[5] There are around 2,000 UCA congregations,[1] and 2001 National Church Life Survey (NCLS) research indicated that average weekly attendance was about 10 per cent of census figures.

Its service network consists of over 400 agencies, institutions, and parish missions, with its areas of service including aged care, hospitals, children, youth and family, disability, employment, emergency relief, drug and alcohol abuse, youth homelessness and suicide.

She replaced Reverend Sharon Hollis, who had succeeded Dr Deidre Palmer at the start of the 16th Assembly in July 2021.

[10] Hollis was moderator of the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania at the time of her election in 2018 as the president-elect and became president at the beginning of the sixteenth assembly, which was to be held in Queensland in 2021.

Synod responsibilities include the promotion and encouragement of the church's mission, theological and ministerial education, and overseeing property matters.

These large presbyteries enable groups of congregations to work together, based on geographic location or similar interests or characteristics.

The UCA is committed to inclusivity, and there are a number of multicultural ministry (MCM) arrangements in which Korean, Tongan and other groups form congregations of the church.

A Frontier Services ministry is available to residents of the outback, with ministers and pastors visiting families by air or four-wheel drive vehicles.

The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC, sometimes known simply as the Congress), is constitutionally recognised as having responsibility for oversight of church ministry to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: A Synod may at the request of a Regional Committee of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress prescribe that the Regional Committee may have and exercise all or specific rights, powers, duties and responsibilities of a Presbytery under this Constitution and the Regulations (including ordination and other rights, powers and responsibilities relating to Ministers) for the purpose of fulfilling any responsibility of the Regional Committee for Uniting Church work with Aboriginal and Islander people within the bounds of the Synod.

Other activities include shelters and emergency housing for men, women and children; family-relationships support; disability services, and food kitchens.

[26] It receives funding from the government of Australia to implement development and poverty-alleviation programs in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

[27] UnitingWorld works in partnership with 18 overseas denominations to support over 180,000 people annually through sustainable community development projects.

[13] The UCA was one of the first Australian churches to grant self-determination to its indigenous members through the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

Partnerships exist with South Pacific and Asian churches, especially those which share a Congregational, Presbyterian or Methodist heritage.

It has taken stances on issues such as native title for indigenous people; the environment; apartheid; refugee status, and safe injection facilities for drug users.

Practices range from experimental liturgies, informal worship reminiscent of the Jesus movement to conventional Reformed services.

[31] When liturgical dress is worn, it most commonly consists of a white alb and a stole (for ministers and deacons) or scarf (for lay preachers).

The colour of the scarf or stole is often related to the liturgical calendar, such as purple for Lent or red for Pentecost.

The UCA's theological range is broad, reflecting its Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational origins and its commitment to ecumenism.

Issues debated since early in UCA history are the role of gay and lesbian people in the church, their possibility of being ordained and the blessing of same-sex unions.

The fairly broad consensus has been that a person's sexual orientation should not be a bar to attendance, membership or participation in the church.

In 2003, the church voted to allow local presbyteries to decide whether to ordain gay and lesbian people as ministers.