The United Church of Canada seeks to strengthen relationships that are grounded in behaviours and ways of being that demonstrate our Christian commitments in word and deed. This Behavioural Covenant for Members of National Committees provides guidelines on how committee members could work well together within the freedom of covenantal relationships for the good of the whole United Church.
The Behavioural Covenant helps to provide safer space and a framework for understanding, for deeper dialogue, and for co-creating intercultural community. It also offers guidelines on how committee members can be held accountable for and increase their effectiveness through their behaviours on committees. The covenant is not meant to be punitive; rather, it is based on relationships and accountabilities to one another.
This covenant accompanies the United Church’s commitments to Holy Manners, the Equity Aspirations, and the Seven Sacred Teachings; it aims to honour our diversity. When it is lived out, the Behavioural Covenant offers the possibility of creative and transformative decision-making. It is for committee members, and has a different emphasis from the church’s Code of Ethical Conduct for Workplaces, a policy that is for General Council and regional council office staff.
If you are appointed to a General Council committee, there will be a process to learn about and sign the behavioural covenant as a committee.
