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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Consistent with the previous report, the Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee again seeks a reasoned position that accords with our tradition and views the issues through the lens of the previous report, which emphasizes that a decision for MAID must be the result of a free and informed choice.
With Medical Assistance in Dying now legal in Canada, people participating in United Church of Canada communities of faith are faced with their loved ones choosing such assistance in dying, or considering this option themselves, and with health care professionals in their communities who are discerning their response to this option. How can the church support people challenged with such a decision? How can the church prepare people for end-of-life decision-making?
That the Executive of the General Council: 1. receive the report of the Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying 2. adopt the report as an official statement of the United Church on the subject of Medical Assistance in Dying.
That the Executive of the General Council encourage all Conferences, Districts, and Presbyteries, to incorporate at least one half hour in their 2016 meetings to read aloud the 1986 Apology to First Nations People and the 1988 response from the All Native Circle Conference as a way to recognize the 30th anniversary of the Apology. Apology to First Nations People, 30th anniversary of the Apology, Apology
That the Executive of the General Council, in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Call to Action 48 (text below): 1. formally adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and comply with its principles, norms, and standards as a framework for reconciliation;
On June 2, 2015, the United Church of Canada, along with the other church parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, welcomed the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation C...
That the Executive of the General Council, in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Call to Action 48:formally adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous ...
That the 42nd General Council (2015) direct the General Secretary, General Council to: a. Call upon the Government of Canada to: i. Conduct a full Public Inquiry into the more than 1200 cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada; ii. Support and continue to support the struggle against the devaluation of women by conducting this inquiry;
The current phase of the theological dialogue between the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada resumed in January 2012 with a shared mandate to discern “whether God is calling us into a new stage in our common life.”The 2010 General Synod of the Anglican Church specifically asked the dialogue to focus its work on “an examination of the doctrinal identities of the two churches and the implications of this for the lives of the churches, including understandings of sacraments and orders of ministry.” Meeting once annually, the members of the dialogue have rediscovered the degree to which our two churches share a common faith, context, history, geography, and commitment to carrying out God’s mission in the world. We have spent considerable time examining the theological positions and practices related to orders of ministry, sacraments, and creeds.
The Aboriginal Ministries Council and the Committee on Indigenous Justice and Residential Schools propose: That the Executive of the General Council… 1. Publicly support the call of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) for the Government of Canada to convene as soon as possible a National Inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada, with Aboriginal women to have a leadership role in the design, decision-making, process and implementation of this inquiry;