Moderator

The United Church of Canada's 38th Moderator is the Rev. Peter Short of Fredericton, New Brunswick. The United Church has taken Peter to distant and diverse parts of the country during 25 years of ministry. He has served on the Gaspé Coast, the Northwest Territories, the city of Montreal, and Fredericton, New Brunswick. Working mostly in congregations that are in the linguistic or cultural minority has given Peter prolonged exposure to perspectives other than his own.

Profile

Encourage and be encouraged.

That is the message that the Right Reverend Peter Short will bring to the United Church as he serves his three-year term as Moderator of The United Church of Canada.

"Encouraging people is important to me. Courage is one virtue that makes all the others possible," says Short.

"I care about congregational life—that's what I've done all my life. So my job, as I see it, is to encourage the folks—to be a spiritual leader who helps us to remember who we are—and whose we are," explains Short.

Elected in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, at the meeting of the 38th General Council, in August 2003, Short will serve as Moderator until August 2006.

He sees his election as a call to serve the church. "The office belongs to the church, the church belongs to the Gospel, and the Gospel belongs to God."

"Our identity as The United Church of Canada is not in our denomination, and has never been in our denomination. Our identity is in following Jesus Christ and crossing boundaries that divide people, that alienate people and that condemn people, until we stand on common ground and there is a place at the table for all."

Short says that one of the things he'd like to do during his term as Moderator is to "recapture the language of faith."

"It's important to me to recover the evangelical language," he says. "It's our language too. It's good and strong, people know it and it touches us all in places where we need rejuvenation."

For Short, victory is a word of encouragement.

" We need to be able to talk about victory without assuming we are talking about winning. We need to know that we belong to the victory of Christ. The victory doesn't belong to us. But we can belong to a victory. The victory is a gift of the grace of God," says Short.

During his term as Moderator, Short also wants to help the United Church hold on to its tradition.

He sees tradition as a good thing when it not only honours the past, but looks to the future.

"In tradition, we extend the franchise. We widen the circle. Today we use the word inclusivity to talk about that," says Short. "We are a people of our tradition. It makes us strong. It makes us wise."

He adds that as Moderator he would like to "turn on the lights of our mission work, the critical work for justice, peace and reconciliation".

" We have a long way to go. But Christ's resurrection calls for ours. The United Church of Canada is rising to a hard day's work," says Short. "In solidarity with all who yearn for the justice and peace of a better world, we dare not turn from the task until our work is done."

Born in Kingston, Ontario, July 22, 1948, Short grew up in the village of Braeside on the Ottawa River. He graduated from Toronto's Emmanuel College and was ordained by Maritime Conference in 1978. During his 25 years of ministry, Short has served congregations on the Gaspe Coast, the Northwest Territories, the suburbs of Montreal and most recently in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Describing himself as "a recovering introvert", Short enjoys canoe tripping and likes to bake his own bread, build canoes and play the guitar. He is married to Susan (Crawford), a teacher, Christian Educator, homemaker and volunteer. Much of their life in 29 years together has revolved around the raising of four children, Robert, Emily Christine and Greg, ages 17-25.

Throughout his ministry, Short has also served in a variety of volunteer positions at all levels of the church, including being a member of the Executive of the Department of Stewardship Services (1993-1998), the chair of the Moderator's Advisory Committee for the Very Reverend Bill Phipps (1997-2000) and as the chair of the Business Committee of the Executive of General Council (2000-2002). His experience includes working and learning from First Nations people, and serving as civilian chaplain to the Department of National Defence, Northern Region Headquarters.

Further Reading

News From the 38th General Council

• Rev. Peter Short new Moderator, by John Asling
• A Short Interview with the Moderator-elect, by Jim Cairney
• New Moderator, General Secretary Installed, by Jim Cairney

Moderator's Messages by Peter Short

Full list of Peter's Moderator Messages »