Joyce Tangi Commissioned as Culture of Safety Pastor

On Wednesday 14th May, Joyce Tangi was officially commissioned as the Uniting Church’s new Culture of Safety Pastor at the Centre for Ministry chapel. It was a moment of significance for Joyce and the wider Church, as she steps into a role that places protection at the heart of our communal life.

Joyce is a long-term member of the Uniting Church, having worked as a Youth Pastor and as Children’s and Families’ Ministry Facilitator with the Pulse Team. She has frequently represented the UCA in a variety of forums both here and overseas and well loved and respected across the Church.

"It is an honour to stand here today commissioned again in a space that has held me in my highest joys, deepest griefs, and the moments where I’ve felt God’s Spirit move me to act, speak, and grow.

To be entrusted with this responsibility, alongside a team with hearts set on building God’s Church—prioritising relationships, dignity, and ensuring no one is left behind—is a sacred blessing. Its more than a role. It’s a calling.

Jesus didn’t build His Church from comfort—He built it through compassion. He sat with the excluded, He touched the outcast, and He reminded us that the Kingdom of God is for those often forgotten. Culture of Safety is our response to that same call.

This isn’t just about policy or procedure. It’s about embodying the heart of Christ—one that protects, that sees, and that loves with intention.

I recognise there has been pain. I honour the courage of those who have spoken the truth into places where it wasn’t easy to do so. And I believe that if we build together—listening deeply, challenging lovingly, and walking humbly—we can become a Church where safety is not a side note, but a sign of the Gods Spirit work among us.

And if today is the day you need reminding—then please hear this: we are required to show up for one another. To create spaces where the vulnerable are valued, the broken find belonging, and where harm is not ignored but named—and healed.

We do this not in our own strength, but in the strength of the One who first loved us. Because when we don’t prioritise safety, when we don’t center love and accountability—we fail not only each other, but the witness of Christ.

I pray my time in this role will help our Church become more like the Body Jesus imagined—where unity is real! where grace is not a whisper but a way of life! Where, as Katie reminds our team, “Hope is more than something delicate, Hope has dirt on her face and blood on her knuckles … as she rises for another go!”. A Church that doesn’t just say “all are welcome,” but a church that ensures that all have the right to feel and be safe.

So, Culture of Safety Team and wider church — LESSGOO let’s do this! 

May Christ lead and May the Spirit guide us. And may you feel the Love of the One who calls us by name. Amen!"