Meet Kenn Stright…

 

                                  

 

 

My ministry was formed under the imperatives of mission. I willingly and gladly engaged in ‘mission’ in five summer student placements in preparation for ministry. Upon graduation, the Rev.  Mac McLean, Mission Superintendent of Manitoba and Northwest Ontario, said to my wife and me, “I have a mission that is just suited for the two of you,” and that began a four year plus ministry with the Anishanaabe of Waywayseecappo. Years later, I wrote the first study following the Presbyterian Church’s Confession to the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, a study which reflected back on the church’s mission and ministry in the context of Aboriginal Canadians.

 

Mission is how you look at the gospel. The church is born out of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ – it is attitude. When the Presbyterian Record did a ten-part series on the newly-written Living Faith to introduce it to the church constituency, I was asked to write the section on Mission – the Church Reaches Out. In that article I said that mission was indeed attitude, the attitude each and every one of us takes with us into our service for Christ, and, in that article, I used the example of everyday people at St. Andrew’s, Pictou to express how each and every one of us is a missioner by baptism and a missionary by vocation. Mission is the reason for the church to be in the world. The focus of my ministry has been to motivate the church to be a mission centre – in the local area and in the world. Mission begins locally but affects every aspect of church life.

 

 

If mission is an attitude toward the work and witness of the church of Jesus Christ, then education has to be a passion.

 

At Waywayseecappo First Nations, my wife and I began a Saturday ministry with any children who might come to share with us. From no participants the first few months, we grew an educational ministry with about 100 intergenerational participants using what were, for the time, unique approaches to sharing the gospel. When I began ministry at St. Andrew’s, Pictou, I realized we actually had children to work with, but little or no resources available to share with them. This was the beginning of “The Kids of the Kingdom Club,” which for 13 years transformed a church basement into the realm of God, inviting children on an exploration of the world revealed to us by Jesus Christ.

 

I have accepted two educational positions with the National Church as the Coordinator of the Year of Spirituality and the Education Coordinator of the Healing and Reconciliation Initiative. I also served as the Convener of Congress ’96 held in Atlantic Canada, which again required 2 ½ years of planning, coordinating and working with large numbers of people from across this region.

 

I have been a member of, and have worked with, the Atlantic Mission Society, and have been a regular contributor to the Presbyterian Message and also Glad Tidings. I attend Presbyterial and have attended the Annual Meeting of the Society, and value the work, witness and support offered by it.

 

My understanding of the Christian faith has deepened over the years, now primarily expressed in terms of being part of a faith community. And that community has grown to be inclusive of all who call on the name of Christ (and yes, beyond as well). Where this journey of faith will take me, I have no idea, but that is part of the journey as well. I look forward to the challenges presented by my position as...

 

          Mission and Educational Consultant for the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces.

 

 

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