The REV. DR. RANDY NAYLOR:
Randy Naylor has been our Minister since October 1st, 2010 and is enthusiastic about serving this culturally diverse and dynamic congregation.
Randy grew up in Alberta, attended the University of Alberta and St. Stephen’s Theological College. While at St. Stephen’s he married Loreen—and they remain married 41 years later.
Randy and Loreen have two children: Christopher, who lives with his wife Jenny in Barrie; and, Robyn, who lives in Toronto. Chris owns a retail store in Barrie, and Robyn is a communication consultant for the Ontario Provincial Civil Servants Pension Fund.
Randy served two congregations in Alberta before he, Loreen and their two children served as missionaries in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
After returning from Africa, Randy served as Conference Staff person for the Alberta Conference of the United Church, with responsibilities for Evangelism, Stewardship and Communication.
He was asked to become head of communication for the United Church in 1980 and this saw the family relocate to Toronto, where Loreen opened a consulting business in human resources, and where the children completed their public school and university studies.
Randy was still serving as head of communication for the United Church, when the Church’s General Secretary died. Randy was appointed to serve as acting General Secretary for a year while the United Church found a new General Secretary.
Once the children had left home, Randy accepted an appointment to serve as head of communication for the National Council of Churches of the USA in New York city. The United Church was a member of the NCC’s Communication Commission at the time.
For the last 9 years he has served as General Secretary (c.e.o.) of the World Association for Christian Communication. In 2006 the offices for WACC were moved from London, England to Toronto. The United Church is a founding member of WACC.
All of Randy’s work has been undertaken with the approval of his presbytery and the United Church —thus he has remained a minister in good standing and served as a United Church minister in all of the above ministries.
Randy and Loreen have been active members of several congregations in Toronto while Randy served in these administrative ministries. Loreen has served on numerous congregational committees and currently serves as the Chair of the united Church Moderator’s Advisory Committee and is well known in General Council circles for that and other volunteer work.
The Naylor’s have a home a 5 minute walk from Fairview Mall and have lived there for 28 years. Over the years they have been privileged to host several Bassett Hounds in their home—although at the moment they are Bassett-less.
