By David Dawson
It was my privilege to be a member of the 40th General Council held in Kelowna this August. Although I will not go into much detail, I could not help but note how controlling the General Council Executive was. Clearly, the Executive and the General Secretary simply wanted agreement to act on some very specific items without stirring up controversy.
Two of the main issues at Council concerned the Twenty Articles of Faith, and the more general question of Church Sessions having control over worship.
What Council did, then, on these two vital matters, can be summarized as follows:
- In the Area of Doctrine, the United Church of Canada recognized the primacy of scripture with the “Doctrine Section of the Basis of Union”, “the 1940 Statement of Faith”, “A New Creed”, and “A Song of Faith”. Each of these is to be recognized as a subordinate standard as contemplated by Declaration 3(b) of the United Church of Canada act.
- The United Church also declares that the “Doctrine” of the Church be as laid down in the Basis of Union, the bylaws, and that the Appendices of the Manual be subordinate to Scripture, as approved by the United Church in accordance with the conditions contained within the “United Church of Canada Act”.
- The church also authorized a remit to Presbyteries and to Pastoral Charges to test the will of the whole Church on these matters.
In conclusion, I must say that I found it very troubling that the name of Jesus was hardly mentioned, and the Cross was nowhere to be seen. No Cross and no Christ can only result in no Christianity.
David Dawson is the First Vice-President of COC, and was an elected Commissioner from Hamilton Conference.