With an average of about 20 attending Sunday services at Christ Church, the pews can seem quite empty. But while seeing the Anglican congregation grow is a worthy goal, the focus is more than simply a matter of finding new members — it’s about shifting the conversation to what the church can do for the community.
“If what we proclaim is a kingdom where love overflows, then we should be that love to the people around us,” said interim minister Philip Stonhouse. “It’s figuring out who we are and what that means for Creston.”
That love, he said, must be extended to all, and especially the Creston Valley’s young people.
“One thing I’ve noticed in the community is that the youth are underserved,” said Stonhouse. “There’s not a lot just for them. That group needs their own community — they’re searching for an identity.”
In a church, youth have the opportunity to interact with people of all ages in “a community that looks at, who do you want to be? How does who you want to be affect the world around you?’ ”
Stonhouse — who graduated from Toronto’s Wycliffe College seminary on May 9 and arrived in Creston five days later for a four-month contract — is familiar with the sense of togetherness instilled by a congregation, having been raised by parents who were both ministers (at different churches).
“I sort of grew up in the midst of it,” said Stonhouse, who was born in Red Deer, Alta., and raised in Saskatoon, Sask. “Everyone growing up thought I would become a minister. I thought, ‘No way. That’s the last thing I want to be.’ ”
Not only was church moving “outside culture”, Stonhouse wasn’t ready to dedicate his life to the church, opting instead to pursue pediatrics. Then he tried his hand at theatre, and was hooked.
“For the first time in my life, I realized I could have a positive effect on people,” he said.
While in a performance of Little Shop of Horrors, Stonhouse realized that if he went into pediatrics, it might be his last show — so instead, he dedicated every moment to acting, eventually earning two degrees in theatre.
The hard work paid off. Stonhouse had leading roles in many productions, toured with the Canadian Opera Company and even landed a national Hyundai commercial, but gradually came to realize that performing wasn’t as meaningful as the work he could be doing in the church.
“Through my life, God just sort of ripped away the boundaries.”
Nothing made that more evident than an experience during his second year of acting.
It started when Stonhouse had a dream in which silence fell over the world.
“As much as you screamed, no matter what you did, you could never get past the silence,” he said.
He wrote a script based on the dream, and turned that into a short film, The Sound That Broke the Silence, which went on to play at festivals. And in the middle of an interview while promoting it, he remembered he was temporarily deaf as a child.
Stonhouse — who described his younger self as accident-pro, rather than accident-prone — recalled having Q-tips sticking out of his ears when someone came up from behind and pushed them in, puncturing his eardrums.
“It was an all-encompassing silence, that felt like this heavy weight of darkness,” he said.
He wasn’t expected to regain his hearing, but each visit following visit to the doctor resulted in an additional 50 per cent return of his hearing. A year later, Stonhouse’s hearing had returned to normal.
“God did a miracle in my life, and I’d completely forgotten about it,” he said. “I really wanted to give back, because God gave so much to me.”
He entered a three-year program at Wycliffe, which is where his parents met, and made the whirlwind trip to Creston upon graduation, becoming Christ Church’s first minister in about 18 months.
The warm welcome he received from the community immediately impressed Stonhouse, as did the attitude of his small congregation.
“I don’t think I’ve seen such thankful people, not just for me, but for everything,” he said.
And he’ll be happy if, in his short time in Creston, he can bring a few newcomers to the church — but only if they choose.
“[God is] inviting people in, not forcing people in.”