Rev. Dr. Stephen Farris, dean of St. Andrew’s Hall, has been named sole moderator nominee for the 140th General Assembly. He is expected to be installed when the assembly convenes on May 30.
Farris has spent 27 years as a professor of preaching, first at Knox College, Toronto, and then at the Vancouver School of Theology. He has written books and articles, served on national and international committees and ecumenical bodies including the executive committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (which became the World Communion of Reformed Churches), and is a former president of the International Academy of Homiletics.
In talking to the Record, Farris said that in this time of anxiety for many churches, the greatest strength is the presence of God.
“The Father, Creator, who creates and sustains all things, actually reaches into the life of humanity through something that seems as ordinary as a church,” he said. “The Son, who gave his life for us and who was raised to a life that death itself can never take away, is present to us. The Holy Spirit, who presided over creation and who spoke through the prophets and the apostles, speaks in the mouths of even very ordinary preachers and whispers into the ear of any potential member of the church who is listening. … We don’t celebrate enough the reality of what can and what does often happen in the church.”
The church is not meant to have a mission of its own, he said. It is meant to share in the mission of God.
“It’s sometimes said the heart of Christian ethics is be what you are. This is what you are: you are beloved children of the God who made and sustains the universe and reaches into every human life. … You are bought with the price of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are the one through whom the Holy Spirit actually works. And your whole church is the fellowship of believers who are the people of God. Now, act that way. Be what you are.”
