Staff in Living Waters and Toronto Southeast preparing new offices and procedures
By Vivian Harrower
“It’s all new,” Says Jody Maltby, Conference Minister for Program. “New Presbytery, new for volunteers, staff, colleagues, office, procedures. It’s not like moving into an existing office with an existing structure and protocols.” An active lay member of St. Paul’s United Church in Orillia, Jody will work with three Presbytery Commissions: Spiritual Development, which includes youth, camping and Christian education; Vision and Church Re/Development; and Community Connections and Right Relations, which includes the Mission and Service Fund and social justice. She has already met with commission chairs to “get a sense of their vision” and to begin to see how to support them.
Jody is set to graduate in March from the Centre for Christian Studies in Winnipeg. (She was part of the last class to start studies in Toronto.) Although she has completed preparation for diaconal ministry, she will not seek commissioning. “I don’t see my vocation in a congregation,” she says. “I feel called to work as a lay person, but I am glad to have had that training.” A placement in 2000 at the Community Legal Clinic of Simcoe, Haliburton and Kawartha Lakes developed into a job where she became coordinator of volunteers. She’ll put that experience to good use in working with Presbytery.
Todd McDonald is Personnel Minister for both Living Waters and Northern Waters Presbyteries. His job is complicated by the fact that the two Presbyteries are structured differently and, in some cases, use different terminology. However, handbooks are in place and are very helpful for understanding how the work is going to be done.
One thing Todd is clear about: he is not to be a pastor to pastors, but “to support those volunteers who are working with the pastors.” That means supporting, coaching and facilitating committees doing pastoral oversight, or working with divinity students and retirees. As well, the Personnel Committee hopes to identify people to act as chaplains for other ministers. Todd is there to help people find the resources they need. “If Ministry and Personnel Committees are working well (in a Pastoral Charge), that will strengthen the pastoral relationship,” he says.
Todd hopes to complete his Doctor of Ministry degree in 2011 from Toronto School of Theology. “It’s very different to be working at the Presbytery level than in a congregation,” he says. (He was serving Lefroy United Church.) “The rhythm of Sunday worship shapes the week in a Pastoral Charge. This Monday-to-Friday (schedule) is very different. There’s a variety of work with different people phoning with needs.”
As for this Holy Saturday experience, Todd says it’s “an in-between time, waiting. It can be frustrating. There’s both a feeling of loss and looking forward to God’s new life.”
Jody feels people in the Presbytery have been gracious and open to moving in new ways. Staff have made a point of hospitality in the office. “We are being intentional about how the furniture is laid out, colours, coffee. We do encourage people to come in. We want (members of) Presbytery to feel this is their office.”
Toronto Southeast Presbytery
It’s clear that a team is gelling at the Toronto Southeast Presbytery offices as staff members settle into space in the former Wilmar Heights United Church in Scarborough. The team is made up of Wendy Miller, Administrative Assistant; Anne Shirley Sutherland, Program, Property and Public Witness; and the Rev. Teresa Burnett-Cole, Pastoral Relations and Ministry Personnel Support (a half-time position). Wendy, a member of Jubilee United Church, has been administrative staff person there as well as secretary of Toronto Don Valley Presbytery.
“I’ve been very impressed (with volunteers),” says Teresa. “Normally Presbytery groups take a break in the summer.” But some folks are “chomping at the bit,” she says. Her job is working with Ministry Personnel and the Pastoral Relations Committee, while Anne Shirley deals with congregations and the Pastoral Oversight Committee. There are 58 Pastoral Charges in the Presbytery, as well as the Christian Resource Centre, Malvern Ministries and Camp Scugog. (It has close to an equal number of active and retired Ministry Personnel.)
Anne Shirley holds a Master of Divinity from the Atlantic School of Theology but chose not to be ordained. Her passion “has always been in social justice.” A former member of Newfoundland and Labrador Conference, her work experience ranges from a women’s shelter and economic justice projects to General Council Minister for Human Resources and Planning. She is a member of Windermere United Church in South West Presbytery.
Teresa was active in Saskatchewan Conference in justice and reconciliation work before coming to Toronto Conference in 2007. A skilled liturgist, she helped lead worship at the 40th General Council. “I’ve had to hit the ground running,” says Teresa. She’s put her doctoral studies at Emmanuel on hold while she figures out how to juggle the demands of two half-time jobs - one at the Presbytery and her position as minister at Riverdale United Church. “The expertise I bring is as a pastor and an academic,” she says. She also feels the staff members have complementary gifts, and refers to Wendy as a “computer goddess.”
Wendy began working on the database for Toronto Conference last fall. “I like all that stuff- keeping the lists,” she says. An administrator for over 20 years, she was a computer systems analyst before that. The admin assistants from the four Presbyteries have already met to work out common protocols and cut out unnecessary tasks.
“Between us there’s a real breadth of experience,” Teresa says of the team, plus “we get along. We laugh. It’s a good personality fit.”
A Tamil congregation now worships in the United Church-owned building since the Wilmar Heights United congregation amalgamated with Zion-Wexford. A non-profit housing project on the site has received kudos for green efficiency. Presbytery staff have felt welcomed by residents, with whom they share use of the courtyard. “It’s like being in a community,” says Teresa.
Anne Shirley feels people in the Presbytery have “a sense of new beginnings and that we can do things differently. This may be an opportunity to feel that Presbytery meetings have more vitality, more energy. It’s about life in the home, not just housekeeping. People are feeling positive that that can happen.”
