GC40 Intercultural ministries: a process of church-wide transformation (interim report)

Our discernment is based not solely on the process by which decisions are made, but on the fruits of those decisions and the extent to which we recognize ourselves as children of God in them. We make this prayerful discernment as the body of Christ aligned with the Spirit in our commitments, our relationships with one another, and our growth in the light of Christ. 

We encourage the Executive of the General Council to attend to processes throughout the church that develop and build trust. 

Background and Introduction 

In 2006, The United Church of Canada committed itself to becoming an intercultural1 church. In “A Transformative Vision for The United Church of Canada,” approved at the 39th General Council, the church declared that 

intercultural dimensions of ministries [will] be a denominational priority in living out its commitment to racial justice, where there is mutually respectful diversity and full and equitable participation of all Aboriginal, francophone, ethnic minority, and ethnic majority constituencies in the total life, mission, and practices of the whole church.”2 

The church affirmed that this commitment will be a process — a prayerful journey of transformation — affecting all areas of the church’s life. The Executive of General Council, in 2007, reaffirmed intercultural ministries as a denominational priority for the church. The vision of an intercultural church calls all to move toward becoming mutually welcoming and racially just communities, and calls all people to be changed. 

God is calling us to transformation as individuals, as communities, as church, with all the traditions and cultures we have been gifted with. Not one thing will be left untouched in God’s transformative power, including our culture that is the intersection of our beliefs, our values, our worldviews, our language(s), our customs, our traditions, our ethnic heritages, our memories. Are we willing to risk letting go of our hold on our cultures to God’s transformation and grieve the passing of old structures and unearned privileges?3