The Rev’d Mr. James T. Hurd, whose call to Parkwood Church was sustained by the Presbytery of Ottawa on July 30th and by the Presbytery of St. John on August 13th, is due to be inducted as pastor at Parkwood on December 2, 2001, God willing.

He was ordained June 15, 1986 by the Presbytery of East Toronto, following studies at the University of Toronto and Knox College, and for five and half years served as minister at Knox Church, Wanham and Munro Church, Blueberry Mtn., AB. Subsequently, he was called to St. Paul’s Church, Woodstock, New Brunswick, where he is completing nearly ten years of service.

In the process of responding to the vacancy committee, he shared these reflections on the mission and ministry to which Jesus Christ calls His church.

Vision and Approach to Ministry

Pastors are called to share, with ruling elders, in the oversight and nurture of the flock of God. Such ministry includes preaching the gospel, teaching the word of God, leading God-honouring, Christ-centred, and Spirit-empowered worship. The body of Christ is called to live together in unity and in fellowship, bearing one another’s burdens, spurring one another on to love and good deeds, and seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ in all places.

Priorities in ministry include preaching, worship, visitation of the sick, bereaved, and those inquiring about faith or in spiritual distress, teaching and bible study designed to motivate, assist, and encourage members to live for Christ and to point others to Him; administration, and equipping of elders and other leaders to give leadership in pastoral care and discipleship.

A vision of a healthy congregation includes concern for the nurture of faith in children and youth, worship that embodies the strengths of our reformed heritage but which is also fresh and contemporary, a passion to reach others for Christ, giving attention to both spiritual and physical needs in the local community, and participation in the worldwide mission of the church, both within and beyond the national church.

Session responsibilities include provision for and leadership in worship, Christian education, discipleship and nurture, local outreach and global mission, administration, and future vision and planning.

Ministry in the wider church

He has been a commissioner to the General Assembly on five occasions, in 1987, 1990, 1994, 1997, and 2000, after attending the Assembly in Ottawa in 1981 as a Young Adult Observer. Since 1997, he has served as a member of the Assembly Council. Prior to that, he was a member by correspondence of the Committee on Church Doctrine for a three-year term. During the past year, he has been Acting Clerk of the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces.

Many summers in childhood and youth were spent at Dorothy Lake Camp, in northern Ontario, and he was Camp Manager there from 1979 to 1983; he served as Secretary of the Camp Board of the Synod of Toronto and Kingston from 1981 to 1986. During part of his tenure in the west, he convened the Committee on Youth Ministry for the Synod of Alberta.

He has been involved with the Renewal Fellowship within the Presbyterian Church in Canada since its inception, and has been a member of the Atlantic Task Force since 1996.

Mr. Hurd has also valued co-operation within the wider body of Christ in the work of the gospel, serving as President of the Woodstock and District Ministerial Association, as Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Woodstock-Houlton Can-Am Crusade, an inter-denominational and cross-border undertaking in Woodstock, NB and Houlton, ME in 1998 in conjunction with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He has also served co-operatively as a member of the Pastoral Care Committee for the local hospital in Woodstock, NB for several years.

James and his wife Karen have two daughters: Jennifer, who will turn nine in November, and Janet, who is six. They are in the process of purchasing a home in the Barrhaven area of Nepean, and look forward with anticipation to arrival in Ottawa on November 30th, and to worship at Parkwood Church on the first Sunday of Advent, December 2nd.