He doesn’t take office until January 1, but Rev. Éric Hébert-Daly is busy getting up to speed on his new role as general secretary of the United Church of Canada. He was confirmed at a General Council Executive meeting in September, following a seven-month search to replace the retiring Rev. Michael Blair. Broadview editor Janice Young caught up with Hébert-Daly over Zoom while he was at a Montreal train station between meetings.

Janice Young: Why did you want this job?

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Rev. Éric Hébert-Daly: I’m really enthusiastic about the different ways we can break out of our well-worn paths. I started to imagine what that could look like on a national scale and how I could hopefully bring a little bit of optimism and enthusiasm to the church over the next little while. For me, it comes from that natural place of where I think God is calling us.

JY: What is your vision for the church?

EHD: I see around me, and polls consistently show, that there is a deep spiritual hunger and an appetite for connecting to something bigger than ourselves. And here we are, in a place that talks about deep stuff and is all about community, yet we’re not meeting that need somehow. I’d love to see a church that’s maybe a little smaller, but is known nationally — even by those who don’t come to church — as the place you go for deep spiritual experience, deeper conversation and community. Wouldn’t it be great if that were our reputation?

JY: Before becoming a minister, you worked in political and nonprofit leadership. What lessons and skills from that career might help you lead the church as general secretary?

EHD: When I was working in politics, I was the national director of the NDP under Jack Layton, and when Jack was first elected, everyone had ruled out the NDP as a spent force. Jack sort of said, “Let’s not get hung up on what used to be or what was. Let’s start to imagine where we go from here.” Because he was an avid runner, he would always say, “When you’re in a race, you don’t look back; you look forward. You look to where you’re going.” Those........

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