My Call to Ministry

I have been a minister in the Presbyterian Church for 34 years. How did I happen to land in this type of a career? Ministers talk about a call to ministry & others wonder what a call is? A call to ministry is not the same for all ministers.

I didn’t hear voices in the middle of the night.

I didn’t see handwriting on the wall.

I didn’t come from a family of ministers.

I grew up in a Christian family (9 of us). We were all used to going to church. Two of my brothers were bankers. I decided to become one as well. I worked for a short period of time with the Bank of Nova Scotia. However, banking wasn’t meant for me. I quit the bank and began looking for another job. There weren’t a lot available! I picked up what used to be a part-time job. I worked at a grocery store (packed groceries, stocked shelves).

One day a friend came in (he was a minister). He told me about three little churches in a rural area that needed a minister. Would I consider serving them as a student minister for a yr. and then begin univ. studies & become a minister? I thought of all the excuses; I’m not a good student, it takes too long, I don’t like speaking in front of people. However, I did agree to serve the churches for a year. When the year was up I looked seriously at university. Lord, I’ll never get through! If I didn’t make it through my first year I knew God didn’t want me (in ministry)! Well I made it through my first year and six more years thereafter.

Since then I have pastured churches in Nova Scotia, Calgary Alberta, Barrie Ontario, the Bahamas, St Marys On. and now here I am in Bermuda!

I believe God not only called me into ministry, but that He called me to all the churches where I have been privileged to serve.

God called me through my family who supported me.

He called me through my friend who said, “John there are these churches.”

He called me through some great teachers while I was at University.

He called me through some wonderful people who loved, accepted & supported me in the churches where I have served.

He called me through a loving a supportive wife and three beautiful daughters.

I never heard a voice, no handwriting on the wall, no flashes of lighting. BUT I know, I have a conviction, a certainty that I am where God always meant me to be. Did I and do I ever experience problems in my ministry in my calling? Absolutely, but a further assurance that I am where God meant me to be is that the good Lord has put up with my weaknesses and has shepherded me through my valleys and pit falls.

Blessings,

John