FGA Marriage Manual ⇐ Please click this link to download your latest updated copy of the Full Gospel Australia Marriage Manual.
Full Gospel Australia Ordained Ministers: All ministers granted a Marriage Celebrant License through the Full Gospel Churches of Australia are required to complete and pass the FGA Marriage Celebrant’s Course. This course is administered by our College of Ministry Leadership and must be completed at 100% correct to pass. For enrolment to the College, please contact the National Office by email, thank you.
FGA Marriage Rites – A Resource for Ministers
Performing marriage ceremonies for people in your community is a privilege and gives you an opportunity to be involved in people’s lives in a meaningful and prolonged way. It is also a duty that carries quite a responsibility and should not be undertaken lightly, nor with a cavalier attitude. The Commonwealth and State governments require all marriage services, paperwork, and other responsibilities to be undertaken in a timely and circumspect manner, with dignity and the respect it deserves.
As a representative of God and with the authority of the Full Gospel Churches of Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia, each ordained minister is to carry out the responsibilities of conducting marriage ceremonies with all care, respect, and love. It is the minister’s responsibility to know the law (Marriage Act) and to act entirely within it.
This Marriage Manual is supplied for your benefit and is kept updated by Full Gospel Australia. However, it is each ordained minister’s responsibility to ensure you have the latest copy of this manual, and to check with your State’s department of Births, Deaths and Marriages to ensure your procedures are up-to-date and of the highest quality.
Please Note: The Forms for ‘Notice of Intended Marriage’ and Marriage Certificates have changed since 9 December 2017. Celebrants must use the new forms which can be downloaded from the Attorney General’s website in their state.
Please Note: Since the change in Australian law on 9th December 2017 sex or gender no longer affects the right to marry under Australian law: same-sex marriage became legal in Australia.
This Act amended the Marriage Act 1961 to redefine marriage as ‘the union of 2 people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life…’ This change means that it is now legal for couples of the same sex to be married. It does not and cannot mean to insist that all marriage celebrants must perform marriage ceremonies for couples who are of the same sex.
A ‘religious celebrant’ ordained by the Full Gospel Churches of Australia is required to (and can only) marry couples under the auspices and rites of the Full Gospel Churches of Australia. We define marriage according to the traditional conservative Christian view that “…marriage is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others…” This means that it is not lawful for any Ordained Minister with the Full Gospel Churches of Australia to solemnise a marriage of any couple who do not conform to this definition.
Full Gospel Australia affirms God’s love, care and concern for all people, whoever they are. We affirm our desire for all people to come to eternal life through Jesus Christ and our love for all people, with no regard for their background or circumstances. We also affirm our intention to minister without prejudice to all who are within our spheres of influence. We act responsibly within the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia and our appropriate State/Territory jurisdictions.
Separate Meetings – Your obligations under the Marriage Act 1961
- From 12 June 2024, all authorised marriage celebrants are required under the Marriage Act
1961 (the Marriage Act) to meet with each party to the marriage separately and in person
before they solemnise the marriage. - This applies to all legal marriages and all authorised celebrants, including Commonwealthregistered marriage celebrants, ministers of religion of a recognised denomination and State and Territory officials authorised to solemnise marriage
The ‘Forced Marriage Community Pack’, available on the Attorney-General’s Department
website at: Forced marriage | Attorney-General’s Department provides information and
resources on forced marriage and is available in a range of languages.
My Blue Sky is an easy-to-use, non-government website dedicated to preventing and addressing forced marriage in Australia. The website provides people in, or at risk of, forced marriage with important information and links to support services, as well as useful resources for frontline responders, service providers and the general community.