No rest for the GA Junkie…

With the conclusion of this year’s GA cycle the circle of life general assemblies keeps on going and we start to look forward to the Assembly Season in 2011.  This week brought two announcements of moderator designates for their respective assemblies.

Today the press is reporting that the Free Church of Scotland has announced their Moderator Designate for the 2011 GA, the Rev. James Maciver, pastor of the Knock Free Church on the Island of Lewis.  According to the news story he has been the pastor there for thirteen years.  He served at East Kilbride for ten years before that after his induction in 1987.  Rev. Maciver has served as a committee, presbytery and synod clerk.  Since 2000 he has served as the Principle Clerk of the General Assembly.  UPDATE: The Free Church web site now has the news story.

With the conclusion of their General Assembly the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand announced that the Rev. Ray Coster is the Moderator Designate for the next Assembly in 2012 and will then serve in that position until the 2014 Assembly.  Rev. Coster has served the St. Andrew’s church in Mt. Maunganui for 25 years and in that time it has grown into a multi-congregation church with five pastoral leadership teams, one for each congregation.  Before his present position he served at Trinity Presbyterian in Timaru for nine years.

Following his being introduced to the Assembly he delivered a few comments to the commissioners, beginning with:

Assembly, I am sure that the one hundred people who have stood in this spot before me as Moderator designate have said that this is a great honour. And it is. I pray that when my time finishes I, like Graham will say, Church you have given me a great privilege. I really do appreciate the support you have given me, but even more the trust you have shown to me. It is a lot to live up to and I hope I can make a good contribution to the life of the Presbyterian Church as your next moderator. I have been in the arms of this church since infancy and I will die in her arms when my time comes to go home.

A bit later he talks about how he is not much for assembly politics and goes on to say of his gifts:

Never been a great assembly orator – sat through many assemblies and never said a word. But, give me a pulpit and one ear that will listen and you can’t shut me up. I love talking about Jesus. I love discussing the faith. I love encouraging others.

He concluded his remarks with his desires for the church, including this about elders:

As a parish minister I have been so strongly supported by good elders. I believe that elders are the hidden strength, underestimated and sometimes unappreciated wisdom of this church. In a parish they are like the keel of the ship. They are the story holders, the ethos carriers. I would love to encourage the elders and spend time with them.

(That’s a good quote — I will use that one again.)
And this is his closing remark about the church in general:

But if there is one thing more than anything else that lies deep in my heart it is to see the church living as a resurrection church; a church that has an intimacy, closeness with the risen Lord. A church that knows life and has life and gives life to all people. A resurrection church knows that it does not exist for itself, it exists for the world in which it lives. A church that is not concerned for its self-survival, but is always ready to sacrifice and suffer for the community around it. A church that is alive in the market-place as much as it is inside the church. It should never escape our attention that all of the miracles of the resurrection church in Acts occur in the Market-place, not the church setting. Only one occurs on the steps of the Temple. A church that has confidence in its Lord and a boldness in its mission. A church that moves in the power of the Holy Spirit. A church that lives the benediction – the good word. The empowering grace of Jesus, the overwhelming love of God, the joyful and happy fellowship of the Spirit. It’s a church of people who know that when they are in Jesus, God is not ticked off with them. They are the apple of his eye.

There has been a bit of reaction to this selection, not the least of which is Rev. Coster’s daughter who tweeted “So proud of my dad!”  There is media coverage from the Bay of Plenty Times and the press release on Scoop.

So my congratulations to both of these gentlemen and best wishes and prayers as they prepare to take up this office to which God has called them through the voice of the people.