Throughout the 2011 General Assembly, one word seemed to emerge over and over again: Vision. The Record asked the nominees for moderator of the 2012 assembly to introduce themselves and reflect on their visions for the future of the church…
Few nominees for moderator call attention to their age, but in the extended biography he prepared for his nomination, Rev. John Borthwick proudly declared: “I’m average.” At 39, his age is the national median age of Canadians. And with a love of social media, he has not hesitated to use the internet to get people talking.
As minister at St. Andrew’s, Guelph, Ont., since 2003, Borthwick has been active in the community. He organized the region’s first multi – faith Habitat for Humanity building project and chaired the inaugural Habitat celebration dinner that brought together 300 people and raised $30,000. In 2008, he was awarded Guelph Mercury’s “under 40” award for his work. At present, he serves as moderator of the Presbytery of Waterloo – Wellington.
Tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you come to follow a call to ministry? What has kept you going?
Whenever I’ve been asked about my call to ministry, I always say that it was my parents’ call to ministry and I made it mine when I finally got there. I fought against the idea of becoming a minister for many years even though my gifts were affirmed by my home congregation and my family. Their support and encouragement finally got me to Knox College [in Toronto] where I would say I felt at home within the first week and I haven’t turned my back on it since.
However, it has been an incredible act of will to stay in ministry. It is a challenging call to sustain. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and am incredibly honoured to be a part of people’s lives in the way that ministry allows, but ordained ministry is hard work. Family and friends have definitely helped to keep me going. A certificate in conflict mediation didn’t hurt. And a good sense of humour, a willingness to laugh at myself and life in general, and a harnessed ego have contributed to sustaining my 14 years of ministry.
What would you say your passion is when it comes to the church and/or faith?
I love igniting a passion for the Bible in the hearts and minds of people. Our future as a church will be equipping people to be the custodians of our sacred text. Developing a relationship with the Bible is exciting and life giving. I’m happiest when I’m talking about some passage of scripture with another person or in a group setting, or preaching on Sunday morning. I love to hear how someone else ‘hears’ the ‘living word’ in their own lives. I can’t wait for Sunday or my Thursday morning group when I get to share some gem I discovered the week before.
Some moderators like to choose a particular theme or issue to focus on during their year in the position. Have you thought about something like that? If so, what, and why is this important to you?
I would like to see moderators picking up on themes that come out of the church itself or perhaps a previous General Assembly (like your next question points out). So I would suggest that my theme would be to invite the church to a time of listening and meaningful conversation about our future. I would like to spend the majority of my year gathering regional bodies (presbyteries, synods) as well as individual congregations or a number of congregations in close proximity to each other to dialogue about the future of the church and their churches, and imagine new ways and rediscover ancient ways of being church and being congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. At the end of my year, I would present a “State of the PCC Address” through social media (perhaps with some help from the Record). I think that the work of Mission:Possible would be a good tie in to this overall conversation.
At the 2011 General Assembly, there was a lot of talk about vision and the future of the church. What would you say is your vision for the future?
I believe that as leaders in the church we are called to stand for creating, maintaining and protecting a spirit of openness. People need a safe place to share their thoughts, express their doubts and ask their questions about God, faith and life. If we want to encourage ‘the future’ of the church (our young people and young adults—really anyone 50 and under), they need a place to express themselves freely without judgment and criticism. I think that is ‘a hill worth dying on.’
We need to be open to experimentation, encourage creativity and accept cheerfully different ways of doing things. And I say, that in my experience, this isn’t only for the ‘young’ but for people of all ages. My experience with many of ‘the older generation’ is that they need a safe place, too. The wisdom of their long life has left them with many questions and doubts. And my experience is that many of them are more than willing to make room for innovation and ‘new shoots’ from rich soil.
Our future will depend on how open we are to new ways of doing things; new and different expressions of being church. Our future will need to embrace some experimentation… that may fail. And our future will depend on how malleable our well – defined ‘church – shaped’ boxes are.
And the good news is that the future belongs to God in Christ, not you and I… thank God! We are called to be followers of him and to be ready to midwife whatever it is that God has in store for Christ’s body in this world.
What do you see as the greatest challenges facing the church today?
1. Collective Anxiety – I occasionally see people in the church (ministers, leaders, and folks in the pews) acting like cornered, injured raccoons. They are hurting and lamenting what they have ‘lost’ in the institution as well as dealing with their own stuff in their personal lives. The church is a ‘safe place’ to lash out—and in their anxiety and pain they do, damaging and wounding our lay leaders and ministers and making the church as a whole an uncomfortable place to find that quiet place with God.
2. Idolatry – of buildings, of processes, of the PCC way of doing things. This limits our creativity and imagination. And thus, keeps the dreamers and visionaries quiet or out of the PCC.
3. Theological polarization – If our leaders find it difficult to work together based on theological differences, then how can we expect our churches to be functional? Many of our conflicts come from misinterpreting/misunderstanding our theological language—I’d call it a language barrier.
John Borthwick hasn’t been shy to make his nomination for a moderator a subject of discussion on the internet. He has created a blog, a Facebook page and makes use of Twitter.
