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By Lloyd Mackey
 | | Chilliwack mayor Sharon Gaetz, and her husband Jim. |
IT WAS like a blast from the past.
Part of my work this past month involved checking out
some of B.C.’s November 15 civic elections. The idea was to find
stories illustrating the faith-political interface.
One good place to check was Chilliwack, where I was
editor of The Chilliwack Progress back in the 70s. At that time, unbeknownst to me, four
young people were graduating from high school in Chilliwack. And not too
many months later, they were marrying their childhood sweethearts.
One couple was Chuck and Debbie Strahl. Today, Chuck is
minister of Indian and Northern Affairs in the Stephen Harper government.
The other was Jim and Sharon Gaetz. Last month, Sharon
was elected mayor of Chilliwack – by a landslide, I should point out.
So I picked up the phone and called her soon-to-be
worship. Amazingly, she remembered my name, even though it has been almost
three decades since Edna and I embarked on a pilgrimage which took us
eventually to Ottawa.
Not long after their marriage, Sharon and Jim joined
the pastoral staff of Glad Tidings Church, a few blocks east of
Chilliwack’s downtown core. Then, they set out to plant a new spinoff
congregation, known today as Southside Church.
Under the Gaetz leadership, Southside has grown to a
congregation of 800 – many of them first generation Christians. Both
Jim and Sharon are ordained ministers, and their parishioners have grown
quite used to seeing them preach together on a Sunday morning, perched on
two stools.
Sharon liked to joke that Jim was the straight man,
while she provided the colour. In addition, he handled the church budget
stuff and she, the worship aspects.
They retired from their joint pastoral responsibilities
in the past year. One reason, Sharon recalls, was the recognition that
church leaders often reach most effectively those age levels 10 years above
and below them.
Once they were into their 50s, having led the church
for 15 years, they recognized that Southside could benefit from younger
leadership. But there was another factor, as well.
Twelve years before, Sharon had accepted the challenge
to run for a Chilliwack city councillor spot, after serving as a school
trustee since 1987. She has topped the council polls three times. Now, with
some of the more experienced council members retiring, it seemed to make
sense that she should throw her hat into the mayoralty ring. That meant
clearing the decks – so that, if the task fell to her, she would have
the time and energy to handle it.
Sharon grew up in Chilliwack, in a household of seven
children. They lived in various parts of the community, from Yarrow in the
southwest to Fairfield Island, just a few blocks from the Fraser River.
She and Jim had two children. The oldest, Jothan, 27,
and his wife, Joann, have given them two grandchildren. They live in the
Philippines, where they work with Youth with a Mission (YWAM).
Their daughter, Jenna, died at age 22, in a motor
scooter accident. They still miss her.
Prior to ordination, Sharon and Jim both took Bible
college education. In the run up to her political involvement, she took
some political science courses at Columbia Bible College, taught by author
and commentator John Redekop.
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Before retirement, Redekop had been head of the
political science department at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo,
Ontario. Once back in B.C., he served a stint on the Abbotsford City
Council and taught at both Trinity Western University and Columbia.
So Sharon believed that she had, as a teacher, someone
who was well versed both in the world of politics and the means by which a
Christian can serve well in that sphere.
Asked how she has adapted to the criticism of
‘Bible thumpers’ in politics, she replies that she understands
the fears – given “sleazy televangelists who say one thing and
do another.”
But she hopes she can continue “to be true to
myself and to my faith. I can’t just put those values aside –
but am not known, either, for shoving religion down people’s throats.
I hope people see the way I live.”
A number of issues live in tension in Chilliwack
– downtown redevelopment, the accommodating of a growing population
with the continuing viability of 900 farms, and the realigning of the
former Canadian Forces Base into a major university centre.
When Sharon was first married, Chilliwack had a
population of around 35,000. Today, it is close to 80,000. It could be that
by the time she finishes ‘mayoring,’ the 100,000th person
will have been born or will have moved in.
Sharon and I also talked about civility in politics and
the way in which congenial and open faith can contribute to that process.
Coincidentally (or perhaps not), civility has recently been the watchword
on the federal political level.
It has been emphasized by the political leaders, along
with the argument that people of competing political philosophies need to
get along if the presently difficult economy is to be well-managed.
It shouldn’t surprise me that this new approach
was on Sharon’s mind as well.
Lloyd Mackey is the founding editor of BC Christian News and writes
a weekly OttawaWatch column from his perch at the Parliamentary Press
Gallery in the nation’s capital, which appears on our website,
www.canadianchristianity.com.
December 2008
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