By Lloyd Mackey

SOME Christians on Vancouver Island have been taking note of a trend among evangelical churches toward ‘multi-site’ congregations – the developing of several worshipping bodies in adjacent cities and towns, served by a common pastoral staff.

BCCN talked recently with Robert Hutchison, the minister of three United-Anglican congregations at the sparsely-populated northern end of Vancouver Island, in Port Hardy, Port McNeill and Port Alice.

Hutchison is an Anglican minister, but he serves congregations that have become accustomed, through the years, to the muting of denominational labels.

He spends a fair amount of time on the road. His parishes are in a triangle formation, with the Port Alice and Port McNeill churches 60 and 40 km respectively from Port Hardy, the largest of the three towns.

But that is not the extent of his road mileage. He must often attend meetings of the respective diocesan (Anglican) or presbytery (United) bodies with which the churches he serves are affiliated. Those meetings could find him travelling to Victoria, Nanaimo or Courtenay with fair frequency.

The denominational ties have important implications.

“We have been celebrating the 85th anniversary of the United Church. And we have a sister church relationship, through that, with Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. When they had major flooding, this year, we were able to divert some of our funds to help them. And we learned about that through the [United Church] Mission and Service.”

The towns he serves are long established communities which thrived for decades on mining and forestry activity. The mines are pretty much gone now, and there has been a major transition in the forest-related economy.  

Tourism is becoming a staple feature of the towns’ economic activity, said Hutchison. The locating of the ferry terminal in Port Hardy makes it a stop on the way to northern B.C.

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The active worshippers in the three towns are not numerous – 40, 30 and six, respectively, in Port Hardy, Port McNeill and Port Alice. But Hutchison said they are active groups and responsive to the pastoral care and service opportunities afforded by the joint arrangement.  In Port Alice, Hutchison conducts services twice a month. On the Sundays he is not there, capable lay people carry on.

The congregants see church activity and community service tied closely together. Other groups, such as Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists and Pentecostals are present with various levels of strength in the three communities. There is a fair exchange of communication between the leaders of the various groups – although, said Hutchison, the formal meeting and arrangements tend to “ebb and flow.”

United/Anglican people who have long roots in the communities will find their way to helping, for example, in seniors organizations, business groups or other cross-pollinating community activities.

Hutchison’s own call to ministry is an interesting commentary on faith and community. He is 62, and had a naval career until his retirement as warrant officer in the 1990s. He was raised in the United church, but influenced toward a personal faith shaped by Anglicanism, through his wife Diane’s influence before they were married, 40 years ago.

Attending an Anglican church with Diane, he was moved virtually to tears by the strength and warmth of certain parts of the liturgy. And that began his spiritual formation.

He had no plans for ministry, until some of his spiritual mentors started hinting at it. The result was seminary at Wycliffe College, the Anglican evangelical school in Toronto.

So, for Hutchison, the naval career, his  spiritual development and the encouragement of community are all working out  in ministry in small towns, separated – yet connected – by winding roads and a sense of ministry.

August 2010