Rev. Michael Blair has decided to retire from his position as The United Church of Canada’s top administrator, he told the General Council Executive through acting general secretary Rev. Cheryl-Ann Stadelbauer-Sampa at its February meeting. The decision comes because of his age, he said — he turns 70 in July. “Due to my age, [I] feel like it is important at this critical time in the life of the church to have a leader who is able to be in for some time,” he told Broadview over email.
In May, the selection committee was struck, and at that time Blair told Broadview the goal was to have his replacement installed before February 28, 2027. In early June, the general secretary job ad was posted, with the United Church then saying Blair would be retiring this fall.
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Blair became general secretary in fall 2020 at a time of unprecedented instability in the church — the pandemic was in full swing, and the denomination was still adjusting to its new three-court structure. He oversaw the United Church’s strategic plan, which included an ambitious initial goal of creating 100 new communities of faith. As part of the strategic plan, the denomination invested in a whole new growth team. Since then, the United Church has seen some real success with its outreach to Canadian newcomers from similar denominations and is working with these “church plants” to see if they’d like to become formal communities of faith.
The strategic plan also paved the way for a new 10-year direction, called Toward 2035. Launched last year, the initiative aims to interrupt the denomination’s current trajectory of decline.
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Blair helped deliver the denomination’s historic apology to 2SLGBTQ+ communities at General Council 45 last summer and presided over the decision to share office space with the Anglican and Presbyterian churches at a new location in downtown Toronto — a big step for ecumenism, until the Anglicans pulled out of the lease late last year.
“Michael is an ecumenist at heart, and his commitment to work in partnership with others has shaped his time as general secretary and is a modern expression of the impetus that formed this denomination,” Stadelbauer-Sampa, who served as senior governance support lead in the General Council office before Blair’s sabbatical, told Broadview over email.
“His leadership has been a blessing for the church, leading us from our first century into our second. May he be blessed as he moves from serving as general secretary into a well-deserved retirement,” she said.
Blair has worked at the General Council office since 2008, first as executive minister for ethnic ministries and then for the Church in Mission unit.
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Emma Prestwich is the digital editor at Broadview.
This story has been updated since it appeared in the May/June 2026 issue of Broadview to include details on the job search. It was originally published under the title “United Church general secretary Michael Blair to Retire; Date Unknown.”
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