This Library contains documents from all recent United Church governance meetings, including General Council and its Executive. It also includes “Our Beliefs Explained” official policy documents dating back several decades. If you can't find something you think should be included, contact gcbusiness@united-church.ca.
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The president of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr and the vice president Sara Duterte have commended the infamous policies of former President Duterte by continuing to advocate for extrajudicial killings, consistently calling for the murder of “drug personalities” and urging the police and military to eliminate all communist rebels while dismissing human rights.
The Call to Ministry is a sacred trust. The covenant of Ordered Ministry is Celebrated in sacred ceremony. In addition to this covenant, members of the order of ministry are also employees who deserve the rights and privileges of all workers in any station of life.
Since restructuring, many Communities of Faith have felt increasingly distanced from and unsupported by the National Church. “We are called to be the church” and our communities of faith want to live into their faith missions to the best of their abilities given their local contexts.
We believe God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit is calling us to respond to the challenge of youth underrepresentation in our church. We see the desire for youth inclusion and seek to offer a proposal that will provide an avenue for youth influence at both regional and national levels. The aim of this proposal is not to prove that young people are important leaders in the church, it is to provide a new avenue for their leadership to be empowered within the governance of our denomination.
Our society is in the midst of overlapping crises, the impacts of the housing crisis cannot be separated from the increasing anti-immigrant and racist discourses and behaviours prevalent in Canada. As young people, we notice in our communities especially the impacts of lack of affordable housing and racist housing policies and practices especially on Racialized international students. As a Church we are called to notice and respond to injustice, as young people we are tasked with fighting now for a better world for us and for future generations to inherit. This proposal is important because it contributes to United Church’s goals and commitments to being and creating a diverse and just society. Housing inequality is a social justice issue and as such, the church should continue to respond in creative and meaningful ways.
In November 2023 the Executive of the General Council established a Total Compensation Review Task Group to look at compensation practices through lenses of equitableness, adequacy, and sustainability, reporting to the 45th General Council in 2025.
The Office of Vocation’s purpose is to “support faithful, well-equipped, effective ministry personnel,” from initial discernment of a potential call to ministry through formation for ministry, the practice of ministry, and into retirement stages. The Board of Vocation is the elected member body which oversees the Office of Vocation, honouring and living into intercultural mission and ministry.
Whatever our ancestors imagined on June 10, 1925, it was likely not what our experience is today. But, perhaps we sell them short. Even a quick read of our history outlines that there were early champions for some of the qualities that have come to define us, such as inclusivity and being justice-seeking, and there were early critics on matters we have come to regret, such as our participation in residential schools. The seeds of our future can be found in our past.
The offices of Moderator and General Secretary are the two most senior offices in The United Church of Canada. In September 2022, the Executive of the General Council established a task group to examine the church’s needs in relation to the role of the office of Moderator, the responsibilities of the Moderator, and the opportunity a Moderator has to pursue themes and initiatives (The Manual D.4.1.6).
The Indigenous Church has been on a journey that has been full of incredible moments of growth, renewal, and challenges. Our journey has been full of a deep and profound commitment to who we are as Indigenous people within the United Church of Canada. Through this time of growth and renewal, the Elders of the Indigenous Church have journeyed alongside the staff of Indigenous Ministries and Justice (IMJ) so that we can continue serving our communities and determine a path forward.
