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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In The United Church of Canada, we see ourselves as a church rooted in justice and equality with a vision of Deep Spirituality, Bold Discipleship, and Daring Justice. Our roots flow from the social gospel tradition of bringing Christian responsibility to public influence. In many ways, we have been a model of equality. We were the first denomination to grant ordination to women and commissioning and ordination to people who are openly 2SLGBTQIA+. United Church ministry personnel come from different walks of life and many cultural backgrounds. And while our history includes the running of Indian Residential Schools, we have apologized, made reparation, and continue to work toward reconciliation.
The Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee was asked by the Executive of General Council in November 2013 to develop a theology of disability,[1] which could include concepts such as healing, cure, sin, and normalcy. From the beginning, we wrestled with the notion of developing a theology of disability because the category “disability” is not neatly defined or clear. With this principle in mind, we invited people living with disabilities, and allies, to tell their own stories. The italicized sections of this report represent a small selection of the 35 submissions received in writing, video performance, and artistic work which we received in answer to our invitation to tell the church a story over a cup of coffee about living with a disability, or being an ally with a person with a disability. We have been honoured to be entrusted with these stories, some painful and some joyful, that have enriched the development of this report.
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.
These words from A Song of Faith represent the most recent articulation of the ecclesiology of The United Church of Canada. Ecclesiology can be defined as theological reflection on the nature and mission of the church – “a statement about where Christians are in the world, who 41st General Council 2012 Ottawa, Ontario For Information they sit with, and what they affirm and challenge.”
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
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.
The Permanent committee, Programs for Mission and Ministry, in reviewing its work through the 2009-2012 triennium discerned a common thread that linked each aspect of its work. Given its mandate to ensure that work comes before the Executive in an integrated manner it undertook and offers this report as one means of fulfilling that direction. The report will continue to serve as a working document for the PCPMM. It also believes that it can assist the General Council and its Executive l in their deliberations on the identity of the church.
The 40th General Council that met in Kelowna, British Columbia, in August 2009 approved a motion to add to the Doctrine section currently in the Basis of Union three other doctrinal statements that General Councils of the United Church have approved since 1925. Those three statements are the Statement of Faith (1940), A New Creed (adopted in 1968; revised in 1980 and again in 1994), and A Song of Faith (2006). For this proposed action to take place, the General Council authorized remits, which are votes by presbyteries and, in this case, also by pastoral charges, on whether to add some or all of these three statements to the Doctrine section of the Basis of Union. This background document is intended to help your pastoral charge’s session, church board, or church council as you prepare to vote on whether to include these other doctrinal statements in the Basis of Union.
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.
