[1] During this time, Kaan served as chairman of the Council for World Mission, an offshoot of the overseas missionary work of the British Congregational churches.

[1][2][3] The nomadic life-style did not suit Kaan, however, and, wanting to be closer to people, he became Moderator of the West Midlands province of the United Reformed Church (URC), a post he held for seven years.

[1] Kaan's formal ministry ended in 1989, but he continued work with a four-year term as honorary secretary of the Churches' Human Rights Forum in Britain and Ireland.

[1][2] Kaan managed a significant literary productivity despite his pastoral commitments: including six collections of hymns, with translations into over fifteen languages.

He was made a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 2001, and in 2002 was awarded the Chancellor's gold medal by the Potchefstroom University in South Africa.

[2] In 1954, Kaan married Elisabeth ("Elly") Steller, a daughter of German and Dutch missionary parents in Indonesia, and had three children, Martin, Peter and Alison.