United Church of Canada

Beginnings

After the formation of national organizations for Canadian Presbyterians in 1875, Methodists in 1884, and Congregationalists in 1906,^[11] several conferences were held between these denominations to discuss a united Protestant church within the country. These discussions coincided with the establishment of local churches in the Prairies that served Methodists and Presbyterians alike,^[12] many of whom came together to form the General Council of Local Union Churches in 1912.^[13] Motivated by a de facto union in the western provinces^[11] and the desire to have a national church for English-speaking Canadians,^[14] a committee of Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presbyterians produced a document called the Basis of Union in 1908.^[15] The document, which outlined the Protestant doctrines and governance structure of the proposed united church, was soon ratified by the national Methodist and Congregationalist organizations.^[16] The General Council of Local Union Churches also entered the church merger process in 1921, leaving the uniting church with four denominations in total.^[17]

However, not all elements of the churches involved were happy with the idea of uniting under one roof; a substantial number of Presbyterians remained unconvinced of the virtues of church union.^[12] The Presbyterian Church held several votes at the congregation level regarding merger with the Methodists and Congregationalists, concluding in a final vote in 1925 in which a third^[18] of Presbyterian congregations chose to remain separate from the other denominations as a continuing church.^[19]

To finalize the process of church union, church leaders approached individual provinces and the government of Canada to pass legislation on the transfer of property rights.^[20] The resultant bill passed swiftly in Manitoba, but faced a period of opposition in Prince Edward Island and Ontario.^[21] With the provision that individual churches could vote to remain outside the union,^[22] the federal United Church of Canada Act passed, June 27, 1924, and was effective June 10, 1925.^[23] On the same day, the United Church of Canada was inaugurated at a large worship service at Toronto's Mutual Street Arena.^[24] Hymns from its major denominations were printed on a 38-page order of service and sung: "All people that on earth do dwell" from the Presbyterians; "O for a thousand tongues to sing" by the Methodist leader Charles Wesley; "O God of Bethel" from the Congregationalists; and "When I survey the wondrous cross" by the nonconformist hymn-writer Isaac Watts.^[25]

The ecumenical tone of the new church was set at its first General Council. The former Methodist General Superintendent, Samuel Dwight Chown, was considered by the General Council to be the leading candidate to become the United Church's first Moderator because of his denomination's overwhelming support for union. However, in a surprise move, Chown stepped aside in favour of George C. Pidgeon, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church and principal spokesperson for the uniting Presbyterians, in hopes of preventing partisanship from emerging between the union's two largest denominations.^[26] The United Church became Canada's largest Protestant denomination after its 1925 incorporation,^[27] and was joined by the Synod of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Bermuda in 1930.^[28] The Canadian church's early activities included the establishment of the Woman's Missionary Society, the running of hospitals, international missions, and residential schools for the assimilation of Indigenous children.^[29]

Early 20th Century

The church's finances were devastated by the Great Depression, leading to the closure of several pastoral charges.^[30] Competing social movements within the church advocated for different responses to the era's crises. This ranged from the Fellowship for a Christian Social Order, which championed radical Christian socialist ideals, to the conservative Oxford Group, which emphasized personal morality.^[31][32][33] Church leadership occupied a middle position;^[34] they were invited to the Royal Commission on Dominion–Provincial Relations and supported measures that would lead to the Canadian welfare state, such as the federal funding of pensions.^[35] The role of women in the United Church began to change during this time; though some Methodists had been ordaining women from 1880 in the United States,^[36] it was not until 1936 that the Reverend Lydia Emelie Gruchy of the Saskatchewan Conference became the first woman in the United Church to be ordained^[37] and, in 1953, she became the first Canadian woman to receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.^[23] However, the church maintained its predominantly male clergy for decades afterwards; only 4% of the clergy was female by 1978.^[38]

The church's response to the Second World War was divided between pacifists and those who supported the war effort.^[39] 65 clergy members signed the pacifist declaration A Witness Against War in 1939,^[33] and the General Council declined to support the national implementation of conscription.^[40] At the same time, the church provided chaplaincy services to the military^[41] and saw to profit from members purchasing war bonds in its name.^[42] Responding to the forced relocation of Japanese Canadians, the General Council announced in 1942 that it "recognizes the need of such action" and that it planned "to follow them with its ministry and to assure them of sympathy."^[43] Local church leaders in British Columbia directly opposed the government's measure by establishing an Emergency Japanese Committee to advocate for those who were relocated,^[44] while the Woman's Missionary Society provided education to interred teenagers in lieu of the provincial government.^[43] With the goal of furthering ecumenical dialogue, the United Church was one of the founding bodies of the Canadian Council of Churches in 1944 and the World Council of Churches in 1946.^[33][45]

Late 20th Century

The period between 1945 and the early 1960s was marked by a surge in active members,^[46][47] brought on by the baby boom and evangelistic campaigns in Canada.^[48][49] In 1962, two women's auxiliary organizations, Woman's Association and Woman's Missionary Society, joined to form the United Church Women.^[50] The high tide mark of membership was reached in 1965 when the church recorded 1,064,000 members;^[51] it was followed by the addition of new congregations after the eastern Canada Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren merged with the United Church in 1968.^[52][53]

However, there were already rumblings of discontent in the church: the theologically liberal New Curriculum, unveiled in 1962 by the church's educational ministries, was met with both internal and external criticism^[54][55] and was followed by the loss of 100,000 children from its Sunday school services, exacerbating a downward trend that had begun years prior.^[56] These trends were accompanied the release of Pierre Berton's book The Comfortable Pew, a bestseller which castigated Canadian Protestant churches for their "outdated theological and ethical positions."^[57] In 1966, the United Church lost 2,027 members, marking the first time since amalgamation that membership had fallen.^[33][58] During the late 1960s, the church moved away from traditional evangelism with its National Project, an outreach campaign that prioritized social concerns such as poverty and war.^[59]

The church continued to develop its official agenda on domestic issues: in the 1950s, the General Council softened its position of total abstinence towards alcohol use^[61] and called for the adoption of universal health care.^[62] The church relinquished its rural hospitals as a response to an increasing number of rural Canadians who were able to access government-funded municipal hospitals.^[63] In 1962, delegates from the General Council affirmed their support for remarriage after divorce, contraception for married couples, and the legitimacy of employing women in the workforce.^[50]

Regarding foreign relations, the General Council recognized the People's Republic of China in 1952.^[33] Though the General Council asked the federal government to do the same, Canada would not follow suit until the 1970s.^[64] The Vietnam War brought new controversies to the church when the secretary of the national Evangelism and Social Service Committee (E&SS), Ray Hord, organized sponsorships of American draft dodgers in 1968.^[65] The General Council Executive initially disavowed the action,^[33] but ultimately provided a grant to E&SS to support the campaign.^[65] Relations with Canadian Jewish community reached a nadir in 1972, when A. C. Forrest, the editor of the United Church Observer, published an article titled “How Zionists Manipulate Your News". Forrest, a longtime critic of Israel and a supporter of Palestinians, received criticism from individual members of the United Church and from B'nai Brith Canada.^[66]

In 1975, Anglican leadership withdrew from talks concerning union with the United Church of Canada. This put an end to a series of intermittent negotiations that began with an invitation from the Anglican Church in 1943^[67] and led to the production of several joint publications, including the Principles of Union in 1965,^[23] a hymn book in 1971,^[68] and a Plan of Union between the Anglicans, United Church, and the Disciples of Christ in 1973.^[69] Merger with the Disciples of Christ also failed to come to fruition when their negotiations with the United Church ended in 1985.^[33] However, the Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, and United churches did agree to recognize the validity of Christian baptisms performed in any of these denominations in 1975.^[70]

The church elected its first female Moderator, Lois Wilson, in 1980.^[23] The same year also saw the commissioning of diaconal ministers as a part of ordered ministry, which allowed the diaconate to administer sacraments,^[71] as well as a report on sexual ethics titled In God's Image, which recommended the admission of homosexuals into the ministry and tolerance of premarital sex. Although the report accepted abortion under qualified circumstances, it rejected abortion on demand.^[23] In 1986, the church apologized to First Nations congregations for its role in colonization, which was acknowledged but not accepted by The All Native Circle Conference of Indigenous congregations.^[72]

From the publication of In God's Image onward, the issue of ordination for gays and lesbians became a major controversy within the church.^[74] In 1988, the church chose to end investment in South Africa^[33] and elected the first Moderator of Asian descent, Sang Chul Lee.^[75] However, the issue of human sexuality dominated the 1980s;^[76] debate began when the commissioners of the General Council passed a statement called Membership, Ministry and Human Sexuality that stated "all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, who profess their faith in Jesus Christ are welcome to be or become members of The United Church of Canada" and that "all members of the United Church are eligible to be considered for ordered ministry."^[77] Taken together, these two statements opened the door for openly gay men and women to join the ministry.^[33]

Many members opposed this; Thomas G Bandy, the church's officer of Congregational Mission and Evangelism, reported in 1993 that the controversy "cost the church an estimated 25,000 members". These losses included split congregations and the resignation of ministers.^[78] Opposition against the General Council's decision was led by in-church conservative groups such as The Renewal Fellowship^[18] and the then newly-formed Community of Concern.^[79] Both groups saw their membership decline as dissenters opted to leave the church entirely.^[80] The United Church went on to ordain its first openly gay minister, Tim Stevenson, in 1992.^[23]

Lawsuits filed in the late 1980s by students of residential schools operated by the United Church preceded the church's formal apologies and restitution for the child abuse that occurred in its residential schools.^[72][81], and a 1998 apology to former students of its residential schools.^[82][83] In 1992, Stan McKay of the Fisher River Cree Nation became the church's first Indigenous moderator.^[84] This was followed by the establishment of a donation-led fund for Indigenous communities.^[72] These internal reckonings were accompanied by appeals from the church to the federal government regarding social issues. In 1990, the church testified against Bill C-43, a proposed law that would have banned abortion in Canada unless the woman's life or health was threatened. The bill later failed in the Senate.^[85] Beginning in 1999, the church supported the legal recognition of same-sex unions through civil unions.^[86]

Bill Phipps, elected Moderator in 1997, advocated for a "moral economy" that ran counter to capitalism.^[87] On the same year of his election, Phipps oversaw an amelioration of tensions with the Canadian Jewish community when the Bearing Faithful Witness report was sent to the General Council. Phipps echoed the report's recommendations against the conversion of Jews to Christianity, and stated that “Christianity does not supersede Judaism.”^[66] Controversy again descended on the church when, soon after his election, Phipps stated in an interview that he neither believed Jesus was God nor that Jesus physically rose from the dead. Phipps later elaborated on his stance, reiterating that Jesus did not "embody all of God" while affirming that "Jesus is the son of God, the word made flesh, God Incarnate".^[88]

21st Century

The church continued its social advocacy for legal recognition of same-sex couples into the 21st century; it endorsed same-sex marriage in 2003 and called upon the Canadian government to do the same.^[90] After the Civil Marriage Act passed in 2005, the church urged the government not to reopen the issue.^[91] In 2012, the 41st General Council elected Gary Paterson as the first openly gay Moderator.^[92][93] The same council also approved a boycott of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.^[94] This was the church's first boycott since an anti-apartheid boycott against South Africa in the 1980s.^[4] According to the church report that proposed the boycott, the authors consulted with Canadian-based Palestinian organizations, as well as "Jewish rabbis, individuals and organizations"^[95] among others. Still it incited controversy, with Canadian senators who affiliated with the United Church and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs protesting the decision.^[96][97]

In 2015, Gretta Vosper, the minister of West Hill United Church and an avowed atheist, faced dismissal from her position by church governance. Initially found to be unsuitable for ministry by the Toronto Conference in 2016,^[98] Vosper reached a settlement in 2018 that allowed her to continue as the minister of West Hill United.^[99][100] In response to this internal decision, the offices of the General Council released a statement saying, "This [decision] doesn't alter in any way the belief of the United Church of Canada in God, a God most fully revealed to us as Christians in and through Jesus Christ. Our church's statements of faith over the years have all been grounded in this understanding."^[101] A survey of 1,353 "United Church ministry personnel" published by the Vancouver Sun found that "a majority of the respondents (almost 95%) affirmed a belief in God, with a large number (almost 80%) affirming a belief in a supernatural, theistic God".^[102]

Several reforms were proposed at the 42nd General Council in 2015, including a reorganization from a four-court structure to a three-council structure^[103] and the elimination of "settlement", the practice of telling newly ordained ministers where they would first serve.^[104] These changes were subsequently approved by the wider church, and ratified at the 43rd General Council in July 2018.^[105]

During the early 21st century, the United Church experienced a significant decline in membership: from 640,000 in 2001 to 350,000 in 2021.^[106][107] In 2006, the church organized the "Emerging Spirit" outreach program for 30- to 40-year-olds, which included an advertising campaign and an online chat room.^[93] In the face of decreasing attendance, the General Council reduced its number of staff and the size of its grant program in 2013.^[108] Dwindling funds and congregations has led to church land, such as Deer Park United Church in Toronto and Sackville United Church in New Brunswick, being sold to property developers.^[109][110]

With the stated intent of "[keeping] real estate in the United Church" by constructing affordable homes on church land, the church formed the United Property Resource Corporation (UPRC) in 2020.^[111] Beginning in 2022, the church has funded Kindred Works, a for-profit company that is majority-owned by the church, to redevelop unused church land and existing buildings into rental properties.^[112][113] As the asset manager for UPRC,^[114] Kindred Works has received loans from the United Church and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.^[112] Most of Kindred Works' projects, such as St Luke's United Church, are located in Ontario and are designed by KPMB Architects.^[112][113] As of 2026, the church has completed 131 homes towards its aim of 5,000.^[112]

Governance

The United Church has three layers of church governance: communities of faith, which preside over worship groups; regional councils, which operate sub-nationally; and the General Council, which oversees the church on a national level.^[124] Church governance is outlined in two documents: The Manual, which is regularly updated by the General Council, and the Basis of Union.^[124][105] The General Council has the power to introduce changes to the Basis of Union, but each change must be ratified by the lower councils.^[125][124]

The United Church has approximately 2,400 communities of faith,^[126] which are served by 16 regional councils.^[124] Communities of faith have a flexible form, allowing for both temporary, transitional and durable ministries.^[105] Many communities of faith are individual congregations and pastoral charges that manage one or more such congregations.^[127][124] Other communities of faith include outreach ministries, chaplaincies, faith-based communal livings, social justice ministries, house and student churches, and online communities.^[128][126] Communities of faith and their respective congregations control their own finances and select their own ministers.^[18][127] Regional councils have the authority to recognize new communities of faith^[129] and assist the pastoral relationship between ministers and their congregations.^[130] Members of a regional council include all clergy within the region and lay representatives from the region's communities of faith.^[129][131]

The General Council, legally known as the Denominational Council, is the national legislative organ of the United Church of Canada.^[132] It consists of clergy and lay commissioners, elected by the regional councils, who meet every three years to set church policy.^[133] Between these triennial meetings, the church is governed by the General Council Executive, whose members are appointed by the General Council to six-year terms.^[134] At every General Council meeting, a moderator is elected to act as the church's spiritual leader and public representative.^[135][136] Both clergy members and laypeople have been elected to the position;^[137] the current moderator is the minister Kimberly Heath.^[138]

Ministry

Ministers in the United Church of Canada can be ordained, diaconal, or part of the laity.^[139] Ordained and diaconal ministers belong to a single Order of Ministry, have aligned salaries, and are permitted to administer the sacraments.^[140] The ordained ministry was originally limited to men in the United Church,^[141] while the diaconal ministry has been historically composed of women.^[142] A change to the Basis of Union allowed the ordination of women from 1936 onwards; the ordination of married women in particular was permitted after a 1964 General Council ruling.^[141] An internal survey in 2025 reported that 46% of ministers in the United Church were women.^[143] Lay ministers serve congregations on a temporary basis and require a license from their regional council to administer the sacraments.^[144][145]

The United Church operates several theological schools, often in conjunction with other denominations.^[18] These schools include Emmanuel College, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto,^[146] and the Centre for Christian Studies, which educationally supports the diaconal ministry.^[141] The national Office of Vocation accredits and oversees the church's ministers, while regional councils are responsible for their ordination. The church mutually recognizes ministers from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and the United Church of Christ in the United States.^[147]

Missionaries

Missionaries from the United Church are sent by request to autonomous churches, who supervise the missionaries directly. Historically, the United Church sponsored and managed of its own overseas missions from Canada.^[18] Several missions in Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa were inherited from the church's founding denominations and continued to operate into the 1960s. These institutions were supervised by the Board of Overseas Missions, which was renamed the Board of World Mission in 1962.^[148]

During the mid 20th-century, the United Church experienced periods of external resistance against Christian evangelism and an internal theological shift towards pluralism.^[149] These factors contributed to several missionaries adopting a more liberal stance towards other religions,^[150] a view that was formally expressed through the World Mission report to the General Council in 1966.^[151] Authored by clergy, academics, and former missionaries, the report called for dialogue with non-Christians in lieu of traditional evangelism and that an egalitarian model of cooperation be adopted with churches unaffiliated with the United Church.^[152][149] The Board of World Mission was ultimately reorganized under the Division of World Outreach in 1972; the United Church employed 232 personnel in its missions that year, compared to 1,300 volunteers in the secular Canadian University Service Overseas organization.^[153]

Bible

In its Basis of Union, the United Church of Canada states that the Bible is central to the Christian faith and inspired by God.^[176] Later theologians within the church, such as the Committee on Christian Faith in 1966, stressed that the Bible was recorded by fallible human witnesses to God's self-revelation. As such, they rejected biblical infallibility.^[177][178] The church uses several principles to interpret the Bible and states that its primary principle is Christocentrism, which involves reading the text in light of Jesus' life and ministry.^[179] Other principles of interpretation include the promotion of social justice and the historical-critical method, in which the Bible is interpreted in context with its time of authorship.^[180][181] According to the United Church, it rejects interpretations that condone slavery or condemn homosexuality.^[182]

Sacraments

The two sacraments of the United Church are baptism and Communion, a feature that it shares with churches from the Reformed tradition.^[181][183] All ordained ministers from the church can administer the sacraments, and diaconal ministers in active employment are automatically licensed to do the same.^[184][185] Leaders among the laity can also administer the sacraments with a license from their regional council.^[184] The United Church has emphasized different aspects of the sacraments over time: the Basis of Union defines them as a "means of grace" instituted by Jesus, while A Song of Faith eschews a formal definition by describing them as "the sacred in the midst of life."^[186]

Communion

The sacrament of Communion involves prayers of thanksgiving, the remembrance of Jesus at the Last Supper, and the ritual sharing of bread and wine.^[191] In light of the ecumenical liturgical movement that arose from the Second Vatican Council, several congregations in the United Church began to hold the sacrament on a monthly basis instead of four times a year.^[192] The church practices open communion, with no restriction regarding age, membership, or baptismal status. Though a policy in 1982 formally allowed children to receive communion, objections to the practice extended into the 2000s.^{[181][193][194]}

The elements that are shared during communion are variable: either leavened and unleavened bread can be used in practice, and unfermented grape juice is commonly substituted for wine. It is usually celebrated at a Communion table at the front of the sanctuary, where the minister blesses the elements before they are distributed to the congregation.^[195] The actual distribution can take several forms: congregants may drink from a common chalice or engage in intinction by dipping a portion of bread into wine.^[196] The United Church's inaugural service involved simultaneous Communion, in which congregants drank from individual cups of pasteurized grape juice in unison.^[197]

Liturgy

A variety of liturgical styles exist within the United Church, but liturgical books are periodically published by the church's national organization for voluntary use in worship. Nearly all congregations use a lectionary,^[18] with the most popular one being the Revised Common Lectionary.^[198][199] Contemporary Sunday worship, as described by the 2000 service book Celebrate God's Presence, involves the singing of hymns, Bible readings, a sermon, offerings, prayers of the people, and the conclusion of the service with a benediction.^[200][201]

The United Church's first service book was the Forms of Service in 1926, which incorporated liturgies from each of the church's main founding denominations. The majority of the content in Forms of Service corresponded to existing Presbyterian liturgies, themselves derived from the Book of Common Order used by the Church of Scotland.^[188] Subsequent service books in the early 20th century were less heterogeneous and reflected a greater unity of worship patterns within the church.^[202]

Music

Hymns are sung at several points during congregational worship in the United Church, often with the backing of a choir.^[203] Voices United, a hymnal widely used within the church, was published in 1996.^[202] It received a supplement titled More Voices in 2007. Both books are characterized by the inclusion of contemporary compositions and songs from churches outside Canada.^[18][204] The church also published a digital hymnal titled Then Let Us Sing! in 2025.^[205]

Hymnals have consistently held liturgical significance within the church; church historian Bruce Harding named the 1930 Hymnary "the prayer book of The United Church of Canada", while Voices United contained the church's baptismal creeds instead of Celebrate God's Presence, its companion service book.^[206][200] Other hymnals include The Hymn Book, a poorly received 1971 joint publication with the Anglican Church,^[202] and the French language Nos voix unies, published in 2009.^[207]

Political involvement

Before the 1960s, the church played a significant role in Canadian political life: John G. Diefenbaker addressed its General Council in 1958, and notable figures such as Lester B. Pearson and the suffragist Nellie McClung were adherents of the church.^[93][212] However, the church's attempts to limit gambling and the liquor trade had little effect on government legislation.^[212] The church after the 1960s has been described as "the NDP at prayer" due to its progressive stances, a title that references Canada's left-wing New Democratic Party.^[213]

The contemporary church's attempts to influence Canadian politics has seen varying success. In 1990, the church testified against Bill C-43, a proposed law that would have banned abortion in Canada unless the woman's life or health was threatened. The bill later failed in the Senate.^[214] In a similar manner, the church lobbied for the recognition of same-sex marriage to the Canadian government before it was legalized in 2005.^[210] Later efforts to protest the policies of Stephen Harper's conservative government had minimal effect.^[93]

Sexuality

The United Church is known for its ordination of gay and lesbian ministers and affirmation of same-sex relationships.^[210][53] Individual ministers require permission from their own congregation to officiate same-sex marriages.^[215] Congregations that explicitly affirm sexual minorities are certified by the advocacy organization Affirm United,^[216] whose program that was endorsed by the General Council in 2000.^[217]

Before and during the 1960s, the United Church generally espoused a conservative view of sexuality. A 1960 report to the General Council on sexuality cautioned against reading the Bible in a manner that would support "literalism and legalism". At the same time, it denounced abortion and described homosexuality as sinful.^[218] Similarly, the secretary of the Evangelism and Social Service Committee, Ray Hord, stated in a 1968 interview that homosexuality was an "aberration” that would preclude candidates from becoming ministers, but supported its decriminalization.^[219]

The church first permitted ministers to solemnize the marriages of previously divorced people in 1962, but did not make it mandatory.^[220] "Marriage breakdown" was ultimately recognized as valid grounds for divorce by the General Council in 1966.^[221] The church continued to liberalize its stance on sexual ethics in the 1970s; intimacy was deemed the primary purpose of marriage, which supplanted previous messaging on marriage that promoted procreation and parenthood.^[222] In 1988, the General Council described abortion as the "lesser of two evils" and called for the prevention of abortions through the improvement of contraception and family planning instead of legislation.^[223]

Crest

Adopted in 1944,^[224] the crest of the United Church takes the shape of the vesica piscis, an early Christian symbol that evoked an upended fish (the initials of the phrase "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour"; in Ancient Greek: ἰχθύς (ikhthús), ichthys, meaning "fish").^[225] The crest features Saint Andrew's Cross, whose namesake is the patron saint of Scotland.^[226] Within three of the four quadrants are symbols of the founding churches: Presbyterianism (the Burning Bush), Methodism (the dove), and Congregationalism (the open Bible).^[227] In the bottom quadrant, the alpha and omega represents the ever-living God (Revelation 1:8).^[228] The motto Ut omnes unum sint recalls Christ’s prayer in John 17:21: "That all may be one".^[229]

In 2012, the Mohawk phrase "Akwe Nia'tetewá:neren" ("All my relations") was added to the perimeter, and the background colours of the four quadrants of the crest were changed to reflect the colours of an Indigenous medicine wheel.^[230]