Канада Біріккен Шіркеуінің Тарихы мен Құрылымы

Protestant denomination in Canada

The United Church was founded in 1925 as a merger of four Protestant denominations with a total combined membership of about 600,000 members: the Methodist Church, Canada, the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, two thirds of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches, a movement predominantly of the Canadian Prairie provinces. The Canadian Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church joined the United Church of Canada on January 1, 1968. Membership peaked in 1964 at 1.1 million and has declined since that time. In 2011, Statistics Canada reported approximately 2 million people identifying as adherents. Church statistics for the end of 2018 showed 388,363 members in 317,051 households under pastoral care, of whom 120,986 attend services regularly in 2,119 communities of faith representing 2,774 congregations. The United Church has a "council based" structure, where each council (congregational, regional, or denominational) has specific responsibilities. In some areas, each of these councils has sole authority, while in others, approval of other councils is required before action is taken. (For example, a congregation requires regional council approval before a minister can be called or appointed to the congregation.) The policies of the church are inclusive and liberal: there are no restrictions of gender, sexual orientation or marital status for a person considering entering the ministry; interfaith marriages are recognized; communion is offered to all Christian adults and children, regardless of denomination or age.

In the early 20th century, the main Evangelical Protestant denominations in Canada were the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches. Many small towns and villages across Canada had all three, with the town's population divided among them. Especially on the prairies, it was difficult to find clergy to serve all these charges, and there were several instances where one minister would serve his congregation, but would also perform pastoral care for the other congregations that lacked a minister. On the prairies, a movement to unite all three major Protestant denominations began, resulting in the Association of Local Union Churches. Facing a de facto union in the western provinces, the three denominations began a slow process of union talks that eventually produced a Basis for Union. However, not all elements of the churches involved were happy with the idea of uniting under one roof; a substantial minority of Presbyterians remained unconvinced of the virtues of church union. Their threat to the entire project was resolved by giving individual Presbyterian congregations the right to vote on whether to enter or remain outside the United Church. In the end, 302 (6.7%) out of 4,509 congregations of the Presbyterian Church (211 from southern Ontario) chose to reconstitute themselves as a "continuing" Presbyterian Church in Canada.

The United Church of Canada is an amalgamation of the Union of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches. With the three denominations now in agreement about uniting, the church leaders approached the government of Canada to pass legislation concerning transfer of property rights. The legislation passed, June 27, 1924, and was effective June 10, 1925. The United Church of Canada was inaugurated at a large worship service at Toronto's Mutual Street Arena on June 10, 1925. Participants were handed a 38 page order of service containing the full text of the liturgy, prayers, hymns, and music. Hymns from all three churches were sung: "All people that on earth do dwell" from the Scottish Presbyterian psalm tradition; the Methodist favourite "O for a thousand tongues to sing" by Charles Wesley; the Congregationalist "O God of Bethel"; and "When I survey the wondrous cross" by the British Nonconformist, Isaac Watts. Dr. S. D. Chown, United Church / l'Église unie was featured on an 8 cent stamp issued by Canada Post on May 30, 1975.

The crest designed for the new church is a vesica piscis, an early Christian symbol that evoked an upended fish (the initials of the phrase "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour"; in Ancient Greek: ἰχθύς (ikhthús), ichthys, meaning "fish"). The central saltire is also the Greek letter Chi, first letter of Χριστός, Greek for "Christ". Within three of the four quadrants are symbols of the founding churches: Presbyterianism (the Burning Bush), Methodism (the dove), and Congregationalism (the open Bible). In the bottom quadrant, the alpha and omega represents the ever living God (Revelation 1:8). The motto Ut omnes unum sint recalls Christ’s “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17:21: "That all may be one". The entire crest resembles the emblem of the Church of Scotland. In 2012, the Mohawk phrase "Akwe Nia'tetewá:neren" ("All my relations") was added to the perimeter, and the background colours of the four quadrants of the crest were changed to reflect the traditional colours of a typical First Nations medicine wheel.

In 1930, just as mergers of the congregations, colleges and administrative offices of the various denominations were completed and the United Church Hymnary was published, Canada was hit by the Great Depression. Although membership remained stable, attendance and givings fell. In the face of overwhelming unemployment, some in the church, both clergy and laity, called for a radical Christian socialist alternative such as the Fellowship for a Christian Social Order. Other more conservative members felt drawn to the message of the Oxford Group that focussed on the wealthier members of society. but it was still a contentious issue in Canada, and it was not until 1936 that the Reverend Lydia Emelie Gruchy of the Saskatchewan Conference became the first woman in the United Church to be ordained

The United Church continued to espouse causes that were not politically popular, issuing statements supporting universal health care and the People's Republic of China at its 15th General Council (1952–54) at a time when these were considered radical concepts in North America. The high tide mark of membership was reached in 1965 when the church recorded 1,064,000 members. However, there were already rumblings of discontent in the church: that same year, Pierre Berton wrote The Comfortable Pew, a bestseller that was highly critical of Canadian churches, and a United Church Commission on Ministry in the 20th Century was appointed in response to growing frustration from congregations, presbyteries, and ministers about the role of ministry. In some cases, entire congregations split, with a sizeable faction—sometimes led by the minister—leaving to form an independent church. Some of those opposed to the gay ordination issue chose to stay in the church, and formed the Community of Concern, a voice of conservatism within the church. This was followed in 1998 by an apology made by the church to former students of United Church Indian Residential Schools. At the 35th General Council in 1994, commissioners voted to have General Councils every three years rather than every two years. In 1996, the Committee on Archives and History compiled the "Guide to family history research in the archival repositories of the United Church of Canada".

In the new century, membership and givings both continued to drop, and in 2001 the General Council offices were reorganized as a cost cutting measure.

In 2012, the 41st General Council elected Gary Paterson as the first openly gay Moderator. The commissioners also voted to invite First Nations peoples to become signatories to the Basis of Union. (In 1925, several aboriginal congregations of the original founding churches were automatically made part of the new United Church although the congregations had not been asked to participate in church Union negotiations, and had not been asked to sign the Basis of Union document.) In addition, the original church crest (adopted in 1944 with French added in 1980) was modified by changing the background colours of the four quadrants of the crest, as well as adding the Mohawk phrase "Akwe Nia'Tetewá:neren" ("All my relations") to the crest's perimeter. This was the church's first boycott since an anti apartheid boycott against South Africa in the 1980s. According to the report, the authors consulted with Canadian based Palestinian organizations, as well as "Jewish rabbis, individuals and organizations" including protests of the decision by several Canadian Jewish groups. In 2015, at the 42nd General Council, delegates voted in favour of several "denomination changing" proposals, including a reorganization from a four court structure to a three council structure; elimination of "settlement", the practice of telling newly ordained ministers where they would first serve; reorganization of the process of finding and training ministers; and a new funding model. These changes were subsequently approved by the wider church, and ratified at the 43rd General Council in July 2018. In response to this internal decision, the offices of the General Council released a statement saying, "This [decision] doesn't alter in any way the belief of the United Church of Canada in God, a God most fully revealed to us as Christians in and through Jesus Christ. Our church's statements of faith over the years have all been grounded in this understanding." A survey of 1,353 "United Church ministry personnel" published by the Vancouver Sun found that "a majority of the respondents (almost 95%) affirmed a belief in God, with a large number (almost 80%) affirming a belief in a supernatural, theistic God".

In May 2022, Kindred Works, a real estate company, was started in association with the United Church. Kindred Works operates as the asset manager for the United Property Resource Corporation, which is owned by the United Church and tasked with getting positive social utility from church property. Kindred Works aims to renovate existing United Church properties by adding rental units sufficient to house 34,000 people over 15 years. One third of the new company's projects are planned as below market rental properties partially financed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. All projects will have KPMB Architects as lead designers. At it launch, it had eight projects in progress, four of which, including the St. Luke's United Church are in Toronto, with twenty projected to be started by the end of the year. visiting communities of faith across the country; "giving sympathetic guidance and counsel in all its affairs". communities of faith, which will include all pastoral charges, congregations, and other groups who gather regularly for worship. regional councils, of which there will be 16.
denominational council, which will continue to be referred to as the General Council.

The clergy of the United Church are called "ministers". There are two "streams", ordered ministry and lay ministry. Ordered ministry includes ordained ministers and diaconal ministers. Lay ministry refers to licensed lay worship leaders, designated lay ministers (DLM), sacraments elders and congregational designated ministers (CDM). There are no restrictions on gender, sexual orientation, age, or marital status for any branches of ministry.

The United Church believes that the Bible is central to the Christian faith and was written by people who were inspired by God. The church also believes that the circumstances under which the books of the Bible were written were of a particular place and time, and some things cannot be reconciled with our lives today, such as slavery and the condemnation of homosexuality. The United Church of Canada uses the historical critical method of interpreting the bible.

The two sacraments of the United Church are Communion and Baptism.

A full member is one who has been baptised, either as infant, child, youth or adult, and has made a public profession of faith before the congregation. In order to become a full member, a person goes through a process called "confirmation". This is offered to adults (starting at around age 13) and usually involves a series of classes about the beliefs of the United Church. Following this, the candidate makes a public profession of faith before the congregation, thereby "confirming" the statements made by his or her parents during baptism. If the person is unbaptised, the minister baptises the person before the profession of faith. The new member's name is then entered on the official Roll of Members for that congregation. The National Post has published several articles critical of the United Church of Canada. (August 19, 2009: "United Church is blind to true suffering"; August 14, 2009: "United Church's uncertain future") An article by Charles Lewis, published on May 14, 2011, set out what Lewis sees as the issues that beset the United Church: the church's "big tent" approach to believers, accepting even atheists as members; and lack of doctrinal orthodoxy.