Four ministers have been nominated for moderator of the church’s 137th General Assembly. Ballots were sent to presbyteries in December, and the votes will be tallied April 1. Assembly will begin June 5 in London, Ont.
Rev. Iona MacLean didn’t expect to find her calling among small congregations. As a minister’s daughter, she grew up in the bustle of Halifax. But after becoming the first woman ordained in the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces, she took her professionally-trained voice and love of worship to smaller churches, eventually following that calling to her current charge at First, Pictou, N.S., in 1992.
“I have an affinity for what small groups have accomplished, and how the Spirit can still move in us,” she said. “I think small is beautiful in many ways. But we need to encourage people to realize that it’s so because so often it’s the bottom line that’s really governing what’s done, rather than imagination.
“I think one of the things we’re really struggling with in the church is a lack of hope, which is related to a failure of generosity, and I think those affect us at all levels … If we’re discouraged and we see no way out, then there is no way out. But if we’re a people of hope and we trust that the future is in God’s hands, then that energizes us to do more than we can imagine.”
MacLean has served on numerous committees, including the International Affairs Committee where last year she completed a four-year stint as convener, and the 1997 Book of Praise task force. She has been moderator of three presbyteries and the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces, and served on the senate of Knox College, Toronto. She also loves singing with a local group, the PresbySingers, and participates in annual musical productions sponsored by the Pictou Rotary Club.
Rev. Dr. Rick Horst describes himself as a congregational pastor and a strategic planner. During 17 years in St. Mary’s, Ont., and six years in his current charge at St. Andrew’s, Barrie, Ont., he has worked to encourage revitalization and spiritual relationships. In particular, he draws from Kennon Callahan’s Twelve Keys to an Effective Church; Horst was a contributing editor to the 2010 edition of the book, and has led many congregational and presbytery workshops aimed at being more intentional in ministries.
“For me, congregations are the lifeblood of the church,” he said. “I see the church as strong, small congregations. We can emphasize doing better what we do best, and don’t have to try to do everything. Megachurches don’t speak to a lot of people. … It’s about relationship building and training people in congregations to do pastoral care for each other, day to day. That’s what I responded to more than 30 years ago when I felt God’s call to work in a congregation: to help people use their gifts intentionally and missionally. Not for survival, but for mission beyond themselves. To be relational with people. That’s fundamental to me.”
Horst has served on numerous committees including Assembly Council, the restructuring team in charge of the 1991 and 1992 reorganization of national offices, and the Canada Ministries advisory team. He is currently vice-chairman of the board of Barrie’s Royal Victoria Hospital, and a chaplain to two veteran’s associations. He is also an unabashed fan of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and one of the PCC’s few motorcycle-riding ministers.
Rev. Thomas Kay may have been born and educated in Scotland, but he has ministered exclusively in Canada. Following some successful appointments in northern Ontario during his student days at the University of St. Andrew’s, he was invited to return after graduation. Kay was ordained on Prince Edward Island, and has since served charges in P.E.I., Dartmouth, N.S., Leamington, Toronto, and Guelph, Ont. He currently ministers at MacNab Street, Hamilton, Ont. He was also nominated for moderator in 2008.
“I’ve always been passionate about educational ministries at all levels, but I find I’m more and more concerned with – and focused on – the local congregation as the bedrock of the church, and with the building up and the vitality of local congregations where mission and ministry happen,” he said. “I really think we have to rethink how we do church as a national church and what the national church exists for … If we could have a national conversation and a lot of local conversations that would be a major step forward in helping us figure out our future.”
Kay has been clerk for two presbyteries and moderator of four, has served on the fund for ministerial assistance and theological education committees, and four times on the General Assembly’s committee on business. He has also been involved in church and community activities everywhere he has lived, the most recent of which is Hamilton’s Out of the Cold program, which is hosted by his church twice a week during the winter.
Rev. Dr. Glynis Williams was a trained nurse pursuing a theological education when God pushed her into new territory. In 1984, the palliative care nurse volunteered for a six-month stint working in pediatrics with a church partner in Nicaragua. The experience exposed her to the plight of refugees and changed the course of her life. In 1989 she was ordained to a position working with refugees, and she has served as executive director of Action Réfugiés Montreal, an ecumenical ministry with the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, since its founding in 1994.
“I have a passion for where the church engages and addresses the suffering in our world, and how we find Christ in that,” she said. “It’s about the human condition and what it means to be human, and how God lives within that and how we, as people, live within that. I find it’s about finding hope and giving hope.”
When asked about the church’s future, Williams repeated Jesus’ words: “‘Fear not, for I am with you.’ … The church has always survived and it has always changed. I don’t know what the church will be in the future. It doesn’t make sense to be anxious about it – but to be what the church should be.”
Williams co-authored two 2010 study guides: Staying Rooted in an Uprooted World and Welcoming Refugee Friends to Canada. She has served as interim moderator at several charges, was a member and chair of the Presbyterian World Service and Development committee during the 1990s, and worked for two years as part-time refugee coordinator for PWS&D. She also spent the spring of 2007 in Syria working with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. She attends St. Columba by the Lake, Pointe Claire.
