wfn.org | United Church General Council Meets in Kelowna August 9-15

["Broadhurst, Tom" <tbroadhu@united-church.ca>]

For Immediate Release -- Friday, July 31, 2009

United Church General Council Meets in Kelowna August 9-1 5

Toronto: Canada's largest Protestant denomination, The United  Church of
Canada, is holding its 40th General Council in Kelowna,  British
Columbia, August 9-15, 2009. The meetings will take place  on the campus
of the University of British Columbia-Okanagan. Delegates a re being
housed in student residences, and the gymnasium will serv e as the main
meeting space.

On Sunday, August 9, the opening day of General Council , a public
worship service begins at 10:30 a.m. A large number of  additional
visitors from local United Churches are expected to atten d this worship
service.

The General Council is a national gathering of close to  400 delegates
called commissioners. Commissioners are selected by the chu rch's 13
regional Conferences and represent an equal number of lay  and ordered
men and women. In addition, more than 300 guests, obser vers, youth,
children, staff, and volunteers will be present for the  week-long
gathering.

The General Council meets every three years to elect a  new Moderator and
to approve new church policies. The last meeting of the  General Council
took place in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in August 2006.

A total of 173 proposals for action are coming before  the 40th General
Council. While many of these proposals deal with matters  that are
primarily of interest only to the United Church, many a lso address more
general issues of concern:

>* the environment
>* peace in the Middle East
>* presumed consent for organ donation
>* Employment Insurance emergency measures
>* protection of agricultural land and local food security
>* Canada-Colombia free-trade agreement
>* return of Omar Khadr to Canada
>* support for refugees coming to Canada
>* emergency landing lights for Bella Bella Hospital

Reports coming before the 40th General Council include on e that deals
with the nature and meaning of ministry leadership, and  a background
paper on the state of the church. The latter, while n ot an action item
itself, is intended to help inform all of the decisions  being made by
commissioners at this General Council.

In addition, time will be spent discussing a report dea ling with a
vision for revitalizing French ministries in The United C hurch of
Canada, and a report evaluating the three-year Emerging
Spirit/WonderCafe initiative. This initiative, which was appr oved at the
last General Council, focused on establishing and nurturing  the
relationship of the United Church with Canadians between  the ages of 30
and 45 who are not part of any organized faith group.
 As always the election of the new Moderator will likely  draw
considerable media interest, particularly in the communities  where the
nominees live. Thus far there are six nominees for Mode rator: three from
Ontario (Brantford, Braeside in the Ottawa Valley area, a nd Toronto),
two from Manitoba (Winnipeg and Oxford House), and one  from British
Columbia (Hazelton). The election of the new Moderator is  scheduled for
Friday, August 14, followed by the installation service o n the evening
of August 15.

Throughout General Council, a complete news and information  service will
be available to reporters both on-site and off. Most in formation,
including the daily agenda and documentation related to t he 40th General
Council, is being posted online at http://GC40.united-church. ca. You
will also find a link to this website from The United  Church of Canada's
homepage at www.united-church.ca.

In addition to daily news reports from a team of writ ers covering events
as they happen, there will also be video clips posted  on YouTube and
live streaming of most proceedings of General Council wil l be carried on
the 40th General Council website.

An accompanying website, http://cg40.eglise-unie.ca, is dedicat ed to
French-language coverage of the 40th General Council.

Reporters are invited to register to receive regular upda tes of 40th
General Council news at http://gc40.united-church.ca/site/subscri be.

As well as our regular news reports, for the first ti me ever General
Council coverage will include the use of social media v ehicles such as
Flickr, Twitter, WonderCafe discussion threads and popular  blogging
services. 

For further information, please contact:

Mary-Frances Denis

Program Coordinator, Media and Public Relations
The United Church of Canada
416-231-7680 ext. 2016 (office until August 5, 2009)
416-400-7273 (cell/voice mail August 5-18, 2009)
250-807-9451 (August 7-16, 2009) PLEASE NOTE THIS PHONE D OES NOT HAVE
VOICE MAIL
mdenis@united-church.ca

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