The three most significant issues in the United Church as a question
tends to be directed at the governing bodies of the church, but response
needs to recognize the different levels of the church
- church government
- congregation
- individual
each have different issues.
The practice of directing the question at the governing bodies of the church lets the other levels off the hook.
The insidiousness of sin finds the church in a power struggle as to whether the primary purpose of the governing bodies is to serve the pastoral charge or to instruct the pastoral charge where it needs be going. The basis of union identifies the pastoral charge as the basic unit of the church [articles 5.6-5.6.4], though use of language such as 'higher court' without appreciation of a conciliar system with each level having specific rights and responsibilities not assumable by another level has confused us. The rop 2000 pp. 213-293 has its interpretation of the issues.
The three most significant issues in the United Church.....
| church government: | ||
| - theology | - | who is Jesus Christ? |
| - | pluralism | |
| - | the church doesn't have a theology / the church does have a theology in the doctrinal articles of the basis of union, but seems to be both distancing itself from it and dumbfoundedly acceding to other de facto theologies | |
| - | the church doesn't want to formally address [remit] theology; even the new statement of faith is an incremental approach | |
| - accountability | - | "the conciliar system affirmed that we are members of a single body, accountable to one another..." [rop 2000 p. 230], but |
| - | "an essential element of decision-making in the court system is the freedom of members, delegates and commissioners to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and free from the obligation to follow the dictates of the body that appointed them" [rop 2000 p. 230] | |
| - | "it has caused hurt when decisions made by the body do not reflect the views of individual church members or even a majority of church members" [rop 2000 p. 230] | |
| - | if the task group on funding [rop 2000 p. 291] recommends general council be funded by allocation from regional councils/conferences, how will general council be accountable? | |
| - language | - | language needs to reference legitimate not de facto authority |
| the bylaws, policy, official statements, and other motions passed by general council require that these be subject to the conditions and safeguards of the basis of union [article 28(b), The United Church of Canada Act] | ||
| - | increasingly the church is making official statements in essential agreement | |
| the manual uses "in essential agreement" only with ministry personnel, and nowhere permits its courts to deviate from matters of doctrine, worship, discipline or government as found in the basis of union without remit | ||
| the principle of unreasonableness would question a court responsible for legislation making official statement "in essential agreement" for that which it could not legislate | ||
| congregation: | ||
| - vision | - | congregations lack an indigenous vision |
| - | the congregation often fails to separate vision from church government | |
| - | often the perceived vision of church government is wrongly seen as a hurdle to get past before the congregation can do anything | |
| - theology | - | who is Jesus Christ? |
| - | pluralism | |
| - | the church doesn't have a theology / the church does have a theology in the doctrinal articles of the basis of union, but seems to be both distancing itself from it and dumbfoundedly acceding to other de facto theologies | |
| - survival | - | saving the church has supplanted the gospel, with the result that the institutional church looks for other saviors |
| individual: | ||
| - call | - | is either lost or subservient to other interests |
| - | the immanent relationship of being before God is divested leaving the individual with ambivalence to both moral existence and personal identity | |
| - | competing secular ideologies vie to redefine both morality and identity | |
| - theology | - | who is Jesus Christ? |
| - | pluralism | |
| - | the church doesn't have a theology / the church does have a theology in the doctrinal articles of the basis of union, but seems to be both distancing itself from it and dumbfoundedly acceding to other de facto theologies | |
| - factious | - | without a recognizable voice freedom of religious expression within protestantism has alienated us |
| - | alternatively indifferent |