Can a minister from another denomination preside at Communion in the UC of Canada?

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Tabitha

Tabitha

journeying
In particular I'm thinking of a friend (who is ordained Presbyterian) but attending a UC of C church. What are the rules?
 
In theory I suppose that if the governing body of the congregation were in agreement it could happen. But I am not certain....
 
a retired minister attending our congregation once said to me that in the UC of C any ordained minister could lead communion-regardless of denomination. I was hoping a Manual geek could show me where it says that.
 
I don't think is says that ANYWHERE in the Manual. Neither do I believe it says such an understanding is in error.
 
Tabitha said:
In particular I'm thinking of a friend (who is ordained Presbyterian) but attending a UC of C church. What are the rules?
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Good question.

The rules are ordained Clergy have, by virtue of their office the ability to preside over the sacraments.

Another rule that comes into play is that celebration of a sacrament in a particular time and particular place is governed by the Session or body with oversight of that particular time and that particular place.

With those two rules in play I would say it is possible provided The United Church of Canada recognize the ordination of the visiting clergy (in this case we accept that ordained ministers in the Presbyterian Church are on par with ordained ministers within our denomination. If the Session (or equivalent body) for your pastoral charge invites the Presbyterian Clergy to preside then it is permissible.

The United Church of Canada is not a turf conscious denomination though I expect that there might be some denominations or faith expressions that we would frown upon with respect to presidency over sacraments. That said, first time offenders would probably just get a stern to not quite stern talking to.
 
As usual, John has the answer :) Generally speaking, the UCC accepts at face value the ordinations of other denominations. If a member of the clergy from another denomination wants to join us, we don't re-ordain (although we might make them take some courses on UCC theology and polity). So if a Congregation is OK with it, then the denomination is, too.

And no, this isn't in the Manual. This is just one of those best practices kinds of things.
 
Pr. Jae said:
Why would the Presbyterian want to preside?
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I'm thinking of a scenario - a Presbyterian minister is on vacation in cottage country. There are no Presbyterian churches nearby so he attends the local UCC. This particular UCC has communion on the last Sunday of the month. Friday night the UCC minister is involved in an accident and is rushed to the hospital. The Chair of the Board at the UCC asks the Presbyterian minister if he will cover the service on Sunday.
I'm sure there could be other explanations. Pulpit exchange perhaps? Or his granddaughter being confirmed UCC and the UCC minister inviting him to share in leading communion? Retired Presbyterian doing pulpit supply during a vacancy in the local UCC?
 
Is your idea to place all UCC stuff inside United Future. I would think that United Future would be about the process the UCC is undergoing to change it's way of operating. But than again the United Future Web site is suppose to be that and still people post all sorts of church business there.
 
Isn't United Future still locked?

@GordW does our newest member of Presbytery fit this? Jim is Presbyterian. I know he is not just a visitor.
 
Northwind , it opened up tonight. You should have been granted access when you logged in . If you don't have access, log out and log back in Let me know how it goes
 
Northwind said:
Isn't United Future still locked?

@GordW does our newest member of Presbytery fit this? Jim is Presbyterian. I know he is not just a visitor.
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Jim is appointed as ordained supply so it is not quite the same as a visitor. But there is a degree of overlap. The one difference is that to be eligible for ordained supply one has been screened first, not likely to happen for a visitor.
 
Interesting discussion. I am wondering about how other denominations would feel about having a United Church minister preside, but I am not asking out loud. Maybe Jae can fill me in.
 
GordW said:
Jim is appointed as ordained supply so it is not quite the same as a visitor. But there is a degree of overlap. The one difference is that to be eligible for ordained supply one has been screened first, not likely to happen for a visitor.
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That's what I figured.
 
While our Joint Search Committee works, we have an ordained Mennonite minister working for us part time (preaching and performing pastoral care). Until recently, we had a retired UCC minister perform our sacraments (baptism and communion, specifically). In the last month our Mennonite minister was granted "Ordained Supply" status from the United Church. Although she is now able to offer the sacraments, she is cautious because she wants to be sure she doesn`t do anything that is contrary to the Mennonite traditions.
 
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