Rev. Gerry Gallant
By Desmond Devoy Reporter
Fri., Feb. 25, 2022
Rev. Gerry Gallant, in his baptism robes, stands at the pulpit of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Perth on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Rev. Gerald Gallant’s second act in life was long predicted.
And he took up the reins of his first church just last year, on Sept. 1 — though he has yet to meet the entire congregation.
“COVID has kept people away from things that they love to do,” he said, during an interview in his office at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Perth on Thursday, Feb. 17. “This is my first call.”
He reached out to the church last March and was hired in July, but not before going through an audition of sorts. It being the pandemic though, it looked different than it otherwise might. Because of crowd size limits, he had to preach eight services over the course of two days.
“I preached a lot. It was a blur,” he recalled. “It was the only way to get through it.”
Even now, after nearly six months on the job, including the busy Christmas period, the “church is great. I haven’t seen much of the community yet because of COVID.”
Calling himself an older pastor who is fresh to his duties, he said, “I have a little bit better understanding of what it is to wrestle with things … pastors wrestle too. We are not perfect. We are human.”
While Gallant may not have had a Road to Damascus conversion, he did know that religion, what it meant to him, and what he believed about his Christian faith, were important, at an early age. He admits that, “when I was really, really young, I wanted to be a priest.”
He was raised Roman Catholic, and in Grade 8 was supposed to go through the sacrament of confirmation.
“I refused to confirm,” he recalled. He had already read the Bible and had trouble reconciling Catholic doctrine with what he read. “I saw a lot of hypocrisy in my youth in the church … I dropped Catholicism.”
It was later at an evangelical church where the pastor and he connected and he felt at home.
“It was everything I knew about the Bible,” he said.
The pastor told him: “You should go into ministry.”
His answer was always the same: “No, no, not going to happen.”
NEW CALLING
After returning from teaching English in South Korea, he got a job with Apple.
In time, he left the tech world and worked for his father for a year.
“I took a whole year and prayed a lot,” he said. Eventually, he realized: “It is time.”
He began attending Knox College at the University of Toronto where he studied Christian counselling and ministry.
But like many professions, it is not what outsiders think it is.
“Ministry is more than just getting up on Sunday and preaching,” he said.
He estimates that he works about 65 hours a week, which can include writing, reading, preaching, teaching courses, as well as officiating weddings, funerals and baptisms.
He and his wife — whom he met in South Korea — have been married 19 years. The couple have two children — a son, who is in Grade 12 at Perth and District Collegiate Institute and a daughter in Grade 7.
SIN
“The church needs to talk about sin more,” he said. “The church is full of broken people,” he said, his own church no exception. “Anyone who walks through our doors is welcome,” he stressed. “We are a very biblical church. You may not agree with what we teach, but you are welcome.”
With everything that is going on, from the trucker protests to pandemic mandates, which other churches have taken firm stands on, Gallant is adamant that “I will never talk about politics from the pulpit.” He added that “being a pastor in the modern world is not easy.”
His contact information is: cell # 519-851-3274
Email: gteacher@gmail.com
or use this link: https://forms.gle/ewttfaSJGKZGV7bq7
Sunday Traditional Worship Service at 10:30 am
“Come as You Are” Casual Interactive Service at 1:00 pm
1 Drummond St. West, Perth ON K7H 3E3 – 613-267-2481
standrewsperth@gmail.com