Presbyterian Church in Canada - Further Details (Polity)

Further Details (Polity)

At present the Presbyterian Church in Canada has about 1000 congregations across the country. As a result of early settlement, as well as post WWII urbanization, and resistance to the 1925 church union, Southern Ontario has the greatest number of congregations, presbyteries and synods (listed above).

The General Assembly, held yearly since 1875 around the first week of June, has recently been held in a number of centres throughout Southern Ontario and Quebec. The number of delegates or commissioners to the General Assembly is determined by one-sixth of the ministers on the presbytery roll and an equal number of elders being commissioned, in rotation from every congregation or pastoral charge. There are also young adult representatives, selected from every second presbytery on the roll, and student representatives, representing the theological colleges.

Every decade, there is an attempt to hold the General Assembly in other parts of the Country: On June 5, 2005, First Presbyterian Church in Edmonton, was the location of the Opening of the 131st General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Canada; the Reverend Jean Morris, of Calgary, Alberta was Moderator of the 131st General Assembly in 2005; her father, the late (June 2008) Rev. Dr. J.J. Harrold Morris was moderator in 1989, and grew up in the First Congregation. She was awarded a Doctor of Divinity from Vancouver School of Theology in 2010.

In 1996, Charlottetown PEI was the host, as was Vancouver BC, in both 1957 and 1989, Halifax NS, in 1971, and Calgary in 1948. The Presbytery of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia were gracious hosts in June 2010.

From June 4–9, 2006, the 132nd General Assembly took place in St. Catharines, Ontario, at Brock University, an alma mater (1982) of the outgoing Moderator. The official nominees for the 2006 Moderator were two laypeople; voting for Moderator was conducted by all active Ministers (on their Presbytery Roll) and Representative Elders in their respective Presbyteries. The tally of votes was counted and announced on April 3, a change from most years, when this is conducted on April 1 (April Fool's Day). The now past Moderator is Wilma Welsh, an Elder from Guelph, Ontario, a former Mission Partner with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, and Staff Associate in the Life and Mission Agency offices in Toronto (Awarded Doctor of Divinity from Knox College in 2010). Invitations for the 2007 and 2008 General Assemblies were approved from two Ontario Presbyteries. The 2007 Assembly was held June 3–8 at the University of Waterloo, with the opening service in nearby Cambridge. Rev. Dr. J. Hans Kouwenberg, Senior Pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia, was Moderator. The 2008 Assembly was held in Ottawa, the opening service held in Knox Church. The Moderator was Rev. Cheol Soon Park, then Senior Minister of Toronto Korean Presbyterian Church, the first Korean-Canadian Moderator of the PCC. In 2009, General Assembly was held in Hamilton, Ontario, Rev. Harvey Self, of Tweedsmuir Presbyterian Church, Orangeville, Ontario, was Moderator; he was a former Military Chaplain. In 2010, the General Assembly was held in Sydney, Nova Scotia; the first time ever on Cape Breton Island. Rev. Dr. Herbert F. Gale, of Guelph, Ontario, Associate Secretary of Planned Giving is the present Moderator. The 2011 General Assembly will be held in London, Ontario.

There are congregations, missions, and preaching points in each Canadian province, as well as the aforementioned St Andrew's Church in Hamilton, Bermuda.