“We May Not Be Big, But We’re Small.” That was the motto of The Vinyl Cafe, a fictional record store owned by Dave, a character featured in the stories of the late Canadian author and CBC radio host Stuart McLean.
It could also be the new motto for the United Church of Canada, according to its newly-elected moderator Kimberly Heath.
“Our identity as United Church people is to think of ourselves as big,” said Heath, 53, who was elected on Aug. 9 at the denomination’s 45th General Council.
For a long time, Heath says, United Church members took pride in being the largest Protestant denomination in Canada; in being a “church that matters.” But that was the past, she said. “That idea of ourselves as big is not helping us today.”
The church’s membership has fallen from a peak of just over one million members in 1965 to about 325,000 in 2023. And despite the denomination’s strategic plans for growth, that figure may drop another 65 per cent — to 110,000 members — over the next decade, according to the organization’s own projections.
But being small doesn’t mean being insignificant, Heath says.
“There are plenty of examples in the Bible of God using things that were small,” she said. “We shouldn’t bemoan we are not the church we were in the 1960s. Yes, we are small now. But maybe that is what we are called to be at this time.”
Three goals
Heath, who is married with four children, comes to the role from Brockville, Ont., where she has been minister at Wall St. United Church for 18 years.
As she begins her three-year term, she has three visions for the denomination.
First, she hopes to help members connect more deeply with their faith. “We are fantastic on the justice side of things, but we should also go deeper into our faith, develop a deep spirituality,” she said. “I want to lean into that.”
Her second vision is to help members connect with each other. “We are living in an antisocial century, when people are isolated from each other,” she said. Churches can foster face-to-face connections.
This can also make them an antidote to what has become a more divided, polarized and meaner world.
“Church is one of the last places to be with people who are different from you in age, gender, economic status and political views,” Heath said. “It’s a place to come together and get to know each other.”
Her third vision is for members of the denomination to let go of the past and embrace a future of being small.
“We are so afraid to die, we want to cling to our old life,” she said of how the memory of what the United Church used to be still hangs around.
“If we follow Jesus, who died and was resurrected to a new way of life, then we also need to die to our old way of being a church to see if we can be something new and part of something bigger,” she said.
Heath believes there is still a role for the United Church to play in Canada. “But I’m pretty positive it won’t be in the same way it was the past 100 years. But God can still use us, however God wants to use us. We need to be open to the new ways God is moving.”
That new reality will be hard for some to accept, she acknowledged. But she believes the denomination is up for the challenge.
“The United Church is nimble, always ready to try new things to follow the winds of God,” she said.
‘In this together’
One thing Heath has noticed in her years as a minister is that people engage with churches differently today than in the past.
Before, people used to visit Sunday services to learn more about a congregation. Now, many volunteer for a program of the church, like a foodbank or serving breakfast for homeless people, for months or longer before going to a service. And some never attend at all.
“We need to find different ways for people to connect with Jesus and with others,” she said.
She also is eager to pursue relations with other Christian denominations and faith groups.
One of her first meetings as moderator will be with Canada’s Catholic bishops. And she has already had conversations with Muslims in Brockville.
“We’re all in this together,” she said, of the role religion can play in Canadian society today.
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