mote the idea of church union. It was from this committee that a formal proposal came forth at a conference on the sub- ject held in 1886. Formal talks between the Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches for the basis of union began in 1902 while the Anglicans continued their study. The General Council of Union Churches of Western Canada was born in 1908 from a draft proposal for union. A number of churches in the west liked the union proposal and moved ahead with the plan. However the outbreak of World War I directed the focus of the churches away from union talks and it took until 1925 to establish the basis of union. From this agreement the United Church of Canada was born. Talks with the Anglican Church continued many years after 1925 but were never successful in reaching an agreement for union.61

From the beginning, the United Church was known for

its cultural and linguistic diversity and liberal acceptance of people. The new church attempted to bring together the best of the three individual denominations in the promotion of the Word of God.

The structure of the United Church of Canada contains

four courts:

1. Congregation or Pastoral Charge: one or more congregations under the spiritual leadership of a minister and governed by a session or a church board.

2. Presbytery: ninety-one presbyteries in the United Church of Canada are made up of geographical group— ings of pastoral charges.

3. Conference: thirteen regional conferences are made up of administrative groupings of Presbyteries.

4. General Council: the highest administrative court of the United Church. Conferences elect ordained, commissioned, and lay commissioners to meet every two years to establish church policy, but changed to every three years in 1993. An executive governs between meetings and policy is carried out by paid staff. 62

The method of government at the United Church con-

gregational level was derived from the three denominations.

45 ORlGlNS or OUR FAITH