News From The United Church of Canada

It was June 2020. The Black Lives Matter movement was experiencing a groundswell of support across North America. It was also pre-COVID vaccines, and restrictions were in place to reduce the spread of the disease. The General Council was meeting online to consider postponing the meeting scheduled for 2021 until 2022. In this context, a proposal entitled “Towards Becoming an Anti-Racist Denomination” was presented.

Chinese United Church 50th Anniversary, Victoria, B.C. (1935).

Journeys of Black People in The United Church of Canada gathering in Montreal, (April, 2007).

A painting crew at the Chinese United Church, Vancouver, B.C. (1953).

The United Church acknowledged racism as a sin in 1960 after the destruction of the Africville neighborhood in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and had previously addressed it in a variety of ways, such as the 2006 requirement for ministry personnel to undertake racial justice training. But in the final hours of the 2018 meeting of the General Council, the continued pervasiveness of racism was made evident, as racialized clergy and lay people spoke to the racism they had experienced in the church. When the General Council met on October 24, 2020, it acknowledged what it had heard in 2018 and what was happening in society, and made a commitment to “Becoming an Anti-Racist Denomination,” creating the staff position of Anti-Racism and Equity Lead to support this.

Kyogikai conference at Knox United Church, Winnipeg (1962).

Chinese United Church sign, Victoria, B.C. (1960).

The Very Rt. Rev. Wilbur K. Howard (1974). Learn more about the Very Rev. Wilbur Howard.

Four years later in February 2024, when the Executive of the General Council received the report of the Pastoral Relationships Thriving with Equity Research Project, it was clear that progress is slow. Racialized clergy continue to experience blatant racism. Despite the number of communities of faith without a minister, the United Church has had to stop receiving applications from other denominations as there is already a long list of qualified ministers, many of whom are racialized, unable to find a position.

Korean United Church congregation, Vancouver, B.C. (1967).

Historic MOU signed this between The United Church of Canada and the Methodist Church of Ghana, establishing an Associate Membership for the Ghana Calvary Methodist United Church of Toronto (May 5, 2013).

February is Black History Month. We have much to lift up: the decision to become an anti-racist denomination, racial justice training for ministry personnel, the Black clergy network, the admirable leadership of former Moderator, the Very Rev. Wilbur Howard, and of current General Secretary, the Rev. Michael Blair. But we cannot yet claim we “are” anti-racist; the data makes it plain that is not the case. This February, how will we recognize this and challenge it? By 2035, 30 percent of the Canadian population will be racialized or Indigenous. Will we be able to say the same of a denomination that has historically mirrored population trends in its membership?