The Right Reverend Gary Paterson Comes to Kootenay Presbytery.
Sunday April 27th at 10 am
At Cranbrook United Church the Moderator will preach at 10am with lunch to follow. Kimberley, Fernie and Jaffray United Churches and Windermere Valley Shared Ministry are invited to attend.
Note: Worship Service at Kimberley United Church is cancelled on April 27 so members of congregation can attend the service at Cranbrook United Church.
Profile
The Right Rev. Gary Paterson believes The United Church of Canada must discover once again what “being church” really means for us. What are the practices that sustain and shape our faith? How can “church” model a different kind of community, so that people want to be part of that? How do we share our faith with visitors, strangers, and the community? What is United Church evangelism?
“If we aren’t excited about our faith, then why would anyone want to ‘come and see’? How do we speak to the spiritual hunger of a younger generation, people who are more interested in following Jesus than becoming church members? How do we reshape our ‘outreach ministry’ so that people will also say, ‘See how much they love the world—I want to be part of that!’”
Paterson was elected Moderator at the 41st General Council in Ottawa on August 16, 2012. Ordained in 1977, he has served in all kinds of ministry and participated in the life of the national church in different ways, among them: in small rural and urban congregations; as BC Conference staff; as a member the Permanent Committee on Programs for Mission and Ministry; at First United in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside; at Ryerson United; and most recently at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United in downtown Vancouver.
Born in the Yukon in 1949, Paterson was an “army brat” who lived in Toronto and Germany before ending up in Vancouver, where his family has 150 years of farming roots.
He earned a B.A. in English Literature at the University of British Columbia and a Master of Arts in English from Queen’s University in Kingston before becoming a sessional lecturer in the Department of English at UBC. He began theological studies at Boston’s Andover Newton Theological, followed by an internship at Naramata Centre, and a final year at Vancouver School of Theology.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be able to travel a great deal and experience other cultures, peoples, faiths, realities. I have just finished two months’ sabbatical in Israel and Palestine at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute.
“I love being a Dad. I have three daughters from my first marriage. The girls are all in their thirties, and I’m discovering the joy of grandparenting. I am now married to the Rev. Tim Stevenson (a Vancouver City Councillor), and we have been partnered for 30 years.”