It's Your Call It's Your Call
-
- Religion & Spirituality
A podcast from the Office of Vocation of the United Church of Canada. Ever wondered about a call to ministry? Or wanted to hear the stories of those who have answered a call? Then join us here and learn more about how you might answer a call from God to ministry in the United Church of Canada
-
S.2.E.5. John Egger
It's Your Call podcast talks with John Egger, who has recently returned from Korea, where he served as an ecumenical Co-Worker in Mission with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK).
John is a lay person who considered ordained ministry in the United Church while starting his career, but instead discovered a call that was perhaps more "precarious," yet just as valid as a call to ordained ministry.
As a Co-Worker in Mission serving in Korea — a region with a long history of missionaries from both the United Church and the Presbyterian Church — some of John's work with the Korean church involved reworking traditional missionary relationships and mindsets.
John was excited about the opportunity to do something new in "mission," just as we are learning new ways to do church in a rapidly changing context. John's service with the PROK was multi-faceted, yet soon he discovered his primary call was to be present, connect with people, and build relationships. These were valued roles in the PROK, a church deeply committed to ecumenicism, human rights, and justice.
John is back in Canada now, sharing what he has learned in Korea, and continuing to be called to build connections and relationship between Christians in Korea and Canada, and beyond. The work of mission, says John, can be found all around us.
It's Your Call is a podcast from the Office of Vocation of The United Church of Canada, hosted by Karen Medland and Andrew Richardson. It is available on Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple, and other podcast distributors. -
S.2. E.3 : Janet Gear
"It's Your Call" podcast chats with Janet Gear, a theological educator and ordained minister in The United Church of Canada. She speaks about her call to ministry, which first began as an activist in ecumenical social justice.
Janet Gear sees call as more than just a call to ministry — instead, it is the lived response of all of us to the question, "What does it mean to side with life?" Call, says Janet, is "a holy beckoning into the fullness of one's life."
Janet Gear is the author of "Undivided Love: Navigating Landscapes of Living Faith," which offers a guide for leaders working with people in congregations to discover their own calls across a banquet of lived faith: evangelical, ecclesial, missional, ecumenical, and spiritual. Available from the United Church Bookstore, UCRDstore.ca.
"It's Your Call" is a podcast from the Office of Vocation of The United Church of Canada. It is hosted by Karen Medland and Andrew Richardson. -
S.2.E.4: Moderator Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne
“It's Your Call” interviews Carmen Lansdowne for the second time — this time as the Right Rev. Carmen Lansdowne, Moderator of The United Church of Canada!
This time around, the Moderator discusses her unique call to become leader of The United Church of Canada.
Personal challenges took her off the path of her calling for a while, but as those were resolved, Carmen returned to the threads of her call that weave together the things she loves with her natural aptitudes for leadership, travel, ecumenical conversations, and more.
Find out how Carmen has been living out her call since beginning as Moderator in August 2022, and what she is looking forward to as her term as Moderator continues in next three years — including anti-racism work, combatting climate change, nurturing a new generation of leaders, and more.
“It's Your Call” is a podcast from the Office of Vocation of The United Church of Canada. It is available on Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple, and other podcast distributors. -
S.2. E.2: Rev. Jim Short
Season Two of It's Your Call podcast begins with a conversation with Jim Short, a retired clergy person who has an extensive and interesting career in ministry, including years as a chaplain with the Reserves and the Fire Department.
Jim grew up in a committed church family, and liked to say he was "United Church in my mother's womb." Yet, his exposure to ministers during the 1970s, when some of the cracks that were starting to appear in the assumed "glamour" of the role, convinced him that that wasn't what he wanted to do. But then a mystical experience changed his mind and opened him to hearing God's call to ministry.
He has re-examined this call numerous times through the years to make sure it was still legitimate, and a cloud of witnesses have surrounded and supported him through this life-long discernment and all the challenges that come with ministry.
Jim also discusses the difficulties of the transition to retirement, and the opportunities this presents to consider a needed role for elders in The United Church of Canada.
It's Your Call is a podcast from the Office of Vocation of The United Church of Canada. It is available on Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple, and other podcast distributors. -
S.2.E.1. Aaron Billard : Unvirtuous Abbey
In this episode, It's Your Call podcast speaks with Aaron Billard about his call to ministry in The United Church of Canada. Aaron is the minister at St. John's United Church in Monkton, New Brunswick and is also well-known for his online ministry through Unvirtuous Abbey on Facebook and Twitter.
Aaron speaks about his attraction to serving the church at an early age, and some of the challenges he has faced in day-to-day ministry. Through it all, he has found both colleagues and church members who have encouraged him along the way when things got rough.
The COVID pandemic revealed that it isn't just the "why," but also the "how" leaders do ministry now in today's post-Christendom world.
One way how Aaron has pursued ministry even before the pandemic is through Unvirtuous Abbey (@UnvirtuousAbbey), a very popular online ministry offering a humourous and sometimes sarcastic take about the life of faith and the church that can help ministers and all of us view faith from a refreshing new perspective.
It's Your Call is a podcast from the Office of Vocation of The United Church of Canada, focusing on call to ministry. It is available on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other podcast distributors. -
S.1.E.11. Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean
It's Your Call podcast speaks with Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean. Catherine is a theological pastor in The United Church of Canada, currently serving at St. Paul's United Church in Edmonton.
Originally from the Maritimes, Catherine grew up in the church, so the concept of serving in ministry was always there. Even with several family members in ministry, it was her local congregation that sensed a call in Catherine's life and encouraged her to pursue it.
She saw the church as a place where her gifts could be used, and her interests in theology and religious history could be explored.
Catherine's ministry has a strong emphasis on academics, writing, and speaking; yet she honours the importance of balancing the disciplines of theology and doctrine with mysticism and spiritual experience in the church. Each path compliments the other.
Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean is the author, with John H. Young, of "Preaching the Big Questions: Doctrine Isn’t Dust," (United Church Publishing House).