Having being asked for a definition of the "ethos" of the United Church by several sources, Fellowship Magazine decided to solicit opinions from a cross-section of church personnel. In the first of what we hope to be a continuing series, we hear from Peter Wyatt, principal of Emmanuel College, and Nora Sanders, General Secretary of the United Church.

Peter Wyatt:

An assessment of the ethos of the United Church may be well served by some historical recall. In this regard, a triplet of complementary dynamics offers perspective for assessing the present ethos.

1. The denominational union creating The United Church of Canada was driven by two chief factors. The first, a more principled dynamic, was the desire to obey the will of Christ that "all may be one." For several decades this ecumenical commitment led the United Church to regard its denominational existence as provisional and to speak of itself as "united and uniting." The second, a more pragmatic dynamic, was the desire to carry out both home and foreign missions on as effective and collaborative a basis as possible. The existence of more than one thousand local union churches at the time of union is one indication of this orientation to practicality.

2. Two main theological dynamics were in play both before and after union. Frequently enough the social gospel movement is named as formative of the Church's theological ethos. It was indeed a vital movement within Methodist ranks and among Presbyterian progressives, and it has manifested itself in varied forms throughout the Church's history. At the same time, it is infrequently noted that historic evangelical theology and piety were carried into the new church and also shaped its early life and confessions.

We should not forget that in the 19th century all the historic Protestant churches in Canada regarded themselves as evangelical. Negatively, this meant that they were opposed to Roman Catholic sacerdotalism; positively, it meant that they proclaimed a gospel of grace through the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

In the late 19th century, when new learning burst on the scene (as in the case of "higher criticism"), many evangelical church leaders opened themselves to it. At the same time, they continued to maintain core evangelical doctrine and thus sometimes were known as "evangelical liberals." George Pidgeon, Samuel Chown and Alfred Gandier were leaders who carried such conviction and the Church's Statement of Faith of 1940 shows strong continuity with this theological dynamic.

3. My wife, Joan, once wrote a paper for the late John W. Grant on church union in the local context. Her research in the files of The Port Hope Evening Guide pointed up two contrasting approaches in pre-union controversy in this small Ontario town. The case against union was based on loyalty to historic covenants. The case for union was advanced as an overture to "the religion of the future."

I believe that today the ethos of the United Church is characterized by lost tension where there still might be complementary poles.

1. Our predilection to roll up our sleeves to fix things has meant the triumph of the pragmatic over the principled. One telling trajectory of a fix-it mentality is the way that the Church's ecclesiology and theology of ministry has become so remarkably plastic. We have produced several studies of ministry and yet have not managed to lessen our confusion. We have created multiple "orders" of ministry and multiple tracks for education and training-some of which no serious theology of ministerial leadership could justify.

2. I may be an evangelical in the old-fashioned, non-ideological sense of that word. Because of this I lament the gradual loss of an "evangelical liberal" spirit over the years in the church. Without imaginative evangelical conviction at its heart, the Church will be heard by many to have only a hectoring voice. We need to be able to declare the mercy that God has for the world in Jesus Christ with the same energy that we declare the justice that God requires of the world in Jesus Christ.

3. Two recent Wesley tercentenaries have provided opportunities to lift up the continuing significance of our Methodist inheritance. In 2009, the Calvin quincentenary will provide a like opportunity to ponder the importance of the Reformed tradition for the ongoing life of the church. But who in the United Church even notices such anniversaries? Thank God the church historians in our theological colleges still are teaching about Wesley and Calvin. Surely the balance we need today means learning from our historic traditions even as we lean into emerging theological trends and a future that always will be unpredictable.

Peter Wyatt is principal of Emmanuel College, Toronto, and the author of Jesus Christ and Creation in the Theology of John Calvin.

Nora Sanders:

I am a lay member of The United Church of Canada, with lifelong experience of living in the United Church, but with no theological training. I am writing from a personal perspective about what it means to me to be a member of the United Church.

In the United Church we recognize that all members of the Church do not hold identical beliefs. We invite and celebrate our diversity of beliefs. We encourage one another to ask questions as part of deepening our faith. Yet faith isn't something to be understood by intellect alone. It is more than a collection of doctrinal beliefs. Faith is experienced through releasing oneself to the greater power of God.

Being human, we can never fully know or understand God. As Christians, we are guided by the Scriptures in our understanding of God. The Holy Trinity helps conceptualize the different ways that we experience God. God is mysterious to us, and yet we seek to understand.

The United Church is a Church of inclusion. Because we believe all are loved by God, all are welcome to participate in all aspects of church life.

Jesus commanded the disciples, " Love one another as I have loved you." This is such a simple concept, and yet so hard for us to truly live up to. Living out this commandment is the centre of our lifelong journey in faith. I believe that we are all loved by God, equally, and that through Jesus we learn to love and serve others, all others. Our behaviour is to be guided by the wonderful stories from the Scriptures, and these stories must be interpreted in ways that are relevant in the world we live in today.

Being Christian means that we seek to deepen our experience of God through prayer, scripture, worship, and participation in a faith community. Being Christian means that we live in the world as faithful people who seek justice through our actions, accepting Jesus' call to love and serve others.

Nora Sanders is General Secretary, of the United Church of Canada