General Council Office Structure

September 2003

Theological Background

"There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious men who had come from every country in the world. When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because each one of them heard the believers talking in his own language. In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, 'These people who are talking like this are Galileans ! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages ?"

Acts 2,5-7

Just as any Protestant Reformed Church, the United Church of Canada primarily seeks to celebrate "the One God's Glory" and do God's will in listening to and serving God's Word. Nothing insuperable should interfere with the Church's mission to proclaim God's liberating Gospel of salvation. Even the multiple languages of the world shouldn't put any obstacle to this proclamation, as shown in these short verses from the Acts.

"Each one of them heard the believers talking in his own language... in his own native language..."It is mostly significant that these exciting findings are placed right at the beginning of the book of Acts. The author's intention is obvious. In placing these verses right after the narrative of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, he wants to convince the readers of his time -- and to us today -- of the universality of Christ message of salvation and of the mission of the emerging Church. We must also notice that from the whole account of Pentecost (Acts 2,1-36), only the first four verses pertain to the event itself; the other 32, the longest part of the story, relate how the coming of the Holy Spirit affects the life of the new Church, already expanding at the time of the writing. Luke, the author of the book of Acts tells us that the impact of this coming of the Spirit amount basically to the need, the command that the Good News be proclaimed throughout the world and in all languages. And this is precisely what Peter and the other disciples do at once.

This short analysis quite evidently instructs us that the Churches must see this proclamation of Jesus Christ salvation in every people's own language, own cultural context and life circumstances, as urgent and mandatory, in other words as a commandment. From the very beginning, the day of Pentecost, traditionally recognized as its birthday, this instruction has been given to the Christian Church. According to this text, all Churches, from all traditions and all denominations should speak to their constituency "in their own language", their "mother tongue." From the very beginning, wasn't it a "wonder" for these people to hear this glorious message in their own language?

We must admit that the United Church, through its Unit for Ethnic Ministries and its All Native Conference, has tried to provide its members with the means to follow this directive, knowingly and consciously. In the United Church, sermons are preached, biblical studies are given, resources are produced and read, in languages as diverse as Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Italian, Spanish, German, Cree or Mowhak.

The United Church considers itself "the main Protestant Church in Canada"with a bit of legitimate pride. The Unit for Ministries in French can not do less than reaffirm their conviction that the United Church needs to intentionally and unfailingly make sure that its mission to proclaim the Word be unfolded and spread in French, the second official language in Canada. It must do it with the hope that present and future communities of its French constituency may grow and develop in wonder with as much strength and commitment as the first communities called by the book of Acts.

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Mandate of the Unit of ministries in French

• To communicate in French the specific message of the United Church;
• To support ministries in French with appropriate resources;
• To promote the development of new pastoral charge in French and the birth of French groups in English speaking communities;
• To promote Ministries in French and their work within the United Church;
• To increase the visibility of the French-speaking component of the United Church in our society.

A common vision will be upheld by working cooperatively in three activity sectors, each with a specific mandate.

1. The mandate of Public Communications will be:

1. To broadcast information about and for the various French-speaking groups and pastoral charges;
2. To publish the periodical Aujourd'hui Credo;
3. To be the voice of the United Church to religious and secular French-language media;
4. To represent the French-speaking component of the United Church before the general public;
5. To develop and support ecumenical relations locally and abroad within the francophone world.

2. The mandate of Resources and Translation will be to make available in French to Church members and to interested members of the public, trough its own decisions, or according to requests form other units;

1. The core documents of the United Church;
2. Guidelines, manuals and other essential documents intended to facilitate the operations of the UCC pastoral charges and ministries;
3. Resources adapted to the realities faced by French speakers;
4. Documentation that presents the United Church to individuals searching spiritually and to the general public.

3. The mandate of Development will be to promote the emergence of French-speaking pastoral charges (beginning from existing English-speaking pastoral charges or otherwise) by;

1. identifying where the potential exists for setting up French-speaking communities and by establishing links with existing pastoral charges;
2. promoting the emergence of new French-speaking pastoral charges by providing the necessary support;
3. Supporting existing French-speaking pastoral charges with relevant resources and tools.

These three activity sectors will request from the staff of UMiF regular links and a continuous interaction with other United Church Working Units having similar mandate. Means of effective communication and cooperation should be implemented. Participation to common projects and actions must be expected.

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Structure, Responsibility and Accountability

Definitions

UMiF : Unit for Ministries in French consisting of: staff members, members of the Unit-Wide Committee and members of the Sub-groups supporting the work of the Unit. Sub-Groups of Umif : working group made up of volunteers and staff members, for each area of work:

• Public Communications
• Resources and Translation
• Development

Senior Leadership Team

Team mandated by the General Council to coordinate and supervise the work of the 12 units

Permanent Committee PC-PMM

Group appointed to oversee the work concerning Programs for Ministry and Mission to present the work of the units to the GCEx and transmit the directives of GC and GCEx to the units, among them to Umif and Umif-unit wide committee, to coordinate and present policy recommendations and assure accountability of delegates task.

General Council Minister, Programs for Ministry and Mission

The member of the SLT, named by General Council to coordinate, supervise and evaluate the work of six Working Units among which UMiF.

Unit Leader

With the direction of the Senior Leadership team and under the guidance of the General Council Minister, Programs for Ministry and Mission, the Unit Leader provides leadership, direction and support to the unit, with the Unit-wide Committee, ensuring that the work is internally cohesive, is developed collaboratively with other units and is carried out in an effective and efficient manner. The Unit Leader is responsible for supporting the diffusion of the UCC message in French. He-she is accountable to the General Council Minister, Programs for Ministry and Mission.

Unit-Wide Committee

advisory and coordinating committee for the work of the french unit, composed of representatives of the French constituency and of the ministries in French of the UCC.The members representing the various fields of UMiF's work give advice on management decisions and develop a common vision to further the emergence and growth of ministries in French. In the partnership model, staff bring information and implications. Members of the Unit-wide Committee bring vital input from the wider Church and knowledge about the needs of the various French ministries and French-speaking groups and pastoral charges.They assure that these ministries and the UMIF staff interact efficiently and effectively and will . The vision of the Unit Committee will be developed through consultation and will reflect the whole of ministries in French of UCC.

The Unit-wide Committee will be composed of:

• One member of the Development Sub-group;
• One member of the Resources and Translation Sub-group;
• One member of the Public Communications Sub-group;
• The Chair of the Consistoire Laurentien;
• The Secretary of the Consistoire Laurentien;
• A representative of Montréal Presbytery;
• A representative of Québec-SherbrookePresbytery;
• A representative of Québec-Sherbrooke Presbytery;
• A representative of Montréal-Ottawa Conference;
• All the staff of the Unit as corresponding members;
• One or two members at large named by the GCEx.

UMiF Forum

A general meeting of all members of Sub-groups, the Unit-wide Committee and the staff, as well as all of persons interested by ministries in French. These meetings will be held once or twice a year. The purpose of the Forum will be to assess the ongoing work and to develop the foundations of a common vision in support of the work of the staff and Unit Committee.

Accountability

Every staff will be accountable to the Unit Leader. Each having one's own responsibilities within one or more activity sector of UMiF, the staff are expected to work collegially and will be part in the development of each specific action of the Unit in a flexible and open way. Employees will be expected to take into consideration and respond to input from the Unit-wide Committee and from the Sub-group they are associated.

The three activity sectors will each have its Sub group, with 5 to 10 members, of which at least one will represent Consistoire Laurentien. These subgroups are accountable to the Unit Leader who is an ex-officio member of each.

The Unit-wide committee of Umif is accountable to the PC-PMM

The members of the Unit-W Committee, elected by the nomination committee of the GC, will be expected to actively support the work and visibility of ministries in French; they will serve two-year terms, which are renewable.

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Budgets and Priorities

Budgets will be prepared by the Work Unit and presented to Unit-wide Committee. They will be submitted by the Unit Leader to the General Council Minister, Programs for Ministry and Mission and allocated in accordance with the applicable method under the new structure, taking into consideration the fact that the Unit offices will be in a different location that the national offices. In any events, funds allocated for the ministries in French shall continue to be used for this purpose.