About Us

Who We Are

The Canadian Council of Churches is the largest ecumenical body in Canada, now representing 22 churches of Anglican, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions. We are one of the few ecumenical bodies in the world that includes such a range of Christian churches. The officers and staff of the Council are drawn from the whole diversity of traditions represented by the member churches.

The Canadian Council of Churches was founded in 1944. Member churches believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour, according to the Scriptures. Members seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

What We Do

  • We bring member churches into encounter with one another in a forum where all voices hold equal weight. We promote understanding among them and with other Christian churches.
  • We founded and sponsor Project Ploughshares, a leading Canadian peace organization.
  • We provide a safe place for immigrant churches to learn about Canada and to put down roots.
  • We undertake and promote theological study and reflection among Christian traditions.
  • We encourage and host churches' participation in dialogue with people of other faiths.
  • We study, speak about and act on conditions that involve moral and spiritual principles, including current events such as the war on terror and societal issues such as the future of health care.
  • We share information broadly, communicating results of theological and ethical reflections to Canadian Society and governments.
  • We produce resources, including material for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
  • We provide material to chaplains in Canada's armed forces and prisons, helping them work with stress-related trauma, mixed marriages and questions about life and death.
  • We are registered with the United Nations and participate in world conferences and commissions on such issues as funding for development, refugee settlement and human rights.

Groups Related to Us

Project Ploughshares: Ecumencial Peace Agency of The Canadian Council of Churches

Mandate
Project Ploughshares was founded in 1976 to respond to the following call from The Canadian Council of Churches:

  • Believing that the pursuit of peace calls all people, institutions and governments to do justice and to be merciful, to cherish the earth and to care for its resources, to love their neighbours and to protect life; and
  • Believing that this call has implications for governmental policies related to peace and security, development and disarmament, and military trade and industry;
  • The Canadian Council of Churches calls on its members and other co-workers for peace and justice to join with one another in Project Ploughshares to develop a clear understanding of these implications and to contribute more effectively to the building of a national and international order that will serve the goals of peace with justice, freedom, and security for all.

    • The name and mandate for Project Ploughshares come from the ancient biblical vision in Isaiah in which the material and human wealth consumed by military preparations are transformed into resources for human development and in which such transformation removes the roots of war itself - "God shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:4)

    Governance
    The Canadian Council of Churches is the legal entity under which Project Ploughshares operates, and as such the Council and its members bear final responsibility and liability for Project Ploughshares. The Canadian Council of Churches has delegated the responsibility of board formation and governance to its member churches and other churches or churches agencies that have agreed to sponsor Project Ploughshares. The board of Project Ploughshares is accountable to The Canadian Council of Churches for governing Project Ploughshares in the faithful pursuit of the mandate received from the Council.

    Sponsoring churches and church agencies:

    • Anglican Church of Canada
    • Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace
    • Canadian Unitarian Council
    • Canadian Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends
    • Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
    • Mennonite Central Committee Canada
    • Presbyterian Church in Canada
    • United Church of Canada

    Project Ploughshares is affiliated with the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.

    Mission
    The mission of Project Ploughshares, rooted in the faith commitment to pursue peace, is to carry out research and policy analysis on peace and security issues to advance our understanding and knowledge of the roots and causes of armed conflict, and the measures and policies that are conducive to achieving a more peaceful world.

    Project Ploughshares operates under the belief, shared by all of the sponsoring churches, that war is to be and can be avoided, that the use of force in national and international relations is to be minimized, that conflict is to be resolved as much as possible in the interests of justice and without resort to violence, that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons cannot be justified under any circumstances and are contrary to the will of God, and that scarce resources are to be used for human development rather than for arms and the build-up of the capacity to destroy.

    For information about Project Ploughshares and its program, please go to www.ploughshares.ca, or contact Project Ploughshares at:

    Project Ploughshares
    57 Erb Street West
    Waterloo ON N2L 6C2
    Canada
    plough@ploughshares.ca
    (519) 888-6541
    Fax: (519) 888-0018

The Canadian Council of Churches
47 Queen's Park Crescent East
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C3, Canada
www.councilofchurches.ca 		T: 416.972.9494
F: 416.927.0405
TF: 1.866.822.7645
info@councilofchurches.ca
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