General Council is the decision-making body of the United Church as a whole. It brings together Commissioners (those elected to be members of this meeting of the General Council) to help set the course for the future of the United Church. GC45 Commissioners will need to be available for education sessions online April 27th 4-7pm, June 22nd 4-7pm and June 28th 11am-7pm, 2025. The 45th General Council will meet August 7-12, 2025 in person in Calgary, AB.
Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council voted to have a diverse slate of GC45 Commissioners that was voted on as a whole at the Spring Meeting of the WOWRC, May 24-26, 2024. We were asked to approve a slate of 12 Commissioners to accompany the President of WOWRC to General Council 45, for a total of 13 Commissioners.
General Council Proposals (The Manual Section F)
Do you have an idea for a way to strengthen the United Church? If so, please consider preparing a proposal. (See The Manual, Section F) Proposals have a set format:
- Title:
- Originating Body:
- What is the issue?
- Why is this issue important?
What might the General Council do about it?
Let these questions – and others that the Spirit brings – aid you in your decision-making.
Detailed information is laid out in the The Manual, 2024. To view the GC45 Proposal Template Guide, click here GC45 Proposal Template Guide. Proposals reach the General Council through the regional council. If submitting a proposal, please do so as soon as possible to allow the agenda and business team time to allow sufficient time for discussion.
If you would find advice helpful in framing the desired action or change as you craft a proposal, please feel free to be in touch with Executive Minister, Mark Laird mlaird@united-church.ca for assistance. This would be help in terms of format and wording, not advice re: the action itself.
Candidates for Moderator
Is the next Moderator of the United Church in our midst? Nominees for Moderator no longer need to be a Commissioner.
As 2025 quickly approaches and many of our minds turn towards preparing the way for the upcoming 45th General Council, we are very excited to announce the launch of a newly designed, user-friendly General Council website, which is now live at https://generalcouncil.ca.
The site will be the permanent home not only for all the information you’ll need regarding GC45, but for the history and documents of all past General Councils dating back several decades. Built around an intuitive search function, the site allows users to find information, proposals, and past records of proceedings with ease, ensuring that governance information is accessible to everyone and promoting transparency and engagement.
This consolidation opens the full history of the church’s courageous evolution to commissioners new and existing, as well as to the general public. Landmark church proposals, such as “Membership, Ministry, and Human Sexuality”, the 1988 decision declaring that sexual orientation should not be a barrier to becoming a United Church minister, will be accessible to all in a few short clicks once the migration of documents is complete.
