Minister
The Reverend Michael D Burns began his ministry at Burns, Mosa on November 1, 2017. Previously, Mike served at Mount Forest/Conn and prior to that was a missionary of The Presbyterian Church in Canada for 3 years and served in Malawi, Africa where he served as associate minister to St James Presbyterian in Blantyre. In addition Mike worked in prison chaplaincy and helped run a weekly program for disabled children and their families.
Ministry is a second career and, after working for 16 years at the Toyota manufacturing plant in Cambridge, Mike graduated with his Master of Divinity from Knox College at the end of 2010. He has always believed in volunteering and the importance of working in the local community. Over the years Mike has been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, student exchange programs, The Literacy Group of Waterloo Region and Bereaved Families of Ontario.
Mike is the first fire chaplain for the Southwest Middlesex Fire Department and is available to the firefighters and their families as well as victims and witnesses. Previously he served as chaplain to the Wellington North Fire Service. He is also trained in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) and is on the SWM Fire CISM team as well as the Middlesex County CISM team.
Lifelong learning is also important–both formal and informal. Mike is currently enrolled part-time in the Master of Pastoral Studies program at Knox College and is specializing his studies in the area of trauma and ptsd. Upon completion he will be eligible to register with the College of Psychotherapists.
Mike has been married to Debbie since 1997. Debbie currently works for VON as a Coordinator of Volunteers and Client Services.