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By Lloyd Mackey
CLOSE to 400 commissioners to the United Church of Canada’s 40th General Council (GC40), plus more than 200 guests, will converge August 9–15 on the campus of University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO), in what is
being described by church leadership as “a greener council.”
The GC is the highest legislative body in the United Church of Canada (UCC),
generally considered to be the country’s largest Protestant denomination.
Some 250,000 regularly attend about 3,400 United churches across Canada. Around
2.8 million people, or nine percent of the population, tell census takers the
UCC is their denominational home.
Kent Israel, minister of Summerland United Church and co-chair of the GC40 local
arrangements committee, told BCCN a large cadre of volunteers from local United churches will be assisting in the
smooth functioning of the council.
The official host for the event is the Kamloops-Okanagan Presbytery, whose
congregations are scattered from Cache Creek in the north to the Canada-U. S.
border in the south. Israel shares the local arrangements task with Karen Medland, lead staff
minister at First United, Kelowna.
Israel said the volunteers will be involved in “a range of administrative, hosting and direction-giving activities. Local
churches, for example, will be providing 35-40 dozen fresh-baked cookies for
the refreshment breaks.”
Israel noted that the process of preparing for an event that brings people
together “from different parts of the country, facing different challenges – urban-rural, economics, faithfulness and so on” – is an interesting challenge.
The Summerland minister said there could be crowds of close to 1,000 in the
university gymnasium, for the opening and closing worship events.
The GC40 theme, enunciated by moderator David Giuliano, is ‘Down to the Potter’s House,’ based on Jeremiah 18:2.
In that passage, Giuliano stated, “Jeremiah hears God calling him to go down to the potter’s house, and watch the potter work, and imagine the ways in which God might be
shaping Jeremiah’s community in the same way as the potter shapes the clay.”
That, he said, provides the biblical basis for seeing that environmental and ‘green’ concerns are translated – not only into council debates, but into the physical arrangements for the event.
The GC40 agenda and planning team is calling for commissioners and guests to be
aware of how they might reduce their carbon footprints in matters of travel and
transport; food and beverages; accommodations; logistics; and by adopting ‘green’ office procedures.
GC40 will see the election, on August 14, of a new moderator. Guiliano is
completing his three year term. He was elected at the 39th General Council in
2006, in Thunder Bay.
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Nominations for the moderatorial election close on August 10. At press time,
there were six candidates:
• Mardi Tindal, nominated by Erie Presbytery, Hamilton Conference. An adult
educator, author and video producer who has served in several roles at all
levels of the church, she is currently executive director of Five Oaks Centre.
• James Christie, nominated by York Presbytery, Toronto. He is dean of the Faculty
of Theology of the University of Winnipeg, and president of the Canadian
Council of Churches.
• John Thompson, nominated by Keewatin Presbytery, All Native Circle Conference.
He is chair of Keewatin Presbytery, is a member of the National Aboriginal
Ministries Council, and ministers in Oxford House, Manitoba.
• Richard Hollingsworth, nominated by Renfrew Presbytery, Bay of Quinte
Conference. A former president of Bay of Quinte Conference, he has pastored
Braeside Pastoral Charge for the past 18 years.
• Jim Angus, nominated by B.C. Conference. A former president of B.C. Conference,
he has worn many hats at all levels of the United Church. Most recently, Angus
has been involved in Aboriginal ministry at the national level.
• Stephen Mabee, nominated by Toronto West Presbytery, Toronto Conference. He has
held many voluntary offices at all levels of the United Church. Semi-retired,
he currently ministers at St John’s Halton Hills.
Specific items which might possibly create flashpoints in debate had not been
publicly addressed by press time.
Topics for debate and exploration, however, were delineated for commissioners on
the GC40 website, which can be found at gc40.united-church.ca.
They included: covenant living; sustainable community; racial justice; becoming
an intercultural church; peace, and the responsibility to protect; the ‘Emerging Spirit’; intergenerational options; leadership development; francophone ministry
models; and focused Bible study.
September 2009
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