Why choose to be part of a United Church of Canada congregation?
The United Church of Canada often gets a bad rap. We are accused of not really being Christian, or of being so wishy-washy (you can believe anything and belong to the United Church!), or of being the agent of the devil in leading people astray. That’s by other Christians. For those who are not religious or who have rejected belief in God, we often get lumped in with every other Christian denomination and blamed for being judgemental or hypocrites or too demanding. There will always be someone who has an opinion of how they see us and how we are failing. But I’m tired of apologizing or arguing……
I love being a member of the United Church of Canada. I’m proud of who we are as a denomination. I think we have so much that is important to add to the voice of Christianity and to the compassion needed in this world. I would absolutely hate for the United Church of Canada to disappear from this country or this world.
Truthfully, while our numbers are shrinking, we are still the largest Protestant (not Catholic or Orthodox) denomination in Canada, with over 2 million members in about 3,000 churches. We are still a significant presence and a significant voice in Canadian society.
What does it mean to be United Church?
We are all about community – forming a community of help, home, hope and healing among ourselves, and then reaching out to the community beyond, locally and around the world to offer hope and healing.
We are all about human dignity. Right from our beginnings, when the Methodist Church, 70% of the Presbyterians, the Congregationalist Union, and the Union Churches of the prairies formed an organic union in 1925, United Church members have sought to improve our society so that everyone could live in dignity and well-being. We’ve run hospitals and schools, spoken out on issues that involve fair and just treatment, and dared to challenge laws and decisions that would affect especially the most vulnerable. Sometimes we have got it wrong, so very wrong, such as with the Indian Residential Schools. We also have done a great deal of good. It is all part of who we are – and we need to keep learning and growing as we seek justice and resist evil as followers of the Way of Jesus.
We give freedom and responsibility to each member of our denomination to reflect upon and grow in their own beliefs. We provide the resources and support for one another. We create room for conversations and learning. This isn’t being wishy-washy. It is trusting the relationship that each person has with God, and knowing that no one person has all the answers. We have learned that there is a great richness in the diversity within our congregations and within our church as a whole. We believe and trust that God works through that diversity to deepen our faith.
Why do we do this? Because of Jesus. We are followers of the Way of Jesus. We see how Jesus reached out to those on the edges of society, and we do the same. That’s why we welcome LBGTQ, work in inner city missions, and more. In this, we are following the example of Jesus. We see how Jesus challenged people to think for themselves, rather than just follow “we’ve always done it this way.” We seek to do the same. Just as Jesus reached out to Samaritans and Syrophoenicians, and other from different cultures and faiths, recognizing their dignity as children of God, so we value our interfaith relationships, working together with those in other faith groups. We know that our faith in God through Jesus grows stronger as we relate to those whose strength of faith lies on other paths.
We take the Bible absolutely seriously, but not literally. This means learning from and wrestling with scripture, allowing it to shape us. We don’t believe that God dictated every word. We believe that faithful people like us recorded their experiences and understandings of God, to help us understand our experiences of God.
We name God in many ways, and yet know that we are all describing the one who is Holy Mystery as well as Wholly Love.
We are not afraid of the questions. We welcome the discussion and the exploration.
Above all, we believe that God loves us, and that we should be so busy loving each other that we have no time to judge each other.
Once, before Christians were the dominant culture in many places, there was a complaint lodged against them: “They are all so busy loving their neighbours that they don’t’ have time for other work.”
That is the complaint I would love to have made about us, instead of all the others about being hypocritical and wishy-washy.
As members of the United Church of Canada, I believe that is what we are trying to do. Love our neighbours, just as Jesus commanded, and in doing so, loving God and loving ourselves.
As a United Church, if we could sum up the gospel, the message that Jesus came to share, it would be “God is love, unconditional love, no ifs, ands, or buts!”
That’s what we seek to live day by day, not always perfectly, but always trying to learn and grow as followers of the Way of Jesus.
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