Black sodomite becomes United Church of Canada leader

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5

Politically correct racial category? Check. Alphabet pervert? Check. Social gospel? Check. Well, then, this person meets the qualifications to lead the United Church of Canada in its continuing march into oblivion. As reported by John Longhurst of the Winnipeg Free Press, October 10, 2020:

As the first Black and openly LGBTTQ+ person to be appointed general secretary of the United Church of Canada, Michael Blair knows he is travelling a new path.

"My appointment sends a message," he said, noting he is not the first Black person to hold a leadership role in the church.

That message goes out to members of the church who are persons of colour, showing they are welcome as leaders and giving them "something to celebrate," he said.

At the same time, his appointment challenges all members of the church to "think through what it means to be an anti-racist institution" at this important moment in history, and "how to live into that reality," he said.

As a gay man, it tells all Canadians "the United Church is a unique kind of faith community," one where "sexual identity is not a barrier to ministry and leadership," he added.

Being the only Black and LGBTTQ+ person to lead a major Christian denomination may also "create spaces where conversation can happen" with other church groups, he said.

He acknowledges there is a bit of loneliness in that space, and there will be a focus on him as only leader of a major denomination in Canada who is Black and gay. At the same time, he hopes "it can be a prophetic call to others."

Blair, 64, was born in Jamaica. A father of two adult sons, he was ordained as a minister in Toronto in 1986 by the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec. When he came out as gay in 2001, he was asked to leave that denomination and began working for various United Church-supported organizations in the city.

Through those experiences, he became more intrigued by the United Church and, in 2008, took his first staff position with the denomination.

Over his time as a staff member, he was asked to lead number of different national programs. As a result, "I come into role with a strong understanding of the church," he said.

As he begins his new role, Blair is excited about the future of the 95-year-old denomination.

"We are on the cusp of repositioning ourselves to engage people of faith and society as a whole," he said, noting the denomination made a number of structural changes two years ago that "puts us in a framework to experiment and try new things."

This included setting up a separate corporation to help congregations deal with issues related to the management and sale of churches.

Called the United Property Resource Corporation and backed with a $20 million line of credit from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, it will provide local churches with professional real estate development and management expertise as they seek to convert their buildings for other community uses such as affordable housing.

While some have viewed all the buildings owned by the United Church as a liability, Blair sees them "as a gift. But we need the expertise and skills to utilize them."

Noting the United Church has committed to building 600 affordable housing units by 2025 and 5,000 affordable units by 2035, his dream is to see under-utilized church buildings being used to meet important needs in cities and towns across the country.

"We can engage communities through our property," he said, noting "we have many buildings that are bigger than we need. We need to re-imagine how we can use those spaces."

Another exciting program, he said, is The Edge, which aims to support innovation, pilot new programs, fund new initiatives and create a learning network for faith communities across the church.

"It was set up to think through new mission opportunities," Blair said of how it will support new ideas that "are outside the box. We want to find new ways of doing mission and ministry."

All of this is being done at a time when the denomination is getting smaller—it has just under 400,000 members now, down from over one million in the 1960s.

"The reality is we are declining in numbers," Blair said. "We can’t fudge that."

But, he quickly added, "numbers are not the only thing to measure. It’s harder to measure things like community connectivity, faithfulness, relationships, and nurturing faith formation. There is lots of energy in the church for that."

His goal is to "turn around the narrative of decline," telling stories that show how the church is making a difference in Canada and around the world through things like helping refugees, responding to the Beirut explosion disaster, addressing global hunger through its membership in the Winnipeg-based Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and playing a leadership role in advocating for a guaranteed basic income in Canada.

"We need Canadians to understand we are making a difference," he said. "But we need to do better at telling that story, sharing those stories of impact. We can’t just have stories of decline, decline, decline."

He hopes the new initiatives and ongoing programs will capture the interest of Canadians who will want to become part of the church.

"The United Church of Canada shares the values of Canadians in so many ways," he said. "It’s just a matter of figuring out how to tell stories of those values and invite Canadians to be part of our work."

That’s a challenge, he admits, given the declining state of religiosity in Canada. "Time will tell if we are successful," he said.

I have to chuckle at Mr. Blair's desire to "reimagine" how to use the church's buildings. The United Church is in a death spiral where the number of empty buildings is increasing because the number of people in the buildings is decreasing along with the amount of money coming in to pay for the buildings.

Mr. Blair is unusual in admitting that the United Church has been numerically declining, but this blogger predicts that continuing to promote the same "values of Canadians" that the United Church supposedly shares will be about as effective in reversing its decline as the promotion of "wokeness" has been for professional sports.

See also my posts:

Calgary Herald blasts United Church of Canada for advocating a boycott of Israel (May 15, 2012)

Canadian Senators warn United Church of Canada over proposed boycott of Israeli goods (July 6, 2012)

A secular columnist accurately assesses Canada's declining liberal churches (July 30, 2012)

United Church of Canada elects its first openly sodomite moderator (August 16, 2012)

50 years ago: United Church of Canada unveils Sunday School curriculum denying the truth of the Bible (August 1, 2014)

80 years ago: United Church of Canada ordains Canada's first female minister (November 7, 2016)

Amalgamation of congregations in Edmonton provides more evidence of the continuing decline of the United Church of Canada (January 31, 2017)

30 years ago: New Ager Matthew Fox delivers keynote lecture at Queen's Theological School (October 11, 2017)

50 years ago: United Church in Calgary experiments with modern music (June 15, 2018)

Mainline church leaders 50 years ago advocated methods used by "evangelical" churches today (November 6, 2018)

Atheist minister with United Church of Canada keeps her job after an agreement in lieu of a heresy trial (November 16, 2018)

50 years ago: Canadian Anglican traditionalists oppose union with United Church of Canada (June 21, 2019)