The Very Rev. Dr. Peter Short

March 2006

Hello, I'm Peter Short. Greetings from the General Council to members and friends in all the Conferences. Thank you for being part of the church and for the ways in which you give your gifts and offer your heart to our mission and to our work in the gospel.

I want you to know that we are hard at work planning and preparing for the 39th General Council which will be held at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay this summer from August 13 to 19. The Planning Team is doing well, Youth Forum is shaping up, reports and proposals are being developed and tested, guests from overseas are being invited, everything from sound systems to cookies to workbooks is under construction.

So, as we are preparing for the council, I hope you will be thinking and praying about the people you will elect as commissioners. Their work will be of great importance to The United Church of Canada. It will be both a demanding task and an exciting and rewarding one, too.

I want to offer you a few thoughts about the work of commissioners as you prepare to nominate and elect those people who will be sent from your Conference.

I think a critical task of the General Council is to make the purpose of the church visible with as much clarity as the Spirit gives. Of course the General Council does many things-it responds to reports and proposals, makes decisions, elects a Moderator-many things vital to our life and mission. We'll be doing that diligently and faithfully.

But there is more than responding to what appears in the workbook. It is also the business of General Council to make visible the purpose of this United Church of ours at this time in our communities and in the country and in the world.

This work is vital because it is only when that clarity of purpose has been articulated that your General Council Office will be able to develop plans in order to make that purpose possible.

What your General Council Office makes possible is the work of all our congregations and missions.

What I'm saying is that the General Council makes the purpose of the United Church visible. The General Council Office and its staff make that purpose possible. The congregations, missions, and partners of the United Church make it happen.

So the 39th General Council will set aside significant portions of time for dialogue, learning, prayer, and discernment with a view to bringing the purpose of the church into clarity of focus.

Without that, we have no way of knowing what to take up and what to leave behind; where to expend our resources and where to save them; what to listen to and what to ignore; what to work at and what not to work at; what to embrace and what to turn away from; when to go out and when to stay home; when to speak and when to refrain from speaking.

On the other hand, when we are clear on the purpose, we can channel the resources God gives us and equip our people to bring forth their best for the work to which we are called.

When we think of what will be required of commissioners we think of people who have a heart for conversations that matter, a capacity for listening and learning, and the courage to follow where the Spirit leads. We will need a great diversity of souls, ages, experiences, and perspectives so that the many voices of this broad and great church of ours may be heard.

This work will be a challenge, and above all, we will need commissioners who can work together in order to bring to the surface and to make visible the purpose to which the church will give itself in the days ahead.

If you are interested in being nominated as a commissioner for the 39th General Council, I want you to be aware of this opportunity, this responsibility, and this important work that awaits you.

When you go to Conference, please keep these things in mind as you consider and discern whom to elect. The church would not be well served by 400 people who think exactly alike, but I want to issue a call for people who have the heart and capacity for a genuine dialogue on things that matter, especially God's purpose for this United Church of ours in these demanding times.

In the General Council Office, we are ready to get to work on a plan of action for the church in order to focus our energy and especially to equip our congregations and missions so that they can take their place in God's dream for their communities. We are ready with a way to set priorities and plans before the General Council Executive to be shaped and approved by elected members.

But we are not prepared to do this until The United Church of Canada has spoken through its General Council.

I want to thank each one of you who is willing to let your name stand in nomination for the work of this council. Whether you are elected or not, I am grateful to you for your willingness to offer to the church your gifts, your wisdom, your experience, and your heart. Whomever is elected, let us support them with our encouragement, solidarity of spirit, and prayers.

Pray that God's Spirit will move upon this council and within it so that God's purpose for our life might be seen and our people equipped to fulfill their part in God's great work of redemption.

Thank you again for being part of this United Church of ours and may God's Spirit sustain you in your life and in your work and in your community.