Australia with the arrival of members from a number of Presbyterian denominations in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century. The Presbyterian missionaries played an important role to spread the faith in Australia. Since then Presbyterianism grew to the fourth largest Christian faith in the country.

The Presbyterian Church of Australia was formed when Presbyterian churches from various Australian states federated in 1901. The churches that formed the Presbyterian Church of Australia were the Presbyterian Churches of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia. These state churches were (and still are) incorporated by separate Acts of Parliament (i.e. by the respective State Parliaments) for property holding purposes. (These Acts are known as Property Trust Acts).

In 1977 two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia together with nearly all the membership of the Congregational Union of Australia and the Methodist Church of Australasia, joined to form the Uniting Church in Australia. Much of the third who did not join the Uniting Church did not agree with its liberal views, although a number remained because of cultural connections.

Before the union the Presbyterian Church of Australia was liberal, but the continuing Presbyterian Church became increasingly conservative. A resurgence of traditional Reformed theology took place. In 1982 the denomination withdrew from the World Communion of Reformed Churches. In 1987 a new hymnbook was introduced. In 1991 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Australia repealed the approval of the ordination of women. Women elders continue in some states. The church is active in missions with about 130 missionaries working around the world, including Korea, the Pacific and Myanmar.