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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At its November, 2013, meeting, the General Council Executive directed the Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee “to research and devise a position paper regarding adoption and create a United Church of Canada statement on adoption.”
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.
That the 42nd General Council (2015): Direct the Executive of the General Council to promote existing resources for congregations and other ministries to understand alternatives to the “first past the post” electoral system in Canada.
The 42nd General Council (2015) direct the General Secretary, General Council to: a) contact the Prime Minister, the party leaders and appropriate ministers calling on them to eliminate solitary confinement; b) contact the Prime Minister, the party leaders and appropriate ministers calling on them to: • Provide better training of staff regarding mental health issues of offenders; • Schedule mental health assessments and development of treatment strategies; • Ensure transfer of inmates prone to injuring themselves to treatment centres; • Ensure that there is adequate oversight of prison conditions. • Work more closely with the John Howard Society, the Elizabeth Fry Society, and the Canadian Mental Health Association in developing better strategies for treatment and training. • Work more closely with the interfaith chaplaincies.
The original motion was amended to first receive the report, then approve the recommendations.
Individually and in community, we do everything through the lenses of our cultures: there is no such thing as a culture-free perspective. Our experiences and understandings are shaped by our cultures. Since we cannot capture the complexity of God through our limited cultural understandings, our understanding of God is limited when we see this God through only one dominant cultural perspective. Instead, our understandings of God and our scriptures can be deepened when we come together, as disciples of Jesus Christ, in all of our differences and diversities to acknowledge intercultural reality and richness.
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
Our commitment to becoming an intercultural church is grounded in commitments that the United Church has already made; it is another step in the continuing journey to be a transformative, justice-seeking, equitable church where there is the full participation of all. Our intercultural commitment is also rooted theologically and biblically in what it means to be the church – to be the church is to be an intercultural community that honours difference.
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
