Meet Rev. Rob Peterson, President/Superintendent Candidate
-
I am deeply grateful for my spiritual heritage, which gifted me many examples of a living faith in Jesus Christ. Through my parents and church, I was introduced to the stories and the person of Jesus Christ, and at the age of 12, I became a follower of Christ. Two congregations were particularly important in my faith formation: Kensington Road Covenant Church (now Commons Church) in Calgary (AB) and Green Timbers Covenant Church in Surrey (BC). Both of these vibrant communities of faith played a vital role in my discipleship as a follower of Jesus. My call to ministry was encouraged and clarified through family support and key mentoring relationships while I attended Green Timbers Covenant Church as a university student. Wally Coots, the associate pastor, invited several university students to take part in internships under his care and encouragement. It was during this time that I heard God’s call to the vocation of equipping the church for works of service (Ephesians 4).
-
I have long believed that a living and vibrant faith is the foundation of a disciple’s life and the central characteristic of those who serve God as gospel ministers. My life in Christ is the most important dimension of my identity. I’m grateful to Jesus for the people and congregations that introduced me to a life of faith and service. I’m equally thankful for God’s generous hand that allowed me to experience so many different people, places, and cultures, all of which have shaped who I am and how I live in God’s world. I wouldn’t say that my faith and hope in Christ are distinctive, for there are many who have equal or greater faith than I do, but I can say that my faith is foundational to everything I do.
I believe that I bring a wise and discerning presence to the work of shepherding the mission of the Canada Covenant. This strength contributes to helping others discern how God is active in their life, and it shows up in meetings when I offer a simple but clarifying question. This strength helps me in planning and dreaming about what God is specifically inviting an organization to move toward. This strength shapes how I lead meetings by planning open spaces for prayer and communal discernment. This strength creates a safe space for staff who want to talk about challenges or life in general, and this strength is helpful to committees when they come to a moment of decision and they are looking for general guidelines for finding God’s best.
I also bring the gift of building and equipping groups of people to pursue God’s vision. If you are familiar with the StrengthsFinder Inventory, my top two strengths are maximizer and relater. I’m energized by making things, systems, or ministries better (maximizing effectiveness). And I’m wired to work with others, creating a team culture where combined contributions coalesce into good ministry (I prefer doing ministry with others). I believe the gift of building and equipping groups of people can play an essential role in the work with Covenant staff and the Leadership Board. This gift will help me work with ministerial committees, search committees, and other groups in the Canada Covenant. Setting vision and goals with the Leadership Board and staff will be shaped by my interest in doing this work together as much as possible.
And lastly, I bring the gift of my varied ministry experiences to the role of President/Superintendent. I have been a Covenant pastor for 35 years. During that time, I served a small congregation in Saskatoon (SK), planted a church in Strathmore (AB), and was the lead pastor for a large congregation in Grand Rapids (MI). In each ministry setting, I have had the gift and responsibility of interviewing and hiring staff. I’ve had the privilege of overseeing a staff of 15 people at Thornapple Covenant (six full-time pastors and nine part-time staff) with the corresponding responsibilities of supervision and budget oversight. With joy, I’ve served on national Covenant Boards (Canada Covenant Leadership Board, Board of Ordered Ministry, Covenant Pension Board, COMS, Faculty at NPTS, Director of the Weborg Center for Spiritual Direction). I’ve also participated in various ministerial associations and have led several workshops at our regional conferences. I’m a spiritual director and have invested time in learning how to train spiritual directors. Lastly, in each of these roles, I have been a strong advocate for women in ministry. I’m certainly not skilled at everything, but I believe these varied ministry experiences provide basic competency in vision casting, administration, staff oversight and development, and Covenant organizational knowledge.
-
I’m excited to continue building relationships with Canadian Covenant churches, leaders, and pastors. I view the role of President/Superintendent of the Canada Covenant as a steward of our shared mission and a shepherd for churches, leaders, and pastors. Developing strong relationships is at the heart of our effectiveness and mission. I’m also eager to continue advocating for the vital role that the local church plays in the mission of God. Sometimes, amidst all that is happening in our local churches, we can overlook that God has designed and empowered the local church to be the primary means through which our neighbors, towns, cities, and the world hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The work of helping congregations thrive is not about them feeling good about themselves but rather about developing missional competence and effectiveness. I also look forward to fostering more collaboration among churches to become increasingly creative in sharing the gospel in word and deed. Lastly, I’m very excited about the potential for planting more Covenant churches across our great country.
-
Relational. Authentic. Christ-Centred. Hopeful. Humble.
-
The mission of the Canada Covenant to Start and Strengthen churches and to Serve and Support pastors and leaders across Canada and around the world places the local church, pastors, and leaders at the center of its work. This is as it should be. The Canada Covenant staff and Leadership Board exist to prayerfully and strategically steward our mission toward greater health and impact. As Associate Superintendent, I saw first-hand how our conference pursued and supported our mission. I’m thrilled about the work of our church planting team: Jason Condon, Jason Charles, and Gavin Jensen are gifted church planting practitioners. Over the last few years, we have seen churches planted in New Market (ON), Richmond Hill (ON), Mississauga (ON), and Langley (BC), along with potential church planters being identified, assessed, and trained for the planting of additional churches. I think our church planting work is healthy and growing.
Strengthening our existing churches is increasingly important, especially after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The staff of the Canada Covenant has worked diligently to come alongside our churches, whether it is through search committee support or church vitality resources and conversations. Many of our churches are leaning into revisioning work to be more fruitful. Some of our churches are hiring additional staff to meet the demands that come from growth. Additionally, a growing number of churches are identifying young adults who have voiced interest in pastoral ministry, and, through the Canada Covenant Internship Program, these churches are making space for them to discern a call to ministry. Alongside these upward trends, there are Canada Covenant churches that are still struggling to gain momentum after COVID-19: they are finding it hard to recruit volunteers and are unable to meet their budgets. Even with these challenges, I’m grateful for the many ways our churches are pursuing greater health and mission focus.
Healthy and resilient leaders and pastors are central players in the flourishing of congregations, organizations, and camps. We desire to see that each pastor/leader find the resources and relationships they need to be whole in ministry. The Canada Covenant is doing well to provide essential resources for pastors and leaders - resources like sabbatical policies, retreats, clergy care check-ins, coaching, spiritual direction, counseling, continuing education events, cohorts, and caring staff. These resources contribute to a supportive ecology for our pastors and leaders.
Looking ahead five years, with the Lord’s help, missional success of the Canada Covenant could look like this:
Fifteen new Canadian Covenant churches planted and growing. Along with that, we would hear stories of people coming to faith in Christ, lives transformed by the gospel, and multiple baptisms.
New sources of revenue for our shared mission would be investigated and brought online.
Each of our congregations would be celebrating the work of the gospel, sharing stories of hope, transformation, baptisms, and neighbourhood impact.
A renewed understanding and commitment to being “Good News people” who passionately believe that Jesus Christ, and a relationship with him, is God’s answer to every human condition, complexity, and longing.
A renewed understanding and commitment to being a prayerful people who consistently and pervasively in prayer ask for a movement of the Holy Spirit in them and through them for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
Partnerships with like-minded Canadian seminaries who would work with us to train the next generation of Canadian Covenant pastors - pastors who would know our Covenant history, theology, and ethos. Along with this, we would have a credentialing and orientation process that takes place within Canada.
An online hub of curated resources for the local church to assist them in every facet of ministry. For example, we would offer curriculum resources, leadership tools, organizational tools, and church chair resources.
Greater diversity among people who call the Canada Covenant their spiritual home. Success in five years would be to have First Nations people, new Canadians, and new Christians more represented in more of our churches and ministries.
-
I sense God inviting us to embrace greater humility than ever before. In particular, I feel a need for a type of humility that radiates hopefulness in God rather than in human ingenuity; a humility that quickly turns to God’s strength instead of relying on one’s own; and a humility that acknowledges the possibility of being wrong while still expressing conviction with love. Philippians 2 comes to mind:
Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
As we embrace our next chapter of ministry, I believe the virtue of humility will guide our hearts and actions toward a deeper reliance on the Spirit for whatever challenges we encounter as a community of disciples.
-
In the summer of 2008, I resigned from Hope Community Covenant Church in Strathmore (AB) to begin working with Soulstream in Vancouver (BC). Working with spiritual directors and developing contemplative retreats and resources was a gift that I will always cherish. I learned a lot through that experience but increasingly felt a pull back to congregational ministry. In February of 2010, I began serving Thornapple Covenant Church as their lead pastor. The call to this congregation resulted in our move to Michigan. For the past 15 years, we have lived in Grand Rapids (MI) serving as a pastor, then as assistant faculty at North Park Theological Seminary, and as Associate Superintendent of the Canada Covenant. If I am voted in as President/Superintendent of the Canada Covenant, Soni and I plan to move back to Canada and live in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
-
I’m currently reading a few books:
Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance by Jesse Wente
Quietly Courageous by Gilbert Rendle
The Art of Pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau
Next on my Kindle are:
Jesus Changes Everything by Stanley Hauerwas
Rare Leadership by Marcus Warner
A few of my favorite authors include Henri Nouwen, Marilynne Robinson, Mary Doria Russell, Dallas Willard, John of the Cross, Eugene Peterson, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
-
I have learned that my soul flourishes with unhurried time outside, quiet moments reading a good book, a day of silence, and prayerful walking. In addition, the opportunity to hit a little white ball around the golf course is also good for my soul. In other words, I like to be outside, running, biking, golfing, and hiking. Spending time with my family rounds out the activities that restore my life and fill my heart.
-
I am most proud of my children and grandchildren, no surprise. My adult children will always be first on my list of the people I like to be with. They are kind, thoughtful, and loving towards each other, have a great sense of humor and playfulness, and live with integrity and faith.
-
My wife Soni (Sonja) and I have been happily married for 40 years - well, mostly happy; all great marriages take work. We met through a Covenant ministry called Heartsong, which was a music, puppet (yes, I know), and drama team that traveled to Covenant churches over the course of 11 months. We became good friends during that time and married after we finished university. Soni works at Covenant Living of the Great Lakes with seniors who have various levels of dementia. She excels at her job, providing compassionate care to the elderly and their families.
All my children are in their early to mid-thirties. Kristin, our eldest, lives in Grand Rapids. She is a creative, musical, and passionate woman who wants to see everyone treated justly. She works at a neighborhood daycare and has two children. Erik is a Geotechnical Information Systems Analyst (think maps). When he’s not working, he participates in several community sports leagues: golf, kickball, and cornhole (it’s a real thing). Erik and Tessa are expecting their first child in August. Andrew lives with his wife, Victoria, in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Andrew is a board gamer, an outdoor enthusiast, and works as a therapist in the Lower Mainland.
-
My life is quite ordinary, and I appreciate that. Recently, I had coffee with my brother Rod. We laughed about various realities of life and some amusing family secrets. We talked about what we were reading and the new life lessons we were trying to honour. Mostly, we simply enjoyed the moment, said our goodbyes, and looked forward to the next time we would meet up.
-
I’m deeply grateful to God for the work I get to do. I love listening to and praying with others. I revel in timely conversations where God’s voice is more clearly heard. I take delight in each pastor, leader, and congregation as they all lean into being faithful to the ways and means of Christ in their context.
You're invited to the Canada Covenant's 121st Annual General Meeting
May 2 - 3, 2025 • Strathmore, AB
As a community of churches, camps, and partnerships we rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to empower us to do Christ’s work in Canada and around the world. This year, we will gather to elect a new President/Superintendent for our denomination. It will be an exciting and important meeting. Additionally, we’ll have opportunities to learn, hear how God has been at work, connect, and worship together. Our annual meeting gives us a chance to celebrate God’s work and pray for continued guidance as we seek to Start and Strengthen churches and Serve and Support pastors and leaders.
Come to the AGM for a chance to connect with Covenanters from across Canada and to meet in person with President/Superintendent candidate, Rob Peterson.
