Home->Ed Searcy
Ed Searcy was called to University Hill Congregation as its Congregational Minister in 1995. Ordained by the British Columbia Conference of the United Church of Canada in 1980 Ed has previously served pastoral charges in Minnedosa-Rapid City, Manitoba as well as in Crescent Beach and Richmond, British Columbia.
Ed received the Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of BC, the Master of Divinity from the Vancouver School of Theology and the Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. The first year of his Masters studies were spent at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.
As a pastor Ed's particular calling is to aid in the recovery of the distinctive features of Christian identity in the church. He notices that the mainline church suffers from communal amnesia that regularly leads to anxiety and despair, draining energy and nerve. Ed's passion is to assist in the cultivation of a hospitable, courageous and compassionate congregation that is unashamed in its love of the gospel and of the God who, in Jesus, has called it into existence.
Ed has written for United Church periodicals such as Touchstone, Gathering and The Observer as well as for Word & World, the Gospel and Our Culture Network and the Journal for Preachers. He has contributed to "The Life with God Study Bible" (the introduction to, and notes for, 'Ezekiel'), "The New Interpreter's Handbook of Preaching" (an article titled 'Shaping Congregational Identity') and "Feasting on the Word" (a homiletical perspective on three texts from 'Ephesians' in year B of the lectionary). Ed is the editor of "Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann" (Fortress Press, 2003).
University Hill Congregation has compiled Ed's series of articles from Gathering into a booklet that describes the ways that we mark time through the Christian Year. Copies of "Sanctifying Time" are available from our office.University Hill Congregation commissions Ed to speak beyond the congregation. He has been the theme speaker at annual conference meetings of the United Church in Alberta & Northwest Conference, Maritime Conference & BC Conference as well as at national and local conferences on worship and congregational renewal.
Married, father of four grown children and grand-father of two grandchildren, Ed enjoys walks with his standard poodle as well as runs along the beach and into the forest near his home in Crescent Beach, BC.