A weekly report on 41ST GENERAL COUNCIL happenings
Remit 6 on Doctrine: Results of Church-Wide Vote
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The 40th General Council, meeting in Kelowna in August 2009, gave
overwhelming support to a proposal to amend the Doctrine
section of the Basis of Union of the church. Because some decisions of the
Council (for example, those changing the doctrine of the church) must be tested
or remitted to the church, for approval, pastoral charges and presbyteries of
The United Church of Canada have been engaged through the last few months in a
historic vote.
The vote has been in the form of three questions that would add each of three statements of faith—the 1940 Statement of Faith, A New Creed, and A Song of Faith—to the existing Twenty Articles of Faith that were framed at the United Church’s formation in 1925. For more information about the meaning of the remit please see Our Words of Faith. As a category three remit, a majority of pastoral charges and presbyteries must vote in favour of the questions for the remit to pass. Finally, the 41st meeting of the General Council must also vote to enact the remits.
The response date was originally set at May 15 of this year. When only 40 percent of pastoral charges had responded by late April, the General Secretary extended the date to June 15. Responses that are postmarked by June 15 will be included in the total. However, as of this date a majority of charges and presbyteries have voted in favour of each of the three questions of the remit. In a review, it has also been determined that as of May 15, a majority of pastoral charges and presbyteries had voted in favour of including all three statements in the Doctrine section of the Basis of Union. In effect, the extension of the deadline allowed an increase in participation but did not affect the result.
The final step of this historic vote now goes to the 41st General Council
meeting in
August to vote on whether to enact the changes to the Basis of Union that were
approved at the 40th General Council, and endorsed through the church-wide
remit process.
While additional votes that have been postmarked by June 15 will likely still be received and counted, the voting results as of this notice are as follows:
In the United Church, congregations can join together to form pastoral
charges. There are 3,155 congregations that make up the 2,223 pastoral charges
of The United Church of Canada.
Copyright © 2012 The United Church of Canada/L'Église Unie du Canada.
Some rights reserved.
The vote has been in the form of three questions that would add each of three statements of faith—the 1940 Statement of Faith, A New Creed, and A Song of Faith—to the existing Twenty Articles of Faith that were framed at the United Church’s formation in 1925. For more information about the meaning of the remit please see Our Words of Faith. As a category three remit, a majority of pastoral charges and presbyteries must vote in favour of the questions for the remit to pass. Finally, the 41st meeting of the General Council must also vote to enact the remits.
The response date was originally set at May 15 of this year. When only 40 percent of pastoral charges had responded by late April, the General Secretary extended the date to June 15. Responses that are postmarked by June 15 will be included in the total. However, as of this date a majority of charges and presbyteries have voted in favour of each of the three questions of the remit. In a review, it has also been determined that as of May 15, a majority of pastoral charges and presbyteries had voted in favour of including all three statements in the Doctrine section of the Basis of Union. In effect, the extension of the deadline allowed an increase in participation but did not affect the result.
The final step of this historic vote now goes to the 41st General Council
meeting in
August to vote on whether to enact the changes to the Basis of Union that were
approved at the 40th General Council, and endorsed through the church-wide
remit process.While additional votes that have been postmarked by June 15 will likely still be received and counted, the voting results as of this notice are as follows:
Remit 6A to include “The 1940 Statement of Faith” in the Doctrine Section of the Basis of Union
| For | Against | Total Eligible to Vote | |
| Presbyteries | 72 | 5 | 85 |
| Pastoral charges | 1,364 | 261 | 2,223 |
Remit 6B to include “A New Creed” in the Doctrine Section of the Basis of Union
| For | Against | Total Eligible to Vote | |
| Presbyteries | 74 | 3 | 85 |
| Pastoral charges | 1,509 | 120 | 2,223 |
Remit 6C to include “A Song of Faith” in the Doctrine Section of the Basis of Union
| For | Against | Total Eligible to Vote | |
| Presbyteries | 69 | 8 | 85 |
| Pastoral charges | 1,286 | 334 | 2,223 |
Copyright © 2012 The United Church of Canada/L'Église Unie du Canada.
Some rights reserved.
