about rob (shorter bio)

I’m rob shearer, ec – a Jesus-follower who is (still) amazed by God’s grace.

By that grace I’ve worked in vocational Christian ministry, activism and music for over 30 years.

I’m partner to Rebekka and dad to twin teenagers who teach me so much about beauty, life, music, wonder, culture and hope. I co-parent my children with my wonderful ex-spouse and colleague Meagan, who remains a close friend.

I was ordained as Anglican clergy in 2016 (deacon) and 2018 (priest) and was admitted to the ministry of word and sacrament in The United Church of Canada in 2024. I view my ordination and admission as the culmination of experiencing a call to ministry at a Pentecostal camp meeting in my teens, subsequent deconstruction and reconstruction, and a couple of decades of lay ministry which then followed.

I’ve been blessed to sojourn in Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Church traditions, and I bring an ecumenical love for Jesus that is married to a passion for inclusion, anti-oppression, creation care, liberating tradition and connecting people to the transcendent, living Triune God through worship and praise.

These days, I describe myself as an ‘Anglican-leaning Methodist’ and I’m drawn to the witness, music and rich spirituality of the Wesleys.

As a pacifist and anti-fascist, I’m deeply influenced by the streams of radical Christianity including the Catholic Worker Movement, Christian Anarchism the Franciscans / Claires and the Anabaptists.

My full time paid gig is as Regional Minister for Church Planting with the Pacific Mountain Regional Council of The United Church of Canada where I have the joy of supporting over a dozen diverse new communities of faith. In that role I coordinated the Resurrect Learning Parties in 2018 and 2023 and I co-host the Vocare: Stories of Call podcast with Amy Haynes.

As a co-founder and member of the monastic-inspired intentional Christian Community The Emmaus Community in 2014, I root my life in the Way of Jesus with others, living our commitments to prayer, presence and simplicity within Emmaus’ monastic-inspired Rule of Life. The ‘ec’ you sometimes see after my name signifies that I’m a part of this community.

In 2015 I co-founded The AbbeyChurch – a Christ-centred, inclusive, sacramental community (United Church / Anglican Church) in Victoria, BC, and I continue to regularly preach, preside and play music there.

Since the 1990s, I’ve been involved in a number of direct actions of non-violent civil disobedience to oppose wars of aggression, oppression, colonialism and ecological destruction. 

From 2022 to 2024 I had the painful honour of being a regular attendee of ?aps ciik cha chim hiy ap – a monthly listening group of survivors and allies of the United Church-run Alberni Indian Residential ‘School’. The stories, resilience and witness of the survivors continues to shape my work to decolonize myself and the church.

I have a passion for decolonizing land by moving from private to shared ownership of land by engaging cooperative housing and land trust models to foster deeper community and affordability in the face of the ‘polycrisis’ we find ourselves in.

As a contemplative and as part of my Emmaus commitments, I make a yearly silent retreat at a monastery – my favourite being Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon – with their on-site brewery and library, of course. I also, in grace, take a weekly sabbath day, do monthly spiritual direction and pray morning prayer and compline from the daily office (with examen at times). I completed Annotation-19 of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in 2022.

I have a Master of Arts in Public and Pastoral Leadership from the Vancouver School of Theology and a Honours BA in Religious Studies and English Literature from the University of Toronto.

I’ve got a few longer writings on the go – one on faith deconstruction & reconstruction, one on ways of being in times of polycrisis and one on spiritual and religious trauma.

Growing up in southern Ontario (Burlington, ON), my consciousness was shaped by the contours of the Lake Ontario shoreline, where I engaged in writing (including creating a parallel fantasy world), playing alternative and electronic music – and loving rave culture and music. After my 20s and 30s in Toronto, I moved to Victoria, BC in 2012 and nearby Sooke, BC in 2024 – and am now shaped by the enchanting and immense rhythms of the Pacific Ocean.

I’m a descendent of (low) German immigrant Lutherans from what is now Ukraine (Lviv) – who converted to Pentecostalism as Manitoba farmers, from highland Scots from Dunnet, Caithness who immigrated to Canada in the 18th century and included numerous Presbyterian and UCC clergy in their ranks – and, of course, from Methodist United Empire Loyalists who lived near Brockville, ON.

---

Older Stuff

During my time as an Anglican, I co-chaired the Diocesan Vision Team for the Anglican Diocese of BC, travelling around Vancouver Island to ‘take the pulse’ and co-authoring (with the Rev. Anne Privett) the bold report adopted by Synod in 2014.

From my ordination in 2016 until 2020 I was the Bishop’s Advisor on Emerging Communities and worked for several years with diocesan staff and clergy on an innovative vision for team ministry which incorporated cooperative housing with a model to deploy clergy from a shared life of intentional Christian community going ‘from temple to table daily’.

Before moving to the west coast in 2012, I was a founding member of The Jeremiah Community, a missional / new monastic community in Toronto.

In 2011 I did a funky experiment call the (Dis)Robe experiment where I wore a monk’s robe for a few months and blogged about it.

I was National Youth Coordinator with Alongside Hope (then PWRDF) where I was part of a delegation to Mexico in 2007, and had the honour of meeting with Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, visiting autonomous Zapatista communities and visiting other partners across Mexico.

I directed the the Nidus Festival (short photo/video retrospective here) with the Canadian Council of Churches in 2006 which featured contributions from protestant, evangelical, orthodox and Roman Catholics and also Danielson, Starflyer, Steve Bell, Shad, Brian McLaren, Susan Aglukark, Shane Claiborne and many others.

From 2001-2006, I lived in Zacchaeus House, a Catholic Worker community House of Hospitality in Toronto. These 5 years continue to shape my life.

I served as music director and liturgist at the campus-based Wine Before Breakfast (Christian Reformed / Anglican) – an early morning eucharist – for several years in the first decade of the 2000s.

I was involved for over a decade at Parkdale Neighbourhood Church – a Baptist ‘street church’ in Toronto (now called “The Dale”) both as board chair and music leader. 

In 2001, shortly after 9/11 and in the midst of the HIV/AIDs crisis, I was invited to be part of and participated in the first student pan-African Consultation on LGBTQ2IA+ sexuality and HIV/AIDS with the World Student Christian Federation (Africa Region) in Togo, West Africa. I write about that experience here.

In 2000 and 2001 I organized Student Christian Movement Solidarity Summers experiments where a small group of youth / students lived off a piece of land and shared in spiritual practices in intentional community. I was part of SCM Canada through the 1990s including serving on their national board of directors.

I came out as bisexual and Christian in 1998 in the UofT campus paper the Varsity, prompting homophobic attacks against both myself and the SCM at UofT – an experience which drew me deeper into my faith in Jesus Christ, and almost lost me my first congregational job in a rural United Church.

I’ve co-led pilgrimages to the Taizé Community, the Greenbelt Festival, Methodist history sites, and the protests to close the School of the Americas (including visits to Catholic Worker and other Intentional Christian Communities), as well as a pilgrimage to explore the effects of globalisation in the early 2000s.

---

Fun!

I once co-owned an organic bakery.

I’ve written and made many kinds of music – electronic / ambient, worship / praise, alternative, folky and protest.

I love scavenging for vintage vinyl at thrift stores – especially for African-American gospel and 80’s alternative – although I’ve collected lots of kinds of music.

I unwind with hiking / walking, watching and reading Nordic Noir mysteries and watching standup comedy specials, brewing Trappist-inspired beer and cooking or baking.

I’ve walked the entire West Coast Trail, done 3 long bike trips (Toronto, ON to Winnipeg, MB, Quebec City to the Gaspé Peninsula and Niagara Falls to Concord, New Hampshire).

I’m an Enneagram 9.

---

Resume / CV

You can read and download my CV here.