Box 171
Waba Crescent
White Lake, Ontario
K0A 3L0
613-623-4661
basicsof@inasec.ca
November 27, 1997
K. Virginia Coleman
General Secretary
The United Church of Canada
3250 Bloor Street West
Etobicoke, Ontario
M8X 2Y4
416-231-3103 fax
I appeal, as member of the Order of Ministry, the Executive of General Council Response to Issues raised by the Interview of the Moderator, the Right Reverend Bill Phipps, with the Ottawa Citizen to the Judicial Committee of the United Church of Canada.
Theological Basis
He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? MIC 6:8 RSV
All things should be done decently and in order. 1CO 14:40 RSV
As street and court chaplain for the Ottawa Presbytery, I learned from the courts that 'justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done' by the public.
As executive director of the Union Mission, I learned to relate to my staff with kindness, but decisions could not be kind to one person as that would make them unkind to another - decisions to be kind must be fair to all persons concerned.
As one who bears the name of Jesus, I must walk as a faithful servant before my God.
Within our church courts we must be faithful to God and fair to all, and as we are in the public eye 'justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done'.
Whereas
a. the Executive of General Council has made a response which addresses the Moderator's statements as if they were made by one who was a member of a congregation of the United Church (cf. "... we do not believe that faithfulness consists in assenting to particular statements. Rarely, if ever, do we use doctrinal standards to exclude anyone from the circle of belonging.") and not a member of the Order of Ministry (cf. The Manual sections 026(b), 027, 031(e)ii, 032(a)).
b. the Executive of General Council has made a response which includes documents not cited as Doctrine in The Manual of the United Church of Canada, (cf. Statement of Faith [1940], A New Creed [1968 revised 1994], The Lordship of Jesus [1978], The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture [1992]), when The Manual makes no such provision for these documents with respect to the Order of Ministry (cf. The Manual sections 011(b), 026(b), 027, 031(e)ii, 032(a), 066, 067).
c. the Executive of General Council has made a response which implies in the mind of the reader that official statements are Doctrine (cf. "... affirm the doctrine of the United Church ... and expressed further in such documents as the "New Creed" [1968, as further revised in 1994], "The Lordship of Jesus" [1978] and the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture [1992]), making a transition from official statements to Doctrine without first complying with The Manual requirements in section 505(a).
d. the United Church of Canada defines itself and its governance with The Manual and within such references and sets forth The Basis of Union as the Doctrine of the United Church of Canada, requiring 'essential agreement' only with the doctrinal statements set out in The Basis of Union by the Order of Ministry (sections 026(b), 027, 031(e)ii, 032(a)).
e. the United Church of Canada appears to be making decisions by increment. By making decisions along the way we confuse the decision making process, so that many feel the decision is already made by the time we get to the process where the decision is to be made. The transition from study to official statement to Doctrine is confused in the mind of the typical member of the church.
f. my concern is with the far reaching implications of this response on the United Church of Canada, and not with the Moderator.
g. the Executive of General Council has made a response which is seen X- `!w _ B cE tements in The Basis of Union of the United Church of Canada, and is wrong by the bylaws governing the United Church of Canada (The Manual sections 076(e)ii, iii, iv).
h. the Ottawa Citizen published the Executive of General Council Response
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Union on the seventh page, leaving question in the minds L\b , N |
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Conclusion
'Justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done' decently and in order.
Rev. Don Anderson
White Lake Pastoral Charge
cc Renfrew Presbytery
Bay of Quinte Conference