Interim minister brings to church fresh perspective

Few people can claim to have lived in Canada, Scotland, and Germany, to have earned a Master’s degree, and a degree in Divinity—all by the age of 25.
But then, Todd Statham is not your average 25-year-old.
To add to his list of accomplishments, Statham currently is the interim minister at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church here.
“Being young helps in a way. Sometimes people like a fresh face around,” he laughed.
A native of Vancouver Island, Statham said he’s pleased to be working in this part of the world—particularly since St. Andrew’s has been without a minister for some time.
“There’s a shortage of ministers everywhere,” he said, adding it is often the smaller towns that are left without one.
“Being small doesn’t mean God has given up on us. God works through small things,” he remarked.
Statham arrived here in early October, and his impression of Fort Frances has been a very positive one. “I’ve been impressed with the civic spirit here,” he said. “It’s nice as an outsider to come into that.”
Statham also said he’s had a chance to enjoy the outdoors since he’s arrived.
“People have been very eager to show me life in Northwestern Ontario. I’ve been fishing every weekend.”
Statham recently completed his studies at the Presbyterian College at McGill University in Montreal, and plans to return to school in the new year—possibly to begin working towards a doctorate in theology or history.
“I enjoy the academic world, with the ultimate aim of serving the church,” he said.
Statham describes himself as having high standards, both for himself and others. “I always figured it served me better to aim on the side of high standards,” he remarked.
Statham, who is not yet ordained, sees his position as interim minister as an opportunity “to develop myself both personally and professionally as a minister.”
“The image of minister that I like is that of an interpreter,” he admitted. “It’s laying our lives against the story of Jesus and allowing our story to be transformed by it.”
His experiences as an assistant minister on the Isle of Skye in Scotland and in Marburg, Germany were very different, but some things, he said, don’t change.
“The context always changes but the content stays the same. People are always in need of God’s graces,” he explained.
Statham’s three-month term here will end in January, when he plans to go back to school.
Eventually, he said, he would like to settle into a parish and become ordained—a process that must begin with a congregation issuing a call to ministry.
But Statham has no firm ideas on exactly where he will end up.
“Concrete plans usually never work. My history is littered with broken intentions,” he noted. “Some things have turned up that were a lot more interesting than if I’d planned them.”
(Fort Frances Times)