GCE45 GS23 Amendments to section D.5.3.3 and D.5.3.4 for November 2025

1. What is the issue? Why is it important?

GC45 WF26: GCE01 – Review of the Roles of the Moderator and General Secretary for Summer 2025 was carried at the last General Council meeting in August. A task group reviewed the roles of the Moderator and the General Secretary and produced a report with several recommendations.

The General Council received the report and adopted all of its recommendations except for Recommendation 9, which proposed distinguishing between the General Secretary speaking for the Church and the Moderator speaking to the Church. This particular recommendation was referred back to the General Council Executive for further analysis, with a report to be provided to the General Council in 2026.

All other recommendations were accepted, and the Manual Committee was directed to revise the by-laws accordingly.

2. How might the General Council Executive respond to this issue?

The General Secretary recommends the following changes to sections D.5.3.3 and D.5.3.4.

The original wording is presented first, followed by the proposed changes.

Original Text

D.5.3.3 Committees

The Executive of the General Council is responsible for

1. appointing an Advisory Committee for the Moderator;
2. appointing a General Secretary’s Supervision Committee; and
3. receiving and reviewing reports at least annually from the committees established by the General Council or its executive.

D.5.3.4 General Council Office

The Executive of the General Council is responsible for

1. ensuring there is a General Council Office to carry out the ongoing work of the General Council;
2. deciding on the organization of the General Council Office;
3. setting human resource policies for General Council and regional council staff;
4. appointing General Council officers, executive ministers or officers, and regional council executive ministers or speaker; and

Proposed Text

D.5.3.3 Committees

The Executive of the General Council is responsible for

1. appointing an Accountability Committee for both the Moderator and the General Secretary, composed of at least two members of the Executive, two members named by the Indigenous church and two members at large named by the Executive through the nominations process.
2. receiving and reviewing reports at least annually from the committees established by the General Council or its Executive.

D.5.3.4 General Council Office

The Executive of the General Council is responsible for

1. ensuring there is a General Council Office to carry out the ongoing work of the General Council;
2. deciding on the organization of the General Council Office;
3. setting human resource policies for General Council and regional council staff;
4. appointing General Council officers, executive ministers or officers, and regional council executive ministers or speaker; and
5. deciding on the office accommodation of the General Council Office.

3. How might the General Council Executive respond to this issue?

N/A