We welcome guest preacher, The Rev. Janet Gear. The first Sunday of February is observed as a time to focus on theological education, and the Cathedral continues to celebrate a close relationship with Vancouver School of Theology (VST) where Janet has served for 12 years as Assistant Professor of Public and Pastoral Leadership and Director of United Church Formation.

Janet Gear is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada. She preaches, teaches and leads retreats in BC and beyond. Janet has served local and national committees’ denominational and ecumenical committees for over 35 years, primarily in three areas: education for ministry and leadership, social justice and community organizing, and theology and faith. She is an Advisor to the Pacific Jubilee Program in Spiritual Direction.

In the tradition of Canadian critical theology and British practical theology, Janet’s work aims to encourage interdisciplinary commitment to the common good. Her teaching, which stresses the relationship between the spiritual and the ethical, was recognized in 2015 by the Davidson Trust Award for Excellence in Teaching.  More recently, she was awarded the McGeachy Senior Scholarship for her work on lived theologies within congregations, and will continue her research and writing in Cambridge later this year.

Janet attends St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church where her partner, Rev. Dan Chambers, is lead minister. She commutes to VST with their two young adult daughters, both undergraduates at UBC.