There are not very many times in life where we can say we have seen a miracle. But I believe I was privileged to do so on my recent trip to Manitoba. For eight days in September, I had the wonderful honour to tour around the Synod of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario in the company of the synod regional staff person, Rev. Glenn Ball. But it was neither the abundant prairie harvest nor Glenn’s enthusiastic and endlessly optimistic spirit that made me believe I had seen a miracle. The miracle was about God doing something in that part of His vineyard that seemed altogether impossible only a few short months before. The Presbytery of Brandon, which consists of eight pastoral charges and five smaller congregations, found itself in September 2008 reduced to only one full-time and one half-time minister in active service.
I had the opportunity to chat with the above-mentioned half-time minister, Rev. Barb Alston, while I was attending the presbytery meeting. Barb shared with me her plan to write about this very dark period in the history of the presbytery. The words of the famous Presbyterian missionary to the Canadian west, James Robertson came to Barb’s mind as she contemplated her article. “God called and they came.” Robertson’s passionate call for young ministers in Scotland, in Eastern Canada and even in the U.S.A. to serve as missionaries on the western Canadian frontier was heeded by many, and hundreds of Presby-terian congregations were established across the West. But in 2008 Alston felt just the opposite was happening. She was ready to write her story and call it, “God called but no one came.” That was truly a very low point for the presbytery. But God was not finished with them.
When I visited one year later, I was witness to a miracle. During my visit two new ministers were inducted into the presbytery at Neepawa and Virden. Shortly before my visit, new ministers had been called to Flin Flon, to First, Brandon, and to Carberry. The miracle was not just that five new ministers had heard the call to ministry in the presbytery but also that they had done so from such a diverse and far-flung set of prior ministries. One new minister had come from Zaire, Africa, before studying at Presby-terian College, Montreal. Three were of Korean background. The fifth was a seasoned Central American mission-ary of the Presbyterian Church. It was as if God went out across the globe and hand-picked the exact people He wanted to serve Him in the Presbytery of Brandon! Truly when things are most impossible for us they are most possible for God. A presbytery almost ready to close its doors was alive again, reborn by the ever-living Spirit of the ever-living Lord of the Church. That is a miracle.
My Manitoba travels also exposed me to two other significant ministry stories. One was the story of the ministry being done by our Canadian Forces chaplains at both CFB Shilo and 17 Wing Winnipeg. At Shilo I met with chaplains intensely involved with 400 troops awaiting imminent deployment to Afghanistan. In Winnipeg I spent a day with Padre Ken McRae, a new Presbyterian chaplain who is holding the fort while another Presbyterian chaplain, Padre Bonnie Mason, is completing her own service in Kandahar.
For me it was also important to view the ministry of our church among the aboriginal peoples within the synod. I was pleased to hear of exciting plans at the Kenora Fellowship Centre for a new transition housing complex. And in Winnipeg I was deeply impressed by the work being done at WICM House of Hope to allow many aboriginal street people to make the transition to safe, affordable housing.
Blessings.
