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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That the 42nd General Council adopt that on behalf of The United Church of Canada, the Moderator and the General Secretary promote the adoption of a national Child Well-being Index. This can be achieved by writing to the Prime Minister, the leaders of the opposition parties, federally and provincially, each Premier, the whole church and the national media demanding immediate action for children and encourage members of United Church congregations to do the same.
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 original motion was amended to first receive the report, then approve the recommendations.
That the 41st General Council 2012 direct the Executive of the General Council to develop strategies to enable all members and adherents of The United Church of Canada to take action in collaboration with all levels of government, the business community and the community of non-profit organizations and partners to address child poverty in Canada.
produce appropriate study material (such as for Lent or Advent or through Mandate magazine) that addresses the issue of poverty, homelessness and economic disparity in this country Keywords: poverty, homelessness, social security
That the 41st General Council 2012 call upon the Government of Canada to reverse their decision to make age 67 the minimum age for application for Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefits and direct the General Secretary, General Council to communicate this stance. Old Age Security, OAS, Guaranteed Income Supplement, GIS, minimum age for application for Old Age Security
1) recognise the emergence of new social movements, which specifically challenge the neo liberal Empire; 2) direct the Executive of the General Council to mobilise the people of The United Church of Canada (at every level) to embody prophetic and liberating values; and 3) direct the General Secretary, General Council to call upon The United Church of Canada’s ecumenical and other partners to mobilise in a similar fashion.
Since establishment in 1975, the Roman Catholic Church/United Church of Canada Dialogue has discussed, and issued reports on, a number of topics. In 2004, following contrary briefs by their two churches to the Supreme Court of Canada on same-sex marriage, the Dialogue after deep reflection decided on Marriage as its next topic. Praying for the guidance of the Spirit, the Dialogue has wrestled the subject joyfully, and is now reporting consensually under the headings of Social Context, Theology of Marriage, Christian Wedding, Pastoral Care and Marriage in Society, as well as Conclusions and Recommendations. Appendix A contains a selected bibliography; and Appendix B the chronological list of persons involved in the dialogue on this subject from 2004 until 2012.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel used to tell the story that when God, the Holy One, gets up in the morning, God gathers the angels of heaven around and asks this simple question: "Where does my creation need mending today?" And then Rabbi Heschel would continue, "Theology consists of worrying about what God worries about when God gets up in the morning."
In winter 2003, twelve persons named by The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and The United Church of Canada (UCC) met in Vancouver to consider their new mandate to explore the relationship between our two churches. It was clear to us from the outset that we were not commissioned to prepare plans for a new “church union,” a successor to the failed project of the 1970s. What we should make our task was initially less obvious.
