Editor’s Note: This is the last column that the Rev. Dr. Iain Luke will be preparing for this paper as he assumes his new position of executive archdeacon of the Anglican Diocese of Rupert’s Land. We extend our thanks for his many columns over the past several years and for his inspiring presence and collegiality and we also extend our prayers and best wishes to him and his family as they begin a new and different ministry and return to a diocese they had called home for many years.
Keen-eyed observers may already know this is my last column for the Saskatchewan Anglican in my role as principal of the College of Emmanuel & St. Chad. If you are reading this in January, I will already be in my new post as executive archdeacon for the Diocese of Rupert’s Land.
So, this column is a thank-you and a farewell. Thank you for reading, and thank you for letting me know you were reading! Any time I’ve been at a church event over the last 10 years, someone has expressed appreciation for this column, which has been very encouraging.
Thank you, more importantly, for being the church. You are the reason the college is here. Your work is the work we exist to support. In training stipendiary clergy, and now also equipping disciples who are leading in their home churches, the college’s goal is to offer you theological education and formation, to empower the church’s ministry here in Saskatchewan.
Thank you to those who have become students, or are about to give it a try. And to those who support students, in their home parishes and internships. Thank you to those who help student preachers find their voice. And thanks to people who serve the college in particular roles, past and present staff, officers, members of council and senate.
Thanks to donors, whose gifts show us something of how much our work means to the wider church. Thank you to individuals, to parishes and ACW groups, who make the support of theological education and training a priority in their hopes for the church’s future.
Thank you all for the opportunity to serve you, to learn with you, and to share in the building up of God’s Church. Not only in writing this column, but in all my work as principal, I’ve felt your support and trust, and have been strengthened by the purpose we share, to live our part in God’s mission where we live.
As I say goodbye, the strongest impression I have is one of confidence. It’s not that I don’t think churches here (or in the Winnipeg area, either) won’t face profound challenges in the years ahead. I know we will.
The confidence comes from seeing, and knowing, the work God is already doing in people like you. We are all different from one another, yet as you go from one end of Saskatchewan to another, you find people responding to God’s call and putting their faith into practice, often in new and unexpected ways.
God has a way of meeting the challenges, by giving us the one gift we need: faith, which can also be described as trust, or reliance. When that gift is shaped and equipped by study, reflection, and practice, it can become enormously effective. The effect is not judged by how faithful we feel, or look, but by what God achieves when we are willing to trust Him.
As we move into the future, we will see ourselves more and more as communities of disciples. Those communities need good leadership to function well, and that will continue to be true, even as we move away from traditional models of leadership, like bringing in a clergy person from somewhere else. You are the leaders your church needs.
Throughout my time at Emmanuel & St. Chad, I have seen communities discerning new gifts, supporting each other, and growing in commitment, love, and knowledge of their faith. Take care of one another, build up your college, and serve God with confident hearts!
