Flagship United Church gets new minister
"They were looking for traditional biblically-based, theologically-informed preaching. And that is the passion of my life."
By Bob
Bettson
Special to ChristianWeek
TORONTO–For Andrew Stirling, it was a call from out of the blue.
 Bob Bettson photo Surprise call: Andrew Stirling, standing outside Timothy Eaton Memorial United Church, says the church’s invitation surprised him. |
Just days after
hosting United Church moderator Bill Phipps at a
bearpit breakfast session at Parkdale United
Church in Ottawa on the moderator’s
controversial opinions on Christology, he
received a call from Timothy Eaton Memorial
United Church in Toronto. They wanted to know if he would consider becoming their senior minister. It was not something Stirling had thought of. A theologically conservative United Church minister and frequent attender of renewal group events, Stirling had run for moderator against Phipps at the 1997 General Council. Now one of the largest UCC congregations in Canada situated in one of the church’s more liberal presbyteries had come calling. Stirling says that moving from Parkdale was not on his agenda. |
He was happy there, but he decided to follow up the phone call, and put in an application. "I really didn’t think about it a lot. I just put it on the back burner." Then the Timothy Eaton selection committee called him for an interview.
Open and honest
When discussions started it became apparent to Stirling that the Toronto congregation had a lot of the same priorities he did. "They were looking for traditional biblically-based, theologically-informed preaching. And that is the passion of my life. They wanted leadership to help them grow as a congregation and apply the Scriptures to their lives. And they genuinely wanted to reach out to young people."
