This Library contains documents from all recent United Church governance meetings, including General Council and its Executive. It will also soon include “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 Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee invites your response to this study document on membership in The United Church of Canada, a study authorized by the 42nd General Council that met in Corner Brook in 2015. At the end of this document you will find the questions we are seeking feedback on. You are invited to respond either by using the survey link found there or by sending a hardcopy to the address provided. To give a sense of the questions being asked before reaching the end of the document, you will see them numbered and in bold type at various places throughout this document. You will also have an opportunity to make other comments at the end.
That the 41st General Council 2012 direct the General Secretary, General Council to 1) request the federal Department of Health and the provincial and territorial ministries of health to increase funding to provide adequate mental health services for children, youth and adults; 2) request the provincial and territorial ministries of education and local school boards to include education on mental health issues and inclusiveness of students living with mental health issues as part of the curriculum; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 36th General Council: Call upon the Government of Canada to renew its commitment and support for a national medicare program based on the five fundamental principles of the Canadian Health Act: universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness, and public administration.
The Canadian health care system is under severe pressure (for example, reductions in federal transfer payments to support provincial health care programmes, cutbacks in hospital budgets and in community services, layoffs to hospital and other health care system personnel, the threat of user fees, and the potential of a two-tiered system). In response to this pressure and sparked by a sense of urgency, Unit IV of the Division of Mission in Canada established a Health Task Group in 1991 to engage the church in a process of education, animation and policy formation.
WHEREAS health reform is taking place in many provinces in Canada; and WHEREAS this process is having major impacts on the church’s service to senior citizens and especially on nursing homes and homes for the aged;
The 34th General Council agrees to 1. request the Division of Mission in Canada to educate congregations, presbyteries, and conferences that it is every child’s right to have the best nutrition and nurture available, and that it is the right of every woman who is involved in a nursing relationship to continue as a full participant in religious, economic, political, and social life; and
The 34th General Council strongly encourages the Division of Mission in Canada to create and/or identify the tools and guidelines for AIDS ministry in consultation with HIV-infected people and people presently engaged in this ministry.
Having heard Petition 39 [re: placing abortion in the Criminal Code], it is moved that 1 The Frankford/Batawa Pastoral Charge be encouraged to continue studying the issues and to forward the results of their study to Belleville Presbytery;
WHEREAS as Christians we affirm the sanctity of human life, born or unborn and that life is much more than physical existence; and
Having heard Petition 37, it is MOVED that the 33rd General Council: Designate and establish one Sunday per year as an AIDS Awareness Sunday; and Direct DMC to give publicity to the British Columbia Kit of Worship Resources for AIDS Awareness.
