A message from Pastors’ Retreat speaker Richard Topping.

O God, grant us a tenacious winsome courage today. When we are tempted to give up, help us to keep going. When we are tempted to be blind, help us to see. When we are tempted to be angry, help us to love. Grant us a cheerful spirit when things don’t go our way. And give us your Spirit so that our lives witness to your love and mercy for this world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Andrew first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found Messiah.” He brought Simon to Jesus.

A past moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Marg Carpenter, who spent most of her life promoting mission, said this: “I’ll say it one more time: the church is alive and well in the world. I’m tired of hearing anything else. I love mission, I love the church, I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and I love you Presbyterians, well most of you.

“I’ll tell you what,” she said, “we could do great things together in this denomination if we could get back to basics.”

Mission is what the church is and does as it is caught up in the movement of the triune God toward and for the world. Mission’s always been our M.O. in the world. Mission is just the church becoming and being what it is. Bonhoeffer said, “The Church is the Church only when it exists for others . . . not dominating; but helping and serving. It must tell people of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.”

Post-Christendom church in a secular society needs repair around mission. It has always been who we are and what we’re here for as church. It is just we got lulled into thinking that staying open, teaching good manners and helping people assimilate to western values was often all we needed to do when we were at the cultural levers. Now that we have all become missionaries to a culture we thought we owned, we need to sand blast the grime of colonizing pretension and therapeutic niceness off the façade of the building.

Put another way, we might say the church needs reform around mission. Once more, we listen seriously to Jesus’ words — like the ones at the end of John’s gospel — “as the Father has sent me, so send I you . . .” and then Jesus animates mission with the breath of the Holy Spirit. And disciples (students) graduate to become apostles (sent ones) with a message of new life and reconciliation.

And so today at a church named after this missionary apostle, Andrew, it seems fitting to learn mission from Andrew. From the start of the gospel of John, Jesus incites Andrew to mission.

Zoom meetings and church services remind me of a commercial from years ago. You can still find it on You Tube. The commercial begins with a single woman lauding the excellence of Faberge Organic Shampoo with pure wheat germ oil and honey. She loves it so much she says, “and I told two friends.”

Faces and voices multiply inside boxes as a growing chorus of diverse people checkerboard the screen repeating the chorus, “and so on and so on.” And to think this early Zoom meeting started with one person. One person with some good news, about Faberge Organic Shampoo with pure wheat germ oil and honey spoke up, and the next thing you know through the miracle of exponential marketing, lots and lots of people now enjoy “super body, super shine and super smelling fresh hair.”

This commercial came to mind this week, as I was reading our lesson. Andrew and Philip each met Jesus stay for a while with him and then get all evangelical — a brother and a friend get pulled into the Jesus movement by the patience and persistent witness of these first disciples.

Today, we learn mission, especially, even dare I say it, “evangelism,” from St. Andrew in particular. Let’s suppose that what he does, as a new but faithful disciple of Jesus, is what we are also called to do as faithful baptized Christians. St. Andrew, the saint after whom your church is named, traces out a pattern of life that invites our imitation.

Andrew, before he was a saint, back when he was just plain old Andy; he was a follower of John the Baptist. And John’s job was to point toward Jesus. So when Jesus arrived on the scene, John says to Andrew and an unnamed friend, “behold the lamb of God” — the two of them somehow know that this is code for: “follow him now, he’s the one you want to be with.” Andrew and his friend start following Jesus. It’s all so cryptic. Without any formal introduction; rumour and hearsay, trust of a friend and vague words, they start walking behind Jesus, stalking him. Andrew and his nameless shadow friend.

That’s when Jesus turns around and asks them a question: “what are you looking for?” That’s the first thing Jesus says in this Gospel: “what are you looking for?” And the two used to-be-disciples of John the Baptist answer Jesus’ question with a question: “where are you staying?” Jesus answers their questioning answer with: “Come and See.” It seems that what these two disciples looked for was a place to stay — they were looking to “stay” with Jesus. And our Gospel repeats this word three times: and they saw where he was “staying” and they “stayed” with him. What is this Motel Super 8 or Hilton obsession.

There is more than meets the eye in this word: “stayed.” It means to remain, abide, to dwell. These two disciples really want to dwell with Jesus, where he goes and sets up shop is where they want to go. Stay has the sense of putting in time at a place, of a non-recreational interest. This is not weekend camping or seasonal residence staying; but finding a home and making it your own. This isn’t hedging your bets, let’s check this out for a while, non-committal, interest. This is put down roots, sign me up curiosity.

In the 15th chapter of John, Jesus invites his followers: “abide in me and you will bear much fruit.” ‘Stick and stay with me, and your life with blossom with a rich harvest of goodness and beauty.” It’s the same word: meno. The variety of translations — remain, abide, stay, dwell, make a home — make us miss the repetition. Andrew and the unnamed disciple are all in — they push all the chips to the centre of the table, they get up close and personal with Jesus so that Jesus’ life will leave a deep impression on their own lives. They stay with him.

I sometimes wonder in our own time — when at Amazon you can find an idiot’s guide to almost anything — whether we’ve got the patience to stay with Jesus. In our user friendly, mastery-oriented, drive through world, where we want everything quickly and immediately, staying with Jesus — abiding and listening and lingering with his words to us, takes time.

Could it be that sometimes I don’t get to telling anyone else about Jesus, because I haven’t lingered with him to experience death and new life. Without that slaying and rising with him, even if I did go and tell it could be non-sense, colonial impress, my translation of the Gospel —which is often code for exporting status quo privilege or what sells in with the secular — Jesus made in my image.

No, Andrew teaches us, we can’t graduate to the outreach department without first spending some time in the kind of deep Christian formation that could kill you in order to raise you.

In his beautiful little book, The Love that is God, Fritz Bauerschmidt puts it this way: “The kiss that the church exchanges with God in the daily routine of prayer and service can at any moment pass beyond ritual and turn, as Dorothy Day puts it, ‘to rapture, a burning fire of tenderness and love [for the world].’ ” 115. Go deep with God — in dying and rising with Christ — and you go wide with the world.

Andrew and his unnamed friend, said, “we want to go where you’re staying.” And they took the time to let the person of Jesus shape their lives.

They started following a Rabbi, and in the depths of staying with him, understanding blows open, confession goes large. He is “Messiah.” “We have found the one about whom Moses and the prophets wrote.” You are “the Son of God,” “the King of Israel.” Stay with Jesus and grow theo/logical, doxo/logical. Lingering in the depths of communion with Jesus is where mission is born.

Jonathan Edwards, an American theologian who lived during the times of the great religious revivals that swept the United States in the mid 18th century, wrote a wonderful treatise. The short title is: A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. In the book, Edwards chastises people who say that God touched their lives, but then get all fervent and fluent about themselves. He notes how easy it is to get self-centred, talking about me and my religious experience, a sort of spiritual narcissism.

Edwards says that a sign of true conversation is that our affections get turned away from me, myself and I, and turned toward God in holiness and toward others with gentleness. How do you know someone has been touched by God, that someone has stayed with Jesus? Well, they get all eccentric – moved toward God and other people.

Look at what happens to Andrew in our lesson. He stays on with Jesus, learning and listening, maybe asking questions, and after he’s stayed a while, he thinks of his brother, Simon. Spend enough time with Jesus and suddenly wonder, “what about those I love?” Who Jesus is — he is for the people I know and love. And for those whose religious affections get shaped by encounters with Jesus, they’ve got to go, got to get to people who might know and believe and have life in Jesus’ name. Think “burning fire of tenderness and love [for the world].”

D. Bonhoeffer, at the illegal seminary of the confessing church at Finkenwalde in the years after 1935, had a creative pedagogy for students. He would send them out to meditate on passages from scripture for part of a day. At the end of the day, they would share what spoke to them. One student reported that he was tempted (by the devil) with thoughts of others while he trying to mediate on scripture.

Bonhoeffer said, “that’s not the devil; that’s the Holy Spirit. Other people should come to mind when you read scripture, now go back and meditate and take those people with you.”

Andrew features in three episodes in John’s Gospel, and every time does the same thing. Andrew has one card and he plays it all the time. He never says much to the people he meets. He isn’t the impulsive sort. He doesn’t visit with anyone too long. His friends drag him into doubt. He lives in the shadow of his loquacious brother.

But Andrew can introduce.

“When in doubt, introduce;” that’s the maxim he lives by. It’s as if he knows himself well enough to know that what people need, he doesn’t have. He finds people, people find him, and he takes them to meet Jesus. Do you remember who brought the boy with the loaves and fishes to Jesus in John chapter 6? Andrew did. When in doubt, don’t complain about what you don’t have, just bring what you do have to Jesus. Again, in chapter 12 of John, some Greeks say to Jesus’ disciples, “we want to see Jesus.” And who should take them to Jesus. Well, you guessed it, Andrew again. Andrew is the patron saint of evangelical networking.

Andrew meets Jesus, the Lamb of God, stays with him, and then he high-tails it home. Like lingering stokes commissioning. The encounter gives him news, good news, for his talkative brother, Peter. “I have found Messiah” and he escorts Peter into the presence of Jesus. Andrew’s gets it: Jesus is no one’s private possession. Jesus is God’s gift to the world: he is the light that enlightens everyone and all who believe in him become God’s children. Introducing Andrew introduces his brother to Jesus. That’s low key, small ‘e’ evangelism. That’s all it is: introducing those you know and love to the one who knows and loves them, Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, can I tie up one loose end? Way back at the beginning of our lesson, John the Baptist points two disciples in the direction of Jesus, one was Andrew, we didn’t get the other one’s name. We do know that this other disciple also “stayed” with Jesus. He lingered alongside Andrew in the company of Jesus. What we don’t know is what he did. I mean Andrew stayed, and then left to tell his brother the most wonderful news – I met Messiah! Andrew went home and brought another, Peter, into the company of Jesus. What did the “other guy” do? I mean he/she heard too. She stalked Jesus all the way to where he was staying. Did she tell two friends and so on and so on? Did he think of anyone else to talk to? Aren’t we staying with Jesus today in worship? And in a time like this when loneliness, fear, anxiety about our future and Zoom doom haunt our world, I am sure someone comes to mind. You just gotta’ hope that the unnamed disciple does the same thing as Peter, and brings somebody to Jesus. I hope to God that you do. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard Topping is principal of Vancouver School of Theology. This message was first presented to St. Andrew’s, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

What if we spent less time reading reports, more time getting to know one another?

Ministry can often feel like a lonely task. Pastors with large undefined workloads feel lonely and stressed. Congregations discouraged by small attendance feel isolated and adrift. Does anyone understand the challenges we face out here?

Strong relationships help with these kinds of issues. The Presbyterian way of being the church is designed to provide those relationships. The 1876 Basis of Union of The Presbyterian Church in Canada rested on three pillars. Most familiar are affirming the Old and New Testaments as “the only infallible rule of faith and manners,” and naming the Westminster Confession of Faith as the “principal subordinate standard” interpreting the scriptures. Less well-known is the commitment to “government and worship . . . in accordance with the recognized principles and practice of Presbyterian Churches as laid down generally in ‘The Form of Presbyterial Church Government’ and in ‘The Directory for the Public Worship of God.’”

“Presbyterial Church Government” starts with the exalted Saviour Jesus Christ giving “ministry, oracles, and ordinances” to “one general church visible . . . for the gathering and perfecting of it in this life until his second coming.”

This visible church consists of all those who profess faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ, together with their children. That’s a lot of people, but Presbyterial Government is ready: “When believers multiply to such a number, that they cannot conveniently meet in one place, it is lawful and expedient that they should be divided into distinct and fixed congregations, for the better administration of such ordinances as belong unto them, and the discharge of mutual duties.”

In these distinct gatherings, people know one another, which facilitates central church functions such as education, support, discipleship and discipline. They know where and with whom they live, allowing for contextualized mission and outreach. They are well placed to exercise compassionate and corrective church discipline. These individual congregations have great advantages, but also limitations. As Paul explained to the Corinthians, every part of the body needs the other parts of the body. Discipline means guidance, not only of individual Christians, but also of gatherings of Christians. The parts of the church need the whole church to be sure they don’t wander from the way of Jesus.

Scot McKnight wrote in A Church Called Tov, toxic leaders “tend to gravitate toward . . . nonaccountable church structures where they answer to no one . . . narcissistic pastors and leaders are found in denominational churches as well. But independent churches are especially conducive to leaders who want to be unsupervised and unchecked.”

The parts of the Body of Christ don’t have the resources of the whole Body of Christ. As the Form of Governance recognized, individual congregations “need all mutual help one from another, both in regard of their intrinsical weakness and mutual dependence, as also in regard of enemies from without.”

This is why “The scripture doth hold out a presbytery in a church. A presbytery consisteth of ministers of the word and such other public officers as are agreeable to and warranted by the Word of God to be church-governors, to join with the ministers in the government of the church.

“The scripture doth hold forth, that many particular congregations may be under one presbyterial government.”

This is a way the Presbyterian system emphasises relationships. Presbyterian government happens in a community. There is no individual CEO, even with wise advisors and assistants, who can provide proper oversight and guidance to the church. This is why we need to remember, as our Book of Forms reminds us, “the organic unity of the church is maintained in a hierarchy of courts (in contra-distinction to a hierarchy of persons).” It takes a community of disciples to shepherd a community of disciples.

When Presbytery meets, there is business to do. But the Presbytery is also a gathering of neighbours. If the Knox congregation wonders how to respond to a challenge, the people from St. Andrew’s can share how they responded. If one minister wonders what to do in a certain situation, another minister can offer advice gained in a similar experience.

As the Presbytery community shares their mutual help, it strengthens ministry across the region. As we receive from the strengths of our neighbours and give them help and encouragement in their need, we make real an often-overlooked blessing of the unity of the Body. As Paul told the Corinthians, “. . . as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness” — 2 Corinthians 8:13-14. (ESV)

In the ongoing community of the Presbytery, continuing conversation facilitates follow up. How’s it working? How can it work better? What can we change to better meet the situation next time?

How long did it take for things to turn around in your congregation? We are encouraged to stay the course when we know others are on the same journey we are.

The Form of Presbyterial Church Government acknowledges another level of government in Synodical Assemblies, but these are different groups so their oversight is different. As our Book of Forms notes, “The General Assembly differs from the lower courts of the church in that it has, as a body, no permanent existence.” It meets, does its business, then dissolves.

What abides after General Assembly are the decisions and rules it passes. It does not live with those rules. The Assembly can’t change, adapt, modify, or revise those rules because the Assembly that passed them no longer exists.

The Presbytery lives with its decisions. The members of Presbytery can see how they’re working out, where they need to be changed, adapted, clarified. Presbyteries live with their decisions, and live with the decision makers. They can continue to discuss the meaning of the decision; they can pursue how to adapt it to better enable ministry in their congregations.

Presbyteries have a permanent existence. In the form of Presbyterial governance, what abides in Presbyteries is not simply rules and policies but relationships and ways of living together. When the partnership of Presbyteries becomes the focus of union in our church, we are focused on things that incarnate the love and care of Jesus Christ.

Which is not to say Presbyteries function today as they ought. As the managerial revolution in the larger society influenced the church, and denominations became more like regulatory agencies, presbyteries lost focus. They became more interested in making sure congregations followed national rules and policies. We neglected the partnership and relationship aspects of life together.

But we can get back to where we once belonged. We can get back to focus on the relationships and partnership of the people who profess faith in and obedience to Jesus as the tie uniting the Body of Christ. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our presbytery meetings spent less time reading reports and more time getting to know one another? We can commit to spending less time rule keeping and more time to burden sharing and comfort giving.

The church doesn’t grow when people see how well we’re following policies. It grows when people see how we love one another, for in strong relationships the love of Jesus Christ is made real. As we are strengthened by what others can give, as we give to help others in their need, we will live the comfort and care Jesus gives through His body. We will live in the place where Jesus promised to grow His church.

Rev. Paul D. Johnston is Minister at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Arnprior, Ontario. He serves on the Assembly Council as a presbytery representative from the Presbytery of Lanark and Renfrew.

Dear Fellow Followers of Jesus,

I recently came across a prayer/poem of Walter Brueggemann. It begins:

“On our own, we conclude: there is not enough to go around, we are going to run short of money, of love, of grades, of publications…” (1)

We are living in a time of “shrinkflation.” We see packaging change to accommodate smaller amounts for which we pay more. Wages are not keeping pace with cost of living and interest rate increases. We are all feeling the pinch. How are we, as Christians, as believers in God’s goodness and generosity supposed to respond to our anxieties about the future?

Should we as Brueggemann writes: seize the day, seize our goods, seize our neighbour’s goods because “there is not enough to go around”? Perhaps we glibly assure each other that all will be well. Or perhaps we quietly and stoically poke another hole in our belts and tighten once more.

How do we face the encroachments to what we believe the Word teaches? How do we counter the shrinkflation of our financial situation? Brueggemann again reminds us that “in the midst of our perceived deficit you come, you come giving bread in the wilderness, you come giving children at the 11th hour, you come giving homes to exiles, you come giving futures to the shut down, you come giving Easter joy to the dead, you come – fleshed in Jesus.” And so, “by your giving, break our cycles of imagined scarcity, override our presumed deficits, quiet our anxieties of lack, transform our perceptual field to see, the abundance . . . mercy upon mercy, blessing upon blessing.” Can we keep on keeping on, trusting Jesus’ words about His presence and protection? Walking into each new day with its deficiencies and needs, knowing that our God will supply all our needs according to His riches? Does He truly own the cattle on a thousand hills?

Brueggemann again: “Sink your generosity deep into our lives, that your muchness may expose our false lack that endlessly receiving we may endlessly give, so that the world may be made Easter new, without greedy lack, but only wonder, without coercive need but only love, without destructive greed but only praise, all things Easter new . . . all around us, toward us and by us, all things Easter new.”

I pray for us as a Fellowship that we can boldly go into an unknown future led by a known Saviour, a loving Father who sees all and knows all, accompanied by the Holy Spirit of Jesus, God with us, Emmanuel.

(1) Inscribing the Test: Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, 3-4.

Matthew 28:16-20 – Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)

Hello friends and fellow Jesus followers. In Matthew’s gospel the Eleven have returned to Galilee as Jesus had told them previously. On meeting up with Jesus there is a dual response – worship and doubt. In spite of the uncertainty of some, Jesus gives them, and us, His “Great Commission.”

He prefaces the command itself with the statement of His authority, with the reminder that it had been “given.” The disciples and many other followers had certainly witnessed His authority over the winds and the waves. They had seen and perhaps even experienced His healing power over spiritual, mental, and physical disease. They had watched and listened as Jesus challenged the ideas and traditions of the religious leaders of the time. Ultimately, they had witnessed His power over death – the death of others and even His own death.

So, they should have been assured of His authority – all authority in heaven and on earth.

Then why did some doubt? Perhaps they had come to understand that Jesus would soon leave them and return to the Father as He had said. Perhaps they realized that now the ball was in their court. They may have recalled Jesus’ words that they would do greater things that what He had done. Yikes! I think I may have been among the some that doubted!

But Jesus presses on. Go! Baptize! Make disciples! Preach! Teach! And do all this with the full authority of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Who me? Yes, you. Remember everything I taught you and pass it on. And in case we are still doubting, Jesus gives that wonderful promise. And surely, I am with you, not just now and again, but always, to the end of time. That same promised “Immanuel, God with us” that starts off Matthew’s gospel, ties it all together with the promise of God’s abiding presence.

What are we waiting for? I pray that the Lord Jesus will give us, through the work of His Holy Spirit, the courage and perseverance needed to continue on with Jesus’ loving work in His world. There are many more disciples to be made. Much preaching and teaching is still needed. So, let’s get on with it!

So, they should have been assured of His authority – all authority in heaven and on earth.

Then why did some doubt? Perhaps they had come to understand that Jesus would soon leave them and return to the Father as He had said. Perhaps they realized that now the ball was in their court. They may have recalled Jesus’ words that they would do greater things that what He had done. Yikes! I think I may have been among the some that doubted!

But Jesus presses on. Go! Baptize! Make disciples! Preach! Teach! And do all this with the full authority of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Who me? Yes, you. Remember everything I taught you and pass it on. And in case we are still doubting, Jesus gives that wonderful promise. And surely, I am with you, not just now and again, but always, to the end of time. That same promised “Immanuel, God with us” that starts off Matthew’s gospel, ties it all together with the promise of God’s abiding presence.

What are we waiting for? I pray that the Lord Jesus will give us, through the work of His Holy Spirit, the courage and perseverance needed to continue on with Jesus’ loving work in His world. There are many more disciples to be made. Much preaching and teaching is still needed.

So, let’s get on with it!

Sandy Copland-Dufour is the RF Board Chairperson

By Deb Stimphil, RF Board Chairperson.

In Psalm 40, David says “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” (vs 1-3)

Many of us are waiting patiently for the Lord. Some of us may have experienced God hearing their cry, and they have a new direction; they are standing on a firm place.

Others are in a place of transition. We feel like we are being lifted out of the pit but are not just yet on the rock.

Others are still waiting patiently on the Lord. They haven’t yet heard from God. But they know He hears them and will answer their prayers.

We at St. Andrew’s Welland are in a time of transition. Our pastor retired and a new chapter is opening for us. We are on a journey. I am sure that if this church is faithful to God’s Word, He will set our feet on a rock and give us a firm place to stand.

Many of us who are holding fast to orthodoxy are still waiting patiently for the Lord. Renewal Fellowship, along with Vaughan Community Church, are holding a Pastor Retreat in November. This will be a time where pastors can get together, share fellowship with one another, share burdens with one another and wait patiently on God.

We are tired and worn down from many things. This retreat will be a time to recharge in the Spirit of God. Fellowship is so important to the body of Christ and all of us have missed the fellowship during the last couple of years. So, plan to attend this event. It can be a time of renewal for all of us.

An excerpt from A. Donald MacLeod’s latest book.

An explanation for this book.

My wonderful 21-year-old grandson, Callum, asked me two questions as we were discussing his future: “What is it like to be a minister, Gramps? How has the ministry changed since you were ordained back in 1963?” It is to respond to these questions that I have set out my answer, in hopes that it will clarify both his understanding, and share what I’ve learned during my years of service. — ADM

Chapter 5 – Ministry to a New Generation

Writing about the prayer life of a minister, I must start with a disclaimer. There is no subject that makes me feel more inadequate, more prone to the complaint that I am a hypocrite, but I know of no minister who feels that his or her prayer life is totally adequate, as the sheer pressures and time constraints of our profession make it very difficult to find the time we need to spend on our knees. It is also one of the most subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) temptations of the Evil One to keep us from this essential ingredient of a fulfilling and life-changing ministry. In eternity, the question will be asked of each of us, as to how faithful we have been in our prayer life, and I can speak only for myself when I admit that I have been sadly deficient in this regard. With this caveat, I proceed to the Scriptural teaching about the minister as intercessor, and turn to the life of our Lord. I have always found helpful a marvellous book, Our Lord Prays for His Own, by Marcus Rainsford, who pastored first in Dundalk, Ireland, and later at St. John’s Church in Belgrade Square in London. His classic treatment of John 17 provides soul-searching explanations of our Lord’s high-priestly prayers for His followers as He was on His way to the cross. Jesus is our example and there is no better illustration of this than His prayer for Peter as He and the disciples gathered at the Last Supper, and he indicated that he was praying for Peter that his faith not fail. As I have asked the Lord to strengthen the commitment of a faltering parishioner, I have often thought of His prayer and recognized that although there may not be an immediate answer, we can be sure of one at the end, in His will, because He is faithful.

Our Lord prays that His disciples will be one, even as He and His Father are one, and that He would, in His time and good pleasure, fulfill His purposes in our lives, as His intercession combines with our prayers to keep those who are under our charge faithful and fruitful. My own praying for my congregants started early in my ministry as I found myself in conflict with the woman who provided a student minister with room and board in her guesthouse. For some reason she took an immediate dislike to me, and did everything she could to thwart my ministry. One day I picked up the party line at our house to call a parishioner, only to hear her lambasting the new student, and advising her friend not to return to church the next Sunday. She was also the organist at this small country church, and one Sunday, minutes before worship was to begin, she decided she would not turn up to play. Fortunately, we had an alternative, and a replacement was quickly arranged, but it was a shattering experience, and I barely got through the service. I prayed urgently that the Lord would remove this trial, but she stayed on and remained as organist, though I was able to make alternative boarding arrangements the next summer.

A second challenge occurred the night I learned, at the very end of my posting, that a family in my congregation, returning from a holiday in Saskatchewan, had had a serious car accident and three parishioners had been killed. I remember standing outside the home of the family I was visiting at the time, and prayed earnestly to the Lord that I would be given strength as I went to visit the bereaved family that dark night. The sad thing was that I had neglected my own personal devotional life for several days previously, and had to be reconnected with Jesus, but the Master came and healed me and used me in turn to bring healing in that terrible situation. Four days later, as mourners crowded the packed church to pay their last respects, Dr. Reid supported me as he preached a magnificent sermon.

The whole incident was a powerful reminder to me, as I started my final year in university, that God was in control of my life, and how essential both my devotional life and my dependence on Him would be for an effective prosecution of a Gospel ministry.

One of the powerful resources for my prayer life throughout my years of ministry has been a diligent study of Paul’s great prayers for his correspondents in his epistles, as he lists the requests he makes for the congregations in Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, as well as in the letters to Timothy and Titus. We can connect with him and I have often turned to his words in specific intercessions during my prayer times, naming people and situations. It means that I do not deal in generalities, but focus on particular needs and individual requests.

When I came to start a new church in Scarborough, suburban Toronto, I found the pressures of beginning a church from scratch very demanding, but also very exhilarating. Things were going well, and the congregation was growing as we approached the building of a new edifice, but then a problem occurred, and everything seemed to fall apart. Two prominent families in the church were caught up in a moral crisis, and I blundered in where angels would have feared to tread. Both families left our church, along with several others, and I poured out my heart to the Lord in desperation. The Rev. Gerald and Kitty Griffiths, who had had a connection with one of the families called me to say they were en route to catch a plane at Pearson and would stop by to see us. They came in and prayed with me and I shall never forget their intercession which sustained me in a dark moment, and gave me strength for the journey.

I also received reassurance from a denominational official, the Reverend Howard Doig. We clergy need each other’s support as no one else can fully understand the challenges we face. As I was thrown upon the Lord, blessing and growth came that summer as they had never done previously. Once again, challenges in the ministry brought me back to the Source of my strength, and I was grateful to the Lord for His presence and peace.

While I was in ministry at Knox Church, Toronto, I discovered the benefits of a “monthly prayer day.” I would go off to our denominational retreat centre in Crieff, where a cottage was made available for me in beautiful woodland surroundings. There I would shut the door, take out my Bible, and furiously write out my prayer needs in longhand as I cited all the situations in my ministry that needed intercession. Then I would commit them to the Lord in prayer. I never returned from those days apart without peace restored and calm gained. I have kept those pages and as I look over them I see how faithful God has been in His presence and grace.

I remember John Allison, a beloved minister in the PCC now gone to glory, who would list his prayer requests with a blank column on the right side of the page to record when an answer was given or how it was resolved. John, who had been a fellow student at Westminster Seminary, experienced challenges in his years as pastor in British Columbia and Ontario. He was known as a great person of prayer, and whose premature death saddened us all. As his former roommate, I can still see him at 6 a.m. every morning, kneeling beside our bunk bed where he had the lower level with his feet turned outward in prayer, as he would spend more than an hour each day in intercession. No wonder God powerfully used him through the years of suffering and challenge.

In subsequent years, when I moved to the city of Boston, I was able to make use of a Roman Catholic retreat centre, where I found consolation and courage in my times of solitude and prayer. I did not need a rosary to systematize my intercession, but found again that systematic writing out of prayer needs kept me on target and disciplined a mind that could easily be distracted during those times.

Confidentiality and discretion are essential in group prayer, particularly clergy group prayer. Gossip must be avoided. Some years ago, while I was in Boston, there were a number of evangelical young PCUSA pastors who gathered in a small New Hampshire village every month for support and prayer. All went well at first, and I was grateful that my assistant, fresh out of seminary, had found courage and strength there, but then I started to hear reports that she had requested prayer for her relationship with her “difficult senior pastor.” The complaint was that I had not allowed her equal time in the pulpit with me, and that I had been overbearing.

It compromised my relationship with several of those pastors, which was awkward.

One of the greatest helps in my devotional life has been my use of certain classic books on prayer. As a teenager I was introduced to Hallesby’s book, Prayer, and subsequently Augustine’s Confessions and books written by Oswald Chambers, Amy Carmichael, and A.W. Tozer.

Books of prayers were also useful. When I was a child, my father would conduct our daily devotions from A Chain Of Prayer Across The Ages: Forty Centuries Of Prayer, 2000 B.C.-A.D. 1912, compiled by Selina Fitzherbert Fox and published in 1913, which incorporated prayers from many sources. Dad used to say that this kept us from wandering and was helpful in focusing both our language and our content. He also would bring us regularly to Anglican Evensong which was a beautiful worship experience based on the magnificent Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. We attended memorable worship services in St Andrews Church on Nathan Road in Kowloon. Some of those prayers still illumine my own language in prayer and intensify my understanding of talking with God, so that my thoughts do not wander. Our family worship had been a very powerful experience growing up, and I attempted to recreate it for my own family worship. We made prayer a family experience which we hope provided inspiration for our children and grandchildren. On a

memorable trip to the UK in 1966, a friend from Harvard Graduate School days, the Rev’d Michael Higgins, who was then a curate in an Anglican Church, introduced me to The Minister’s Prayerbook, It became a vade mecum for me over the following decades.

The practice of intercession is the greatest instrument the Holy Spirit can use in our ministry, and we neglect it at our peril. God is waiting to bring blessing to us as we wait on Him. The power of our public praying as we lead a congregation in worship is determined by our personal prayer. “You have not because you do not ask.”

A. Donald MacLeod

Christian Ministry Today is the working title for this book. Publication arrangements to be finalized.

A. Donald MacLeod is a former research professor of church history at Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto. He was born in Philadelphia and studied at McGill, Harvard and Westminster Theological Seminary. He was ordained as a minister in the PCC and served as a pastor and church planter. He was president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada from 1973 to 1975 and General Director of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of Canada from 1975 to 1980. He helped establish The Renewal Fellowship within The Presbyterian Church in Canada and served as its Chairman from 1980 to 1985. He also served as Senior Minister of Newton Presbyterian Church in Boston. He is on the Appendix to the Roll of he Presbytery of Kingston.