Beliefs & Values – St. Andrew's United Church

Our Statement of Faith

United Church communities of faith welcome people from all backgrounds and orientations. “We are not alone,” is the first line of “A New Creed,” one of our statements of belief. The United Church of Canada has a long history of welcoming people of all backgrounds and orientations – wherever you are in your faith journey.

Our Mission

Service to all as we grow together through God’s love.

Our Vision

We at St. Andrew’s United Church want to grow the community through faith and compassion; opening our doors to create an atmosphere where everyone is welcome.

Our Values

Compassion

We believe in showing compassion to all and understanding to others as well as ourselves.

Ethical

We believe that we have to be ethical through honesty, communication, transparency and respect for others opinions in our life as a community.

Christian

We believe our Christian faith, as members of the United Church of Canada, guides our work of community service, local and global justice. Following the example of Jesus, we believe that we strengthen one another to work, through God’s grace, for a better world.

Inclusiveness

We believe in inclusiveness for all through respect for ability, culture, race, gender, sexuality and all faiths.

Respectful of the religious practice of all people of goodwill, we are a welcoming church that is challenged to ongoing renewal.

Gratitude

God’s endless generosity to us encourages our own response to contribute in many ways to God’s mission in God’s world.

Faith & Bible

The Bible is the tells a story of God’s relationship with a particular faith tradition. The stories continue to speak to us in new ways. Scripture offers comfort in challenging times, and inspires us in responding to the world around us. Within the community of faith there are many different beliefs and understandings.

What’s a United Church?

The United Church of Canada has been around since 1925, when Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, and other Christian churches united, becoming one of the first ecumenical unions in the world to bring together major Christian denominations into one body. There are approximately 3,000 United church congregations in Canada, serving over two million members and adherents. General Council, Broadview Magazine and Mission and Service (M&S) are three places where we connect as a denomination.

Ours is a denomination with a rich, progressive and continuing history of welcoming people of all backgrounds and orientations in the name of Christ – wherever you are in your faith journey. Many of the initiatives of The United Church have been ground-breaking within the faith community–the first ordained woman, support for the queer community in ministry, (including working to legalize same sex marriage and ban conversion therapy), the first denomination to apologize for residential schools and ongoing work towards reconciliation.

St. Andrew’s is one of Yorkton’s two United churches, both of whom belong to the Living Skies Regional Council.

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We’re an Affirming Ministry

An Affirming Ministry is a congregation that works for the full inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in The United Church of Canada and in society. To become designated as “affirming” a congregation enters into a two year process of education and discernment before holding a vote to make the final decision. Our church family celebrated becoming an Affirming Ministry in May of 2009. We have an inclusive marriage policy and we continue to find ways to be intentionally inclusive of our LGBT2Q brothers and sisters.

Reconciling with Indigenous Peoples

We tried to make you be like us and in so doing we helped to destroy the vision that made you what you were. As a result, you, and we, are poorer and the image of the Creator in us is twisted, blurred, and we are not what we are meant by God to be.

~ Moderator Bob Smith – excerpt from The United Church of Canada’s apology to First Nations people, 31st General Council, 1986

St. Andrew’s United Church supports the efforts of the national church toward reconciliation and justice for Indigenous peoples, and acknowledges our historical connection to these injustices, perpetrated through the Residential School System and other historical racists acts, whether they be overt or subtle, intentional or not. We join with other Saskatchewan and Canadian United churches to educate ourselves about how to live in right relationship with Indigenous siblings.