Celebration of Ministries Service

Watch our livestream of the Celebration of Ministry Service held at North Bramalea United Church in Brampton, as part of the regional meeting on Saturday, June 8, 2024 beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Guest speaker: Rev. Brian McIntosh
Executive Minister: Rev. Peter Hartmans
Acting President of SWRC: David Leyton-Brown
Office of Vocation Minister: Rev. Kellie McComb
Pastoral Relations Minister: Rev. Todd McDonald

Celebration of Ministries service bulletin – [ PDF | 4 pages ] 

If you require a full script of the service for accessibility reasons, please email swrc@united-church.ca.

In Their Own Words

2024 Celebrant Reflections

Reflections from our ministry candidates in advance of the Celebration of Ministries Service, to be held on Saturday June 8, 2024.

Music: YouTube Audio Library; Falling Snow by Aakash Ghandi

Meet Our Celebrants

Rev. Dr. Jason Byassee – Admittand

My name is Jason Byassee and I am the senior minister of Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto, Ontario.

I was previously a professor at the Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia, where I held the Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Hermeneutics. My primary vocation is to reinvigorate today’s church with the best of ancient and contemporary wisdom for creatively faithful living.

I have authored or edited several books and have written widely on church and culture. I am a native of North Carolina, where I was senior pastor of Boone United Methodist Church during a period of growth from 2011-2015. More recently, I was a visiting fellow at St. John’s College at Durham University in the UK.

I am married to Jaylynn Warren Byassee, a fellow Methodist minister from the US and we have served in ministry together in British Columbia. Together we have sons who are 21, 19, and 16. Things break in our house on the westside of Toronto.

Photo Credit – Prentice Fraser

Laura Gallagher-Doucette – Ordinand

Hello! My name is Laura Gallagher-Doucette, and I am a candidate for ordained ministry in the United Church of Canada.

I am a lifelong member of the United Church of Canada, having attended Trinity-St. Paul’s since I was a young child, and before that, St. Matthew’s United Church. I am honoured to devote my ministry to the denomination that raised me as a Christian.

I hold a combined honours in Theatre Studies and Early Modern Studies from the University of King’s College, a certificate in Creative Writing from Humber College, and a Master of Divinity from Emmanuel College. Upon graduation from Emmanuel, I was awarded the Sanford Gold Medal in Divinity.

I currently serve the congregation of Runnymede United Church as their Engagement and Growth Minister. It is a delight to minister to this congregation alongside Rev. Ted Grady, particularly as this community begins a new chapter as a two-campus church, having amalgamated with Windermere United Church in 2023.

I am deeply grateful for the family, friends, and communities who have shaped my journey to ministry. Your support has been a blessing beyond words.

Photo Credit – Richard Gardner

Rev. Dr. Néstor Medina – Admittand

I have been involved with the United Church for the last 13 years as a People in Partnership Program. I went every year to Cuba taught at the Seminario Evangélico de Teología (SET) (Evangelical Seminary of Theology). For the last few years, I have also worked in several Anti-Racial discrimination initiatives including 40 Days of Engagement on Anti-Racism. This involvement helped me imagine myself contributing to the United Church. UCC’s commitment toward Indigenous peoples and towards fostering a culture of anti-racism is something that I am happy to jump on board without hesitation.

I was formed a Catholic and a Pentecostal, I came into collaboration with the United Church convinced of the importance of considering the activity of the Holy Spirit. My involvement with the UCC and its determination to become an intercultural puts on display its profound commitment to living a life of the spirit. One of the things I celebrate most about the UCC is its willingness to be intentionally open to diversity as an expression of its vocation. These are values that I treasure and that I also teach at Emmanuel College, where I serve as faculty.

I have also learned that the United Church encompasses a rich diversity of church communities. Each local church has its own character and culture which contributes to making this denomination a phenomenal experiment. The United Church of Canada can become a new home for me. It is a place where many of my gifts as a scholar, minister, and as a member of the church are welcome. My hope is that I can make a valuable contribution as a minister not just from the sidelines.

Photo Credit – Krista Moore

Robert Murdock – Commissionand

A lifelong pursuit of understanding my place in the world and how the puzzle pieces of life fit together, was a never absent goal throughout the years. The ecumenical experiences of several Christian denominations, built a personal credo on which my inquiries could progress. The fullness of time had not yet arrived. It wasn’t until the passing of my wife—Patricia, that I began to seriously and earnestly explore my relationship with the Divine.

The Circle of Accompaniment—those peers, friends, and mentors that walked alongside my journey, became resources of knowledge and sources of comfort that will be invaluable in my ministry. I acknowledge and name those saints in my video presentation. Collier St. United supported my candidacy and became a place of both refuge and learning. St. James in Stroud has called me to continue that pathway in service. Nearly four decades in law enforcement and ten years in teaching provided a wealth of unique and unparalleled lived experiences on which to build as I seek to serve God, a community of faith and the wider church.

The depth of knowledge provided by the Centre for Christian Studies gave me the freedom to explore personal growth and their support was foundational. As I complete my Master of Theological Studies at St. Stephen’s I am reminded that personal self-improvement was not an unintended side effect of education.

The world is in great turmoil and we must be willing and prepared to offer not only refuge and solace but provide the grace and strength to meet these crises head on with humility, with hope, with faith, and with love for all.

Photo Credit – Peter Michalski

2024 Jubilands

Join us in celebrating the following ministers who have significant anniversaries of their entry into ministry in The United Church of Canada:  Jubilands List  (PDF | 2 pages)

Ministry Personnel Retirees for 2024

We celebrate the journey of those ministry personnel who have decided to retire in 2024.  Please join us in giving thanks for their ministry:
Daniel Benson, Lois Brown, James Clubine, Patricia James (DLM), Margaret MacDonald, Brian McIntosh, Karen Ptolemy-Stam, Barry Rieder (DLM), Meriel Simpson, Linda Wheler, Neil Ryerson Young, and Janet Smith Zenwirt.

Reflections on Retirement

Here are the statements from our retirees about themselves and their journey in ministry.

Rev. Daniel Benson

2014 marks the tenth anniversary of my ordination, and in looking back on my years in congregational and intentional interim ministry, a decade at General Council Office as Executive Minister of Communications, and, about the same tenure with the Anglicans as General Manager of Anglican Book Centre, I’m surprised to tally some 30 years working in Churchland.  Turning the clock way back (the pun is intentional), my first vocation was as a horologist;  the wandering road between tending time and tending sheep gives credence to the clichés that God moves in mysterious ways and has a sense of humour.  Along the way, I have found that ministry, whatever form it takes and wherever it takes root, is always rewarding and challenging, is found both in the instant and infinite, is often clearly defined yet frustratingly obscure,  and is relentless as the return of the sabbath but as remarkable as the empty tomb.  

Gratitude is at the core of my faith: I’ve often begun a reflection, worship, or a meeting with the words, ‘The first and best prayer is always one of gratitude…’ Yet, I know I’ve often fallen short of that ideal: the pressures of ministry, an ever-increasingly complex world, the suffering I see around us and experience within us, paradoxically push gratitude aside even as it becomes more essential to our hearts.  So, as I continue in retirement to serve God’s church in the world in new ways, I return to gratitude: for the congregations of East End, St. Paul’s Scarborough, Glebe Road, Dalston-Crown Hill, and Bloor Street; friends and colleagues at General Council and General Synod; my husband Grant and my family; and for all those who have walked this journey with me. I’m grateful for all of you and all of this:  it has been time well-spent. Thanks be to God. 

Rev. Dr. James Clubine

I was born into a family that faithfully attended worship at a local Baptist church in what was then a rural part of Ontario.  It was there that I learned of our Saviour Jesus Christ and his great love and grew in my faith commitment to him.  Through the ministry of that congregation, I sensed a call to ministry and began divinity studies at Central Baptist Seminary. Upon graduation I served a congregation of the Missionary Church of Canada for ten years, four years as youth minister and then six years as senior pastor.  

I stepped aside from pastoral ministry and took up leadership development consulting work.  During that time my wife and I began worshipping at West Ellesmere United Church in Scarborough where my seminary preaching professor, Rev. Dr. James Wetherall was pastoring, and he encouraged me to return to pastoral ministry.  During the process of seeking credentialling in the United Church of Canada I served, for five years, the congregations of Beverley Hills United Church and Downsview United Church in the west end of Toronto for five years, first as a student minister and then was settled there upon ordination.    

In 2003 I accepted a call to Central United Church in Unionville where I have served as minister of worship and pastoral care for just over 20 years.  I am grateful for the congregations I have had the joy of serving and for our Lord’s faithfulness to me in that work.  As I reflect on the almost forty years of pastoral ministry, I can say that there is nothing else I would rather do.   

Rev. Margaret MacDonald

I am delighted to embrace this new chapter called retirement on life’s journey. Thank you to the United Church for your acceptance and the opportunity to live my faith in Jesus Christ through serving Communities of Faith.  I am blessed to call Canada my home.  

Thank you to my family, friends and colleagues. Most importantly, thank you to all the people I encountered on my journey. Here I met Ken MacDonald. Here I baptized my grandson. Here I learned the significance of coffee fellowship and the mysteries of table conversations. It is a privilege to serve God’s people.  

In 1993, at my ordination service in Guyana and my admission to the United Church I heard these words: “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you asked him in my name.” (John 15:16. NRSV). With heartfelt gratitude: “Love one another!” Thanks be to God! 

Rev. Karen Ptolemy-Stam  

When I began to discern a call to ordered ministry many years ago, little did I realize that I was at the beginning of a journey that would lead to 40 years as a minister in the United Church of Canada.  The journey has been one of deep meaning.  In 1984 I was ordained by Bay of Quinte Conference. I started out as that conference’s minister with the Deaf.  My feminist and liberation theology were gifts as I learned about the oppression and marginalization of the deaf community both in Canada and around the world. I worked with a deaf congregation, was the Chaplain at Sir James Whitney School with the Deaf and visited deaf people in hospitals and prisons.   

I was sent to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the only deaf university in the world. There I took advanced sign language training as there was no place in Canada offering this program at that time.  After seven years, I was called to Fenelon Falls United Church where I stayed for eleven years.  This rural two-point pastoral charge taught me that we can work together to do the work and ministry of Christ.  Lives can be changed and spirits nourished.  I then served George St. United Church in downtown Peterborough.  This congregation taught me to risk.  Initiated by lay folk, we offered educational opportunities for people to engage in theology and explore their faith in a more progressive and inclusive way.  We found that there was interest outside the church for the opportunities we offered.   We hosted events, sometimes for up to 600 people.  Questions, doubts and conversations led to new understandings of faith. In 2011 I moved to Toronto Conference (now Shining Waters Regional Council) to St. Paul’s United Church in Midland where I have served for almost 13 years. This congregation has taught me to embrace change and new technology.  It engages fully in the life of the community as well as globally with its refugee sponsorships.   

I am indebted to these congregations for their wisdom, faith and commitment to walk the path of Christ.  I am also very grateful to the United Church of Canada whose vision of an inclusive and justice-based faith has broadened my understanding of God. It transformed my understanding on what it means to be a Christian in a multi-faith world. I was privileged to serve on the General Council Executive for six years, and on its sub-Executive for three years. I am also deeply grateful for all of those who have shared this journey with me all these years. In these people I have witnessed the Holy Spirit, the sacred mystery working in us all. Lastly, my spouse, Keith Stam, has been on this journey since the very beginning.  His love and support have never wavered and for that I am truly grateful. 

Rev. Meriel Simpson

A first generation Canadian, I was born and grew up in Toronto. I gained my B.A. in Modern Languages from Victoria University, U of T and later earned a Business and Computer Programming Certificate from Ryerson. For many years, I worked in the corporate world, initially in the airline industry, then as a computer programmer and finally as a Communication Specialist. My home congregation was Dewi Sant Welsh United Church in Toronto, where I was an active member for 30 years. Between my corporate work and church work, I gained a lot of leadership experience.   

Over the years at Dewi Sant, I taught Sunday School, was on Council, assisted the Clerk of Session and did some lay preaching. Like many other people, my call was not a “burning bush” but a slow realization and response to God’s nudges and whisperings, which had never stopped through the years.  I studied for the ministry and received my Masters of Divinity degree from Emmanuel College in 2014.   

After completing an internship at Westway United Church (U.C), I was ordained in June 2015 and appointed to Cosburn U.C., where I ministered to a small congregation in the throes of deciding to become part of a regional church. In December, 2016, I was delighted to receive a call from Scarborough Bluffs U.C. to be their minister.  

The congregation of Scarborough Bluffs welcomed me very warmly and I soon came to know a kind and vital group of people who were devoted to their church.  We had seven great years together, however, as in everyone’s life, there comes a point when planning for retirement becomes essential. My remaining family lived in BC and my sister was practicing medicine in Michigan. We decided to be with family in Nanaimo.  We made the trip across the country at the beginning of May and have just moved into our new home. 

Rev. Neil Ryerson Young

Neil Young was a candidate out of Woodroffe United Church, Ottawa, and studied at Emmanuel College, Toronto, 1983-86, with 2 summers as an Armed Forces Chaplain Assistant and summer ’85 on the Grasslands Pastoral charge in south Saskatchewan: Mankota, McCord, Glentworth, Fir Mountain & Wood Mountain. In 1984-85 he was on field placement at College St. UC, in Toronto. 

Ordained at Montral & Ottawa Conference in 1986, he was settled in Borderlands Pastoral Charge, Moose Jaw Presbytery: Coronach, Fife Lake, Rockglen & Killdeer. The next year he married Kate McLarty, who worked candidate supply on the charge until 1989. He took a 2nd settlement in Iron Bridge & Bellingham, Algoma Presbytery, while Kate took the Rydal Bank charge. Thereafter, they worked separate pastoral charges. 

He moved to Harriston & Cotswold, Bruce Presbytery, in 1992, then to Erindale in Mississauga, Halton Presbytery, in 1999. In 2015 he moved to St. Andrew’s at Yonge & Bloor in Toronto, from which he now retires. He has served in matters of finance and property at all levels of the church, and was on the council of Emmanuel College and the Board of Regents of Victoria University for 9 years.     

His interests have included ancient numismatics and Biblical archaeology. His collections of sermon volumes from the 1800s and pages from pre-King James bibles are now in the collection of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at U. of T. He does historical reenactment, serving as a Grenadier in the King’s Royal Regiment of New York (1777-1784) a Loyalist formation from the War of the American Rebellion.  

Kate and Neil have three daughters and three grandsons.