Celebration of Ministries Service

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Join the closing worship service of our Festival of Faith on Sunday, June 15, 2025, live from Grace Hartman Amphitheatre, Bell Park, Sudbury. Our livestream will start at 11 a.m.

Moderator: The Right Rev. Dr. Carman Lansdowne
Guest Preacher: Rev. John L. Bell
Executive Minister: Rev. Peter Hartmans
Chair of CSRC: Rev. Nancy Ferguson
Office of Vocation Minister: Rev. Kellie McComb
Pastoral Relations Minister: Rev. Rob Smith

Closing Worship Service Online Bulletin – [ PDF | 5 pages ]

If you have any techincal difficulties with our livestream box here, please see our YouTube channel livestream page here: https://www.youtube.com/@canadianshieldregionalcoun4764/streams

Meet Our Celebrants

Pamela Brown (she/her) – Ordinand

Pam Brown (nee Storozuk) was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. A life long United Church girl, spent her formative years, first at John Wesley, then St. Andrew’s UC. Pam’s mom was her Explorer leader. Growing up in church, she became a proud Canadian Girl in Training. She loved Sunday evening shenanigans with SAY (St. Andrew’s Youth). Pam would also attend Ontario Youth Parliament, a well supported church youth and young adult experience, hosted by the Soo and other United Churches throughout the Province. Pam has a deep fondness for camping. She frequented Camp McDougall as camper, counsellor, lifeguard, and then returned in recent years as camp chaplain. Camp and Church are in her DNA.

Pam moved to Sudbury to attend post secondary studies in 1985, married James in 1991 and will celebrate 34 years together this June. Mackenzie, their pride and joy, was born in 1993. As a Child and Youth worker, Pam was mostly employed in school age child care programs until transitioning to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in 1997.

There, she spent 15 years licensing Child Care Centres for the Province. From 2012 until her retirement in 2019, Pam managed the North Region Early Years Division of the Ministry of Education. During that time, Pam would attend Copper Cliff UC before really becoming rooted at Trinity United in Lively. Although incredibly blessed to find a rich community of faith in Lively, she could easily proclaim there was nothing like ‘going home’ to St. Andrew’s…to sit in the family’s familiar pew with her folks, siblings, and special aunt.

Pam spent, what seemed like ages, resisting a Call to Ministry. Her Minister, Rev. Kathy Dahmer, as well as Rev. Catherine Somerville, affirmed what Pam had been fighting off. Her response, she became an LLWL in 2014. Between occasional preaching and her ongoing work with church life, the Worship Team and the youth at Trinity Lively…she was a goner! Having discerned a call for such a stretch, when she retired from the secular world, there was no looking back. Pam began her studies at the Atlantic School of Theology in June of 2020 and by that same August, was appointed to a solo, partially funded ministry position at Trinity United Church in Capreol, ON. Pam has often said it’s the best Apprenticeship-Discipleship gig anyone could ask for. The loving support and encouragement from both Trinity congregations, combined with five years of Summer Distance Student studies, collaborating with professors and fellow students alike has been a dream for Pam. For Pam’s retirement, her daughter gave her a framed, homemade card. It sits in plain sight in her home and simply reads, “RE-fired.” Pam believes it only took a spark to be set ablaze with her Call to Ordered Ministry. She is stoked to continue on this path she’s been destined to travel.

Laura Hutchison (she/her) – Ordinand

Growing up in the United Church I have memories beginning with my Dad’s Settlement Pastoral Charge in Northern Saskatchewan, in Uranium City, Eldorado, and Gunnar Mines. These communities very quickly became family to us. From there, we moved to London, Ontario, and finally to Toronto. Camping at Five Oaks, and interacting with students at Western University and then Covenant College/Centre for Christian Studies introduced me to a world of people who were welcoming and included me in music and more. I’m sure having babysitters like Diane Trollope and Marion Pardy inspired me. I felt drawn into ministry from an early age, but formal ministry, and education wouldn’t come until much later.

Ken and I married when I was 19, and so began the years of raising our children and volunteering in the church and community. I am a mother of eight, and grandmother of 16. We started a small school, with several other families; a place where the whole world was our classroom.

In my discernment year, my husband Ken died suddenly, and I made the decision to wait a year and then to enter the Designated Lay Ministry program at St. Andrew’s College. The combination of in person and distance learning, and Supervised Ministry, serving in two pastoral charges was an amazing experience. I am so grateful for the way everyone at Trinity UC (Iroquois Falls) and St. Andrew’s UC (Matheson) were active participants in learning with me.

Two years ago, I made the decision to look for work closer to home, and I began to serve at Covenant United Church in Timmins. I enjoy participating in the Timmins Multifaith Council, and other local opportunities. Together, we are learning and growing in discipleship, in justice, and in harmony. I am still and always a firm believer in lifelong learning.

Steven Loweth (he/him) – Ordinand

My journey in ministry began as a teenager in my former Anglican congregation, where I worked with youth and was encouraged by my parish priest to consider ministry. I continued to serve in youth leadership, including on the diocesan youth committee, deepening my sense of call.

In 1986, while working in my family’s music publishing business, I attended the Centre for Christian Studies, hoping to become a diaconal minister with a focus on youth ministry and justice for refugees. However, the pressures of the family business prevented me from completing my theological studies at that time. Still, my call to ministry never left me, and I remained active in church leadership.

In 2014, after a period of discernment, I entered the Designated Lay Ministry (DLM) program at St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon. I began serving as a student minister in a wonderful small congregation in Toronto. I completed my studies in early 2019, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was not formally recognized until October 2020.

In 2022, I felt called to move away from my ministry setting in Toronto, which led me to Thunder Bay and Westminster United Church. My husband, Lionel, who is also an ordained minister, and I have fallen in love with the north, where he serves another United Church in the region. We are both grateful for the beauty of this place and for the opportunity to serve in churches where justice and love are at the heart of ministry.

Beyond my congregational ministry, I continue to be active in the wider church and community. I currently serve on the Canadian Shield Region Pastoral Relations Commission and am a commissioner for General Council 2025. I am also committed to advocacy and justice work outside of the church, serving on the board of Thunder Pride, which supports the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Thunder Bay and Northern Ontario and organizes the annual Pride Parade and Festival.

As I am called to ordination, I look forward to many more years of serving the congregation I love and the wider church, continuing to live out my call to ministry with justice, inclusion, and love at the center.

Caitlin Smithers (she/her) – Ordinand

I’m so excited to be seeing this dream come true, surrounded by so many of the people who have been such an integral part of my ministry journey, and knowing that even the folks who couldn’t be here in person, hold a special place in my heart and in my ministry journey.

Although I have worked in ministry for a few years now, there have been times in my life when I didn’t know if this day would ever come, so, to be able to see it happen, in a community I feel so a part of and so deeply affirmed by, has been an incredible gift. As the Minister at St. Andrew’s United Church, in downtown North Bay, I long to share this gift and message to all who have felt they didn’t belong, particularly in faith communities, and to let each and every one know that we are all beloved children of God, with our own unique gifts and identities, all beloved and created by God.

I was initially drawn to North Bay by the love and care I have heard about and felt from so many, here at St Andrew’s, and I especially admire the advocacy, support, and care with dignity that is offered by the congregation’s food bank, Loaves and Fishes. I rarely feel closer to God than when working toward justice, equity and love for all of God’s beloved children.

I believe deeply in learning and growth, and I wholeheartedly agree with my Nan that “one of the greatest joys of being alive is to learn.” I have participated in a wide variety of learning circles, including right relations with Indigenous peoples; health, pain and trauma; and spiritual discipleship, among many others, in addition to my Master of Divinity, and I intend to continue to take any opportunity to listen and to learn throughout my ministry. And I am so grateful to the community of St. Andrew’s United Church, who have embraced this journey of learning and growth with me the last couple years! Thank you!