Governance

Role of the Executive

The General Council is the single body for the exercise of governance: the setting of policy and broad direction for the church. Between meetings of the General Council, the Executive acts on its behalf. It takes a leadership role in articulating and translating the broad vision of the General Council, establishing mission directions, and setting priorities for the work of the General Council Office. The Executive reports on its proceedings to the General Council.

Top

Members

There are 50 voting members on the Executive and 19 corresponding members. The 50 voting members are

• the Moderator, Immediate Past Moderator, and General Secretary
• 2 representatives named by each of the 13 Conferences (1 lay member and 1 member of the Order of Ministry or Designated Lay Minister)
• the chairperson of each of the 4 Permanent Committees
• 4 members at large—two of whom are to be youth and young adult representatives
• 2 members from the francophone constituency
• 2 members from the ethnic ministries constituency
• 6 members from the Aboriginal Ministries Council
• the chairperson of the General Council Planning Committee
• the chairperson of the Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee
• a United Church of Canada representative serving on the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee

The 19 corresponding members who attend the meetings and have “voice but no vote” are

• an elected officer of the National United Church Women
• the chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the United Church Observer
• a global partner representative
• an Archivist in the employ of the United Church
• the Executive Secretaries (CES)/Speaker of the 13 Conferences
• the 2 General Council Officers

A list of the current members of the Executive is online.

Top

Meetings

The Executive of the General Council normally meets twice each year. A Sub-Executive is convened to consider matters which emerge between meetings and require action or decision.

The scheduled meetings of the Executive for the 2009–2012 triennium period between the 40th and 41st General Council are

• November 13 to 16, 2009
• May 1 to 3, 2010
• November 13 to 15, 2010
• May 7 to 9, 2011
• November 12 to 14, 2011
• March 24 to 26, 2012

Minutes of meetings of the Executive and Sub-Executive of the General Council are available on the GC40 website.