I Got an Answer!

Hi everyone. During the 40th General Council of the United Church of Canada, which I did not attend, I sent the General Council office an email. I was interested to know if there were any guidelines regarding the number of times a person may attend General Council as a Commissioner.

Yesterday I received an answer to my email. It had been sent to Cynthia Gunn, Legal/Judicial Counsel for the United Church of Canada.

She confirmed for me what I thought I already knew. "There are no limits in The Manual or elsewhere on the number of times that a person may serve as a Commissioner."

In The Manual, the election of Commissioners is left to the discretion of the Conference. It's up to the Conference to decide on who might best serve as Commissioners. Conferences tend to elect those who have been nominated from Presbyteries, but this is only a practice, it's not mandatory; as the election is entirely in the Conference's hands.

It was suggested that I might want to consider initiating a proposal to the next General Council to limit the number of times that a person could serve as Commissioner, with a view to allowing as many people as possible to have an opportunity to serve in that role.

It seems to me, that many local congregations have recognized the need to limit the number of terms or years that any one person can serve in any position in the church and have included it in their constitutions. There are many people who need some framework around any responsibility they might assume in any organization. We want to know what is expected of us and how long that expectation might be made upon us. However, we are talking about the church where in years gone by, people have accepted positions in the church and decided that it was a life sentence.

I spent a couple of days this week with my mother, who has been involved at every level of our church. She has reached an age where she personally feels that she has fulfilled all of the committments that she has ever made to the church, and that it's time for others to take on that responsibility.

When we talk of "Living the Welcome," we also need to think about what we ask people to do for us and what time frame is involved. Those of us who have been actively involved in the church for years take many things for granted. Living the Welcome means inviting new people to become involved in the community and life of our churches, many who have had little or no experience with a church community. We need to be very sensitive to the feelings and expectations of seekers, those showing an interest in become involved and part of our congregations. Even such things as our church policies and all of the unwritten congregational rules will act as a deterent to new people becoming part of us.

As a church, we constantly need to access how we are doing things, (perhaps create fewer rules or maybe no rules lol) as in these changing times, we can no longer use the United Church standard line, "We've never done it that way before!"

Remember, "We're all in this together." (Thanks again Red Green)