Keeping the faith
United Church of Canada leader visits Yellowknife
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 8, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Gary Paterson is traveling the nation looking for inspiration.
Gary Paterson: Moderator of the United Church of Canada was in town last week to learn about life in the North and meet the local congregation. |
Paterson is the 41st moderator, or presiding leader, of the United Church of Canada. It's a role that doesn't bring much power but lets him bring hope and to use his ears.
The role, which he says many have never heard about, allows him to seek out ideas that are keeping church congregations thriving so they can be shared with communities where churches are fading away.
The Protestant denomination church is in a time of change, with fewer people in the pews. According to the United Church website, in 2012 there were more than 3,000 local congregations with a total of 463,879 members.
That's down from 1.1 million members in the 1960s.
"There's no quick fix," to the issue Paterson said in an interview Thursday morning during his two-day stop in Yellowknife.
He came to the city to get a sense of life in the North in an isolated community.
But he said getting people back in pews for the sake of getting people back isn't the solution either.
He wants the church to be accessible to those who still believe, yet for whatever reason don't attend service in the numbers they did previously.
Paterson said he looks at ideas such as how one Vancouver congregation closed its physical location and bought a cafe, using it as a spiritual base.
Or there's a congregation that decided to hold a meal mid-week for busy parents. Instead of being potluck, which still means the parents have to cook and then clean up, the meal came at a small price. It makes the church accessible and brings members of the community together.
Paterson said the church's role as a location for public gathering and an exchange of ideas and issues has been falling away with declining membership.
He said that's not a good thing, and hopes some of the creative ways congregations are trying to keep members can change it.
Paterson, born in Whitehorse, is the first openly gay man to hold the three-year position since the church was formed in 1925.
When he was elected to the position, he said that fact wasn't an issue, showing the degree of change the church has undergone.
"I found in the church an openness," Paterson said, adding the Yellowknife congregation has become a community space and is committed to social housing, ensuring over decades that 84 studio and one bedroom apartments are available for those in need.
He praised the Yellowknife United Church for its June 2012 decision to become an affirming ministry, meaning it welcomes gay and lesbian members.
He said Yellowknife was one of the earliest congregations to make the change, and it and similar moves by other United Church congregations across the country meant his sexuality was a non-issue when he became moderator in August 2012.
He said in a time when some churches are seen as the enemy of gay and lesbians, the United Church is ready to welcome people to the pews.
"Jesus had a habit of going to people at the edges of society," Paterson said, and so should the church.
Paterson said his next stop was Medicine Hat, Alta., before going on to other cities and town around Canada.
He's also looking to hear what concerns congregations have, although as he says, he doesn't have the power of leaders in other churches to make changes as the United Church is largely driven from the ground up.
Paterson said while he was in the North he hoped to see the northern lights, and he did, saying he can see why people love the city.
Paterson isn't the first moderator to visit the region.
In 2012, former moderator Mardi Tindal was here.
Yellowknife United Church Minister Peter Chynoweth said it's rare to have repeat visits to the same congregation by a moderator.
