Fonds F526 - United Church of Canada Committee on Worship fonds

The Committee on Church worship and Ritual was constituted by the second General Council (1926) and was soon engaged in the task of revising the Book of Common Order for the church. This task was begun by the committee in the 1930s, and several orders of worship were produced in the next twenty years. In 1958 a complete revision of the Book of Common Order was demanded by the General Council and the Committee set about the task with vigour, appealing to ministers and congregations to use several draft documents during the period 1958-1974. The committee eventually produced three volumes, Service Book for the use of Ministers conducting Public Worship (1969), Service Book for the Use of the People (1969) and the Service Book for Use in Church Courts (1974). In the course of its work the committee’s name was shortened to the Committee on Worship.
In addition to the provision of services for worship ceremonies (including the sacraments), the committee was also charged with developing appropriate models of public worship for chaplains, war and commemorative occasions, and developing a program of worship for the anniversaries of the chuch, especially the Fiftieth Anniversary which took place in 1975. In the 1970s the committee was associated with the Celebration Advisory/Resource Committee of the Division of Mission in Canada.
A third task of the committee was the revision of the Hymnal, which was undertaken by a sub-committee. The resulting book was an ecumenical document that was used by both the United and Anglican churches.
In 1980 the committee was amalgamated with the Celebration Committee and placed under the direction of the Division of Mission in Canada.