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…
Vissers’s name is well known to many in the Presbyterian Church. He is principal of the Presbyterian College and adjunct professor of Christian Theology at McGill University in Montreal, director of the Montreal School of Theology, a member of the committee on church doctrine and the author of three books. He has served on several committees, and has been a visiting scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary and a visiting lecturer at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies in Bangalore, India.
Tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you come to follow a call to ministry? What has kept you going?
I was raised in the church and came to a personal living faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord as a teenager. Youth ministry and church camping played an important role in my faith formation and in my call to ministry. What has kept me going is a desire to know God, nourished by the ordinary means of grace—scripture, prayer, and the Lord’s Supper. Family and friendship have also been really important. For example, twice each year I attend a 48 – hour retreat with six friends who meet together at a cottage in the Muskokas to pray, talk, laugh, eat, drink, read scripture, and share the Lord’s Supper. We’re all in positions of Christian leadership and it’s been an oasis of spiritual renewal.
What would you say your passion is when it comes to the church and/or faith?
I’m told that Presbyterians are not known for their passion, but if you ask my students that question I hope they would say that I try to communicate a passion for the truth and transforming power of the gospel. Thinking about God, God’s work in the world, God’s concern for the suffering and the marginalized and those without faith and hope—this is worth getting up for every morning.
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’m not sure a moderator needs to have a particular theme or issue to focus on during a moderatorial year. Certainly many have made a wonderful contribution by doing so. But I would just continue to emphasize the things that have been important in my ministry as a pastor and teacher through the years: biblical preaching, spiritual renewal, missional leadership, Reformed theology, and the importance of theological education.
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 think that a lot of the talk about the vision and future of the church is driven by anxiety around our institutional survival. Rather than thinking about a vision for the institutional church, I think it’s better to think about the mission of God in our world. As followers of Jesus, we believe that the church belongs to the triune God, not us. One theologian puts it this way: The church of God does not have a mission; the God of mission has a church. It is our privilege to participate in what Christ is doing in the world. So for me, that’s what ministry, mission, and vision for the future are about. What does it mean to bear faithful and effective witness to Christ, in word and deed, in our time? What is God calling the church to be and to do in our context? What is our particular role in God’s mission in Canada?
What do you see as the greatest challenges facing the church today?
There are no doubt lots of challenges facing the church today, from within and without. We’re all struggling with the reality of what Charles Taylor calls a secular age. Everyone talks about the postmodern and post – Christendom society in which we now live. And according to recent polls in Canada, the credibility of the church and its leadership is at an all time low. But every challenge is an opportunity. And I still believe that local congregations of God’s people, struggling to be faithful in worship and witness, led by thoughtful and well – trained pastors, are the building blocks of God’s reign in the world.
