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.
1) Enter your search words.
2) Use the filters to refine your search by GC, Document Type, Originating body, or more. You can stack the filters to further refine your search to help find exactly what you’re looking for. Results will update in real-time as you select filters.
3) To find Belief/Policy documents, use the “Topic” filter option.
Therefore be it resolved that the 36th General Council go on record as supporting the amendment of the Income Tax Act to redefine the word "spouse" by deleting the phrase "of the opposite sex" in section 252 (4) and thereby treating same-sex spouses the same as opposite sex spouses, and urge the Government of Canada to make such an amendment immediately. economic justice, taxation
Today is a time of spiritual dislocation for many Christians. A secular and consumerist spirit pervades public life. The shopping mall can be as much a Sunday morning destination as is church. Many people identify themselves as “spiritual” but not “religious”. They choose not to identify themselves with any of the traditional churches of Canada. Greater knowledge of the richness of the world’s religions, together with the arrival of immigrants and refugees from all corners of the earth, has brought Canada greater cultural and religious diversity than earlier generations might ever have imagined. This is true not only in Toronto and Vancouver, but in Lac la Biche, Alberta and Shediac, New Brunswick. The proximity of people of other faiths has served to break down stereotypes about other faith communities. We may even feel challenged by the spiritual and moral integrity of some of our newer neighbours. These developments have raised the question of how to relate the historic teachings of the church about Jesus Christ to the present pluralistic moment. As Christian people we want to witness faithfully to the salvation, wholeness and challenge we have experienced through the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the same time, and precisely because we know Jesus as God’s Word made flesh, we want to treat all our neighbours ethically. We want to acknowledge the value we see in them and in their own expressions of faith.
THAT we urge the Government of Canada to ensure that female circumcision and sexual orientation be identified as a ground for gender persecution as outlined in the Immigration and Refugee Board guidelines.
Having heard Petition 88, having considered the table group responses and having given careful consideration to the following concerns: a) noted that $100,000 is a token but it does signify willingness;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the 35th General Council ask the Division of Mission in Canada to write a letter of support to the Government of Canada for the work now in progress on preparing gender persecution guidelines.
The 34th General Council agrees to 1. urge the Division of Mission in Canada to: compile available studies and evaluate the housing conditions and difficulties of single women on fixed income and single senior a. women (e.g. Maritime Conference study); b. make available the report of this study within the appropriate courts of the church; and 2. request the Government of Canada, on behalf of those in need, to re-establish the funding of cooperative housing proje
BE IT RESOLVED 1. that the 34th General Council adopt the definitions for sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, child abuse and pastoral sexual misconduct found in the revised document entitled “Sexual Abuse: (Harassment, Exploitation, Pastoral Sexual Misconduct, Assault) and Child Abuse,” for use in all courts of The United Church of Canada.
The 34th General Council urges the Government of Canada to immediately amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for discrimination.
From October 1989 to the end of 1990, the United Church was involved in the study of the document The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture (referred to as the Study Document in this report). As the statistics show, in terms of the sheer numbers of persons involved and responses received, it has been one of the most extensive church studies. People came to the study with different levels of energy and spiritual expressions and with a variety of expectations and assumptions. A participant in one Conference event spoke for many involved in the study when she said, “People came…looking for a garden ready to harvest but were given dirt and tools.” It is a good metaphorical description; what we offer as a report reflects the labour of many Christian people, at home and abroad, who were not afraid to plough in with hope of a good harvest.
That the 32nd General Council receive the report Toward A Christian Understanding of Sexual Orientations, Lifestyles and Ministry along with the Dissenting Statements, as fulfilling the mandate given by the 30th General Council, 1984. [ROP 1988, page 96]
