GCE Summary, Sept. 25–28, 2025

The above video looks back at the recent meeting of the 45th General Council in Calgary, as the words of Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson of the United Church of Christ lead us through a collection of GC45 highlights.

• Recommendations from the Way Forward committee
• Orientation
• Budget principles and staff updates
• Group benefits
• Appointments

The 45th General Council Executive (GCE) met in person in Toronto, Ontario, on September 25–28, 2025. The three days focused on orienting the Executive to the work, including its fiduciary duties, strategic leadership, financial oversight and its role in relation to committees, The United Church Foundation and program organizations such as KAIROS.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday began with worship and reflections led by Moderator Kimberly Heath and Cheryl-Ann Stadelbauer-Sampa, senior governance lead, drawing from Genesis 1, Haggai, Acts 6 and Mark 4, and worship music videos by Rend Collective and Porter’s Gate.

Recommendations from the Way Forward Committee

The procedural motion and consent agenda affirmed recommendations on items sent to the GCE from the in-person and recalled General Council on September 13, including:

• WF01: BNS01 Clergy Housing Assistance
• WF02: ECO04 Training on Conflict and Change
• WF04: ECO01 Making Sabbaticals Easier
• WF07: CW01 Mediation of COL Group Assignment Disputes
• WF09: ECO02 Reviewing M&P Committee’s Role and Function for Summer 2025 and FSLDW02 Modernizing Human Resources Models within the United Church of Canada
• WF10: WOW02 Administration of Sacraments For Retired Diaconal Ministers
• WF38: NAK02 Address Declining Membership by Expanding the United Church of Canada’s Intercultural Ministry
• WF40: HF02 Policy That Meets a Variety of Changes in Communities of Faith
• WF45: COM09 A Call for Strengthening Camping Ministries as Central to Faith Formation within The United Church of Canada, and to Explore How This Vital Work is Structured and Resourced

The following proposals from General Council 45, which did not have sufficient input from discussion groups for the Way Forward Committee to develop a proposal, were sent to the General Secretary for guidance, to report at the Executive meeting in November 2025.

• PM04 Facing Every Emotional Limit
• ECO03 Systematic Information Sharing by Pastoral Charge Supervisors
• COM05 Rescind and Review Manual Changes to “Voluntary Associate Minister” Requirements

Orientation

Over the two-and-a-half days, through collective and small group work, the new members of the Executive learned about each other, and about the role of the Executive in providing oversight, foresight and insight for the church. Through a case study exercise, they learned about the GCE’s legal and fiduciary duties, and the nuance of its role in governance. The Executive affirmed the governance renewal commitments of:

• Being strategic and visionary
• Monitoring their capacity for governance
• Engaging external/independent governance coaching
• Clarifying roles
• Furthering committee and advisory group work
• Engaging within the behavioural covenant
• Committing to honourable and trustworthy ways of working together
• Reflecting on decolonizing practices

John Prezioso, Principal for Prescient Compensation Law, facilitated an orientation to familiarize the Executive with their role as administrator of the Pension Plan of The United Church of Canada.

Budget principles and staff updates

Senior staff members provided orientation on key functions for the church. Jennifer Henry, Executive Minister for Organizational Development and Strategy, provided an orientation on Toward 2035 and invited input from the GCE on the specific objectives for the next iteration of the Strategic Plan, while Harry Li, Executive Officer of Finance, offered a high-level introduction to the national church’s finances, affiliated committees and how it all fits with the broader work of the church, as well as an overview of the budget principles, which the Executive passed on Sunday.

The budget principles and assumptions are parameters that guide management as they develop detailed unit-level operating budgets. This process provides a structured framework for fiscal accountability and transparent decision-making, and is critical to the church’s long-term financial sustainability.

The operating budget principles and assumptions were passed.

Sarah Charters, Executive Officer Philanthropy and United Church of Canada Foundation President, invited the Executive to think about ways to help Communities of Faith connect to the work of Mission and Service, who contributed 77% of total giving to the United Church in 2024.

The Executive dealt with a number of proposals directly, as well as receiving reports and proposals that emerged as unfinished business from the 45th General Council in August. In particular, the post-pregnancy and parental leave top-up and adoption leave policy now aligns with provincial legislation that has not yet been enacted; it was adopted, effective immediately.

Group benefits

Alan Hall, Executive Minister for Shared Services, and Kit Loewen, chair of the Business Committee, presented some changes to premiums for group benefits and pensioner group benefits plans. The GCE transferred the assets of the compassionate assistance fund back to the United Church from the Foundation.

Appointments

New and returning Executive members were approved for the following cascading appointments:

1. Michael Caveney and Catherine Glover: Finance Advisory Committee
2. Nia Bentayen and Jane McDonald: Joint Grants Advisory Committee
3. Hillary Van Spronsen: Governance Committee

Several new members were appointed to the Working Group on Ministry Leadership (August 2025–December 2028) and the Board of Vocation (September 2025–GC46, August 2028).