Yesterday the Presbyterian Church in Canada announced the results of balloting for the Moderator Nominee for the 144th General Assembly (2018) to convene in early June. In a moment, the results of that balloting…

But first, a quick introduction to the three candidates on the ballot, in alphabetical order:

The Rev. Daniel Cho, B.A., M.Div. is the pastor of Rexdale Presbyterian Church in Toronto and the Moderator of the Presbytery of West Toronto. He emigrated from South Korea with his family and grew up in Toronto before attending college in Tulsa and Chicago. He returned for ministry training at Knox College and began his service to the church as a youth minister at that time. He has served on boards and committees at all levels of the church and currently serves on the Board of Knox College. In his Q&A section on the candidates page he speaks of the core of the church being Jesus’ teaching of the commandments, reducing them down to two. (But it is worth reading his account of one of his earliest memories of the church.)

The Rev. Peter S. Han, B.A. (Hons), M.Div. is the pastor of Vaughan Community Church, Thornhill, Ontario, where he has served for the last 28 years. He has served the church at all levels including as the Moderator of the Presbytery of Eastern Han-Ca and on the Knox Board. He was a founding member of the Asian Centre at Knox College.  He has structured his current church around a church-wide cell group system that has over 650 adults currently participating. In the Q&A section he singles out refugee work as an area the PC Canada should be more involved in. His bio notes a particular work of his and the singular recognition:

Peter is an advocate for justice. He led a coalition representing Chinese, Filipino, Dutch and Korean-Canadian communities. They successfully petitioned the Canadian House of Commons which unanimously passed Motion 291 to urge the Japanese government to officially acknowledge and apologize for the systematic sexual abuse and slavery against 200,000 women during the Second World War. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for his contributions to the wider Canadian society.

The Rev. Mark R. McLennan, B.A., B.Th., M. Div. is currently the pastor of Knox Presbyterian Church in Woodstock, Ontario, but has served the church widely, in a geographic sense, including in Alberta, Labrador, Quebec, Nova Scotia and at the far western edge of Ontario in Thunder Bay. With that wide placement comes service as the clerk of one synod and multiple presbyteries, as well as serving as Moderator of three presbyteries and two synods. His bio says that “Ministry and mission are at the heart of his church work…” and that includes getting out into the community where he has helped with many community organizations where he has been like the Y and a museum board. He has also written resources for the national church. In the Q&A he has a nice concise statement of the most important features of faithful discipleship: “Compassion for others, Passion for the Gospel, Dirty hands, Open arms, Smiles, Honesty, Integrity. To be the eyes, ears, hands and voice of God in this world.” (And the chuckle I got in his Q&A was in his list of what he is currently reading that includes the book Why Dogs are Better Than Cats.)

For the last three months the elders and ministers of the church have been looking at these three men and discerning God’s call.

Yesterday the Principal Clerk The Rev. Stephen Kendall announced that through the balloting process The Rev. Daniel Cho has been called to be the nominee for Moderator of the 144th General Assembly. The info in that announcement includes the previously published Bio and Q&A that I reference for him above.

From the bio, I would add that he is already scheduled to be the main preacher at Canada Youth 2018. I was also struck in that bio by a paragraph talking about a spiritual mentor and some related writing he has done:

Daniel is blessed to have known the spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen, as a personal mentor. He has been profoundly shaped and impacted by Henri’s teachings which he shares with others. Daniel has written on spirituality in a book chapter and for the Henri Nouwen Society. He also wrote on the intercultural church in the Presbyterian Record and has led seminars on this subject.

And in the Q&A he says he would recommend to everyone in the PCC any book by Henri Nouwen and recommends several specific titles.

Also in the Q&A he talks about his vision for the church going forward. He speaks of spiritual renewal, one of the goals of the PCC Strategic Plan, as personally expanding capacities of faith beyond what is reasonable – like Jesus speaking of loving your enemies – and the church as the faith community through which this is developed for individuals. In another section, he touches on a related issue of what the church should make more time for. His answer is the involvement of the younger generation – their voices, their opinion, their particular wisdom.

The Rev. David Cho will be installed as the Moderator, should the way be clear, at the opening of the 144th General Assembly (2018) on 3 June 2018 in Waterloo, Ontario. Our prayers are with him as he guides what we anticipate will be a most interesting Assembly and best wishes for his moderatorial year.

[Programming Note: As you may have noticed it has been very quiet around here for the last several months. As we approach the GA Season I hope that will change dramatically. As mentioned previously there have been a number of things going on in my life but I believe I am on track for some of that to wind down and I fully anticipate that my blogging will be ramping up significantly. There is some exciting stuff coming in the next few months, which will be shared in due time. So I hope you will be joining me as the GA Season gets underway. Best wishes.]