A
History of the United Church of Canada.
Edited by Don
Schweitzer
Published by
Wilfred Laurier University Press (2012)
Price: $39.95
(Cdn)
Reviewed by Mike
Jones
In recent years
the United Church of Canada has embarked on a series of "diagnostic"
type conversations assessing who we are as a denomination and where we are
going in the future. Personally, I don't
think it's that bold of a prediction to say that the United Church of Canada's
future is pretty bleak and that it will be dead in the next 5-10 years. To use a biblical expression, the writing is
on the wall. For anyone who wants to
know why the United Church is dying they need to look no further than a recently
published survey dealing with the history of the United Church. It's appropriately entitled A History of the United Church of Canada and
it's a gathering of chapters offered by scholars and clergy with a deep and
profound connection and commitment to the denomination.
Edited by Donald
Schweitzer this collection is an effort to survey the chronological story of
the United Church. This collection also
introduces and discusses key issues, decisions and challenges that the United
Church has faced throughout its history.
Perhaps most important of all, it helps name those seeds that have
helped contribute to the pending death of the denomination. These seeds may surprise readers.
The first seed I'm
referring to is one of the principal motivations behind the creation of the
United Church. It's also something that
remained a large part of United Church thinking throughout its early
decades. I'm talking about a sense of
entitlement displayed by groups and individuals throughout the United Church's
history. When it was envisioned and
created one of the main hopes for and expectations of the United Church was
that it would become a "state church" that would reflect Canadian
values and hopes and dreams. There
seemed to be a hope that the vision of the United Church would be somehow
consistent with the vision of Canada as a nation. It was also hoped that the United Church
would be a real player on the world stage, especially where church unity was
becoming such an important concept. These
hopes and expectations were realistic in their time but they ultimately
"stalled out" as the denomination ran into challenges presented as
early as the 1950's.
One of these
challenges was the changing growth pattern of the United Church. As expected, the United Church grew in its
early years but it simply did not grow as fast as it needed in order to achieve
its desired national church status. Not
only did it not grow according to plan it can also be argued that it didn't
really mature the way it should have either.
A lot of compromise went into the founding theology and structure of the
United Church. Even though there's been
some pecking around the edges of the overall structure of the denomination it remains
the same as when it was created.
Another challenge
was the apparent failure to sell the uniting vision with ecumenical partners
such as the Anglican Church and Disciples of Christ. Without these partners the United Church
couldn't achieve the breadth of theology and practice necessary to achieve the
dream of being a national or state church.
The failed effort to join with the Anglicans is especially troubling
because of the lost opportunity to create bishops who would provide the
regional leadership necessary to grow the denomination and help it mature.
If readers want to
identify still more seeds of the United Church's decline and pending death they
need to look no farther than p. 85 and the numerical decline of the number of
young people in the denomination and the shortage of candidates for the
clergy. What surprises me here is that
this decline began in the 1950's. Of all
the decades in the 20th century the 1950's would be that time when one could
expect the church to be strong and thriving.
It turns out that it wasn't and this should be food for thought.
Even with this
decline, however, there are some areas in which the United Church continues to
be strong. One area of strength is our
work with Aboriginal people and communities.
While there have been serious bumps in the road we seem to have developed
a rough partnership where we can address and resolve justice issues and
concerns in some realistic way. While it
may border on obsession the United Church has also been effective ministering
to the gay and lesbian and transgendered communities. Anyone who experienced the debates about the
ordination of practicing homosexuals know the extent of how much these
decisions and commitments cost the denomination. The problem with these two strengths,
however, is that the issues are not unique to the United Church. Both aboriginal and gay people can access
resources and help beyond the church. And
effectiveness in these areas is simply not enough to change the denomination's future.
In the not too
distant future the United Church will die and the seeds for this death can be
found throughout its history. A History of the United Church of Canada is
a concise, thorough and critical resource that offers us a great deal of
insight into this history and an even deeper appreciation of the challenges we
face in the present. I commend it to
each and every one.
