Transcript

Pam Schut · Called to Serve

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Hello and Welcome. This is called To Serve, a
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podcast where we share stories from women who have been
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ordained by the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada.
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We have spoken with almost 100 pastors, chaplains,
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missionaries, and community leaders as we learn what it's
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like to be a woman in ministry. If you haven't heard yet, Call
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to Serve the book is coming out later this year.
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Our book will feature stories from 14 ordained women in
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ministry, along with new introductory material and
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appendix and a foreword written by our current CBAC Executive
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Minister, Renee Megavicar. If you'd like to win a free
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copy, e-mail call to serve at acadiau.ca by March 31st with
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the subject line free book. That e-mail address is also in
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our episode description. Please share this draw with
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anyone in your circles who would be encouraged and challenged by
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the stories of women in ministry.
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Today you'll be hearing from Pam Shoot.
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Pam is pastor of children's and family ministries at First
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Baptist Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island.
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In this episode, Pam describes the effect it had on her
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ministry when she gained the title of pastor.
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She also shares her experience of being present at the 1987
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vote on whether the CBAC should continue ordaining women.
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And she explains the importance of sharing even our negative
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stories. I'm Pam Shute and I was born in
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Brentford, Ontario. I grew up in a family of faith,
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mostly through my mother. And then we were living in a new
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town and my mom didn't know how to get to church, so my dad
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drove her and that continued on and through that my dad came to
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faith. So I had the privilege of seeing
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my dad come to faith, and I think that just reinforced the
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beauty of who we are in Christ and the beauty of that identity
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and how it changes us. And in kind of my younger years
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in the 80s being put into a Christian School, I've had that
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influence in my life, which shifted me more to a fundamental
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exposure to Christianity. So as I've evolved and kind of
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had to deconstruct later in life, I've been able to kind of
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weed through going back to that childhood faith of this
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relationship with a God that loves and cares for me.
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And so I've had a lot of wedding, but also a lot of
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fertilizing and a lot of growing that's happened in my 5th
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journey. We had moved back to the
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Maritimes when I was 12. So when I went away for
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university, I did one year at Atlanta Baptist College and then
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decided I wanted to venture away from the Maritime, went to
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Redeemer College in Ancaster, ON.
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And that's where I did my undergraduate studies.
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And while I was there, I met my husband Mike, and we got married
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and settled into Ontario for a few years.
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And then in the early 90s, there was a lot of centralization that
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happened with employments. So we went through a lot of like
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landing a good job, centralization, layoffs, these
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things happened kind of in that jumble being bounced around.
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We landed in Atlantic Canada. The pregnancy center in Moncton
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had just opened a shepherding home, and so Mike and I came
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back as house parents. So we lived in this home that
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opened their doors to anyone that came through the pregnancy
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center that was finding themselves in a circumstance
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that they needed a place to stay, and we did that.
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It wasn't a long season, probably about six or nine
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months. And then when I was pregnant
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with my second child, I thought we're taking up too much space
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in this house now. So we moved away from that
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ministry, my husband settled into work, and I made the choice
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to stay home for 12 years before I ventured into the workforce
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again. I kind of dabbled at a few jobs
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to make ends meet when we needed to, but other than that, I had
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the privilege of staying home with my children.
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And when we moved to Prince Edward Island in 2000, we did
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the search for a church and there were many churches around.
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Prince Edward Island is littered with many Baptist churches.
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We came to First Baptist Church and had a wonderful experience.
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And I felt God saying, this is where I want you to go.
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And I was confused by it because all the other churches, we had
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great experiences. It wasn't even the closest
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church to us. Why are we going to First
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Baptist Church, which was very different than any other church
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we had attended before. And so I wrestled with it.
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I'm like, God, why First Baptist?
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Like why are you saying go there?
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And I heard his voice clearly say, not now, just serve.
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And so that's what we did, Jumped into the life of the
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church community that we loved. We grew to know and love the
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people. And then my position here at
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First Baptist, I fell into it. There was a need.
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I was available. And very quickly came to realize
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that it was so much more than just a happy circumstance.
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I think that's when I really recognized the passion that I
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had for this ministry. And that passion LED into a call
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I started in 2007, filling in just on a sick leave as the
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coordinator for the children's programs.
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And I stayed in that for about 5 years.
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And then there was some jostling around of positions and stepped
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away for a season. And then they came back and
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asked me to take on a position for one year while they did
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their search so that they could find someone to take on this
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role permanently. And it was right at the very end
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when it was time to apply, I heard God say clearly now.
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And that's when I applied for the position and was taken on
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permanently. And that would have been in
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2013. And so since then this has been
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a permanent position which has evolved from this kind of just
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make sure something happens on Sunday to the director of
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Children and Family Ministry to now the title is switch to
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Pastor of Children and Family Ministry.
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Even in the transition, when the the official title was director
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of Children and Family Ministry, I would quite often in
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friendships and relational things, I would say I was a
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pastor because I felt it opened the door for me to be able to
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share and for them to share more personally.
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But if it was somebody that wanted me to get something done,
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I would say I was a director. And so it was a title that
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probably in my mind, I had always interchanged.
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But it was when our current pastoral team lead came, he
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recognized when he looked at the website, the two men had the
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title of pastor and the two women had the title of director.
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And he went, that doesn't even recognize what we believe or who
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we are. And so he just made the change
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age. I became more comfortable with
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the title of pastor because he started introducing me as
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pastor. So it's more now instead of just
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being the person who creates programs, I'm the person who's
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involved in the spiritual training and development within
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the families and children at our church.
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Today. I got lost in a corn maze with
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one of the moms. So I really have the best job
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ever. There is the practical side,
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making sure that our programs run smoothly and making sure
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that what we are doing fits within the vision of our church.
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We want to make sure that those that come to our church grow up
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rooted in their faith with the capability to lead and pastor
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others around them. And everything we do with the
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children is with that goal of raising them up so that they
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recognize who they are in Christ.
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And that means sometimes getting lost in a corn maze or making
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sure that this space that we have is safe.
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So the practicality of safety and protection policies, of
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making sure that our volunteers are well trained, that they are
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aware of our vision, and that the material we are using points
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to what we want to reinforce. So I have the children's
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ministry, which is Sunday morning programs.
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We also have a midweek program and then different one offs
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where we do specific, like age specific mentorship stuff with
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our children. I run a junior leader program
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with volunteers so that they can be a part of the children's
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ministry. And then I also have a family
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ministry where we get together sometimes for just the fun.
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We've gone curling together, we've gone swimming together.
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We also have lunches together and meals together.
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One of the privileges with the position is there's a lot of
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flexibility in it. My one son curled competitively
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and so when he got to go to Canada Games, I'm like, well,
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I'm going on Canada Games. I was able to be a part of my
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children's life. In the same token, they were
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very much a part of what we were doing as a family.
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There were times when I had to work over summer holidays, so I
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lugged them in and yeah, I think one time they were playing poker
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in the church basement. Fortunately, my my children were
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always loved and embraced by the church family.
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So even though if they were here tearing around, that wasn't seen
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as a burden. And so that made balancing
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family life and the ministry very easy.
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First Baptist Church has been very supportive of their
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leadership and having women in leadership that I think the few
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times that you've confronted these moments because you were a
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woman, it, it took me by surprise.
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And there were a few instances, uncomfortable conversations or
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even confrontations that were difficult and they were hurtful.
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Also as a children's pastor that seems to be wrongly associated
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with, well, that's what the women will do.
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And even like I had said in the Christian School that I went to,
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I would have been told, no, this is your role.
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So my experience as a teenager and young adult would have been
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in children's ministry because that was where I should have
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been. The theology that I've been
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exposed to leaned that way. And that would have been some of
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that wedding that I did as I sat down and evaluated, well, what
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does Scripture say and what does this mean?
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I've said to my children all the time be lifetime learners and
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they recognize, well, maybe that should apply to me too.
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This call to go back to school recently really came with the
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ownership of the title of pastor When that switched and people
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started calling me Pastor Pam on those occasions.
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Like it was a comfortable weight to carry.
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It was almost like when you take a backpack on a hike.
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I wanted to make sure that my backpack was full with the tools
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I needed to be able to carry the weight of being a pastor, and
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that's what sent me back to school.
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I wanted to make sure that when I was evaluating the programs
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we're running and what we were teaching and the curriculum
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we're using, that I'm going through a lens that has been
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untrained. I wanted to make sure that I had
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the resources when families came to me because of how they're
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dealing with life, that I was able to direct them to the right
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space and the right place. I'm not young, like I'm 55 years
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old. It seems strange to jump into
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school and not necessarily an academic.
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Like school has not been one of those things that has come easy.
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But learning is good. And until I went back to school
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recently, no, I hadn't thought about ordination.
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I think that's still swimming around in my mind.
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Like, would that be a next step? And doesn't matter that I will
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be later in life when I see coordination.
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I remember being at the first vote in 87 as to whether or not
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women should be ordained. I was a teenager.
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I remember that that meeting and it being contentious, being told
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to vote against it. Actually, I was told that was
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the responsible thing to do. And I would probably would have
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told that was the biblically accurate thing to do.
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Again, like when I go back to this wedding that I've had to do
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in life because I would have been brought up with this idea
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that feminism is destructive and ruining women.
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But if there's any movement that empowers anybody that's been
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marginalized, that's important to take note of.
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We've been called to do that. We've been called to take care
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of each other. And in scripture, when you look
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at the that, what is it? The quartet of the vulnerable?
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We're we're called to help the marginalized.
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And so we have this movement that is empowering women.
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So how do we step in and point everybody in that movement to
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who they are in Christ? We're called to work alongside
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each other. We are called to a work in our
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giftedness. If we can teach where to teach,
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if we can lead, we need to lead. We have a young girl in our
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congregation who moved here, immigrated to Charlottetown, and
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when she entered our children's ministry, didn't even speak
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English. But when she did what she had to
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say that points people around to Jesus and recognizing, you know,
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she may only be in junior high, but there's a call on her life.
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These are the women that inspire me.
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We sometimes we limit each other, whether it's by gender or
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even by competitiveness. We've got to stop limiting each
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other, rather encourage each other.
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I think when we guard ourselves in these things like, well, what
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about this? Or what if that person doesn't
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want me in this role? Or how will it be we?
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We can limit ourselves so much when we start worrying about
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what other people are going to say or think about what we're
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doing. One thing I will say is in
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telling our stories sometimes, and even when I've been talking
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here, I've left out some of the things that were hard and we
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maybe shouldn't always do that. Sometimes we have to tell those
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uncomfortable situations we've been in because people need to
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recognize they do happen. I've told some of these stories
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in particular to my boys. I'll go home and say this
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happened to me today because I want them to recognize the
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injustice of that. Like, I've been in this position
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for quite a while and there's been times when even though I
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was supported, I'm not quite sure I was seen.
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But right now in the position, I'm supported and I am seen and
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being seen as a woman, recognizing the obstacles that
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are there because I'm a woman. But there's been an
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intentionality of making sure that those don't hinder me from
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doing work. Whereas before, it's kind of
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like if I've had an experience and and sharing it with someone,
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they're like, oh, you must have misunderstood that.
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And when I look back, it's like, no, I didn't misunderstand that
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at all. So even though sometimes stories
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may be unattractive and we don't want to shine a negative light,
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it's also important that we tell the stories.
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And I think of one time when we were sitting around as a group
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and we had a woman on our teaching team, as we should, and
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somebody from outside of the church said, you shouldn't be
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doing that. That's not your role.
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That's contrary to Scripture. And it caused this crisis of
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faith. But when we were chatting about
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it later as a ministry team, young man on our ministry team
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went, wait, but people believe that.
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And we're like, yeah, actually, they do.
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And they're like, oh, I didn't think people actually believe
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that anymore. For him, his eyes were open to
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an injustice. So sometimes we may think we're
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just complaining, but our stories can make difference.
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And even at the age of 55, for me to be able to step into a
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confidence in leadership that I never had before, I think comes
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from that being seen. Thank you to Pam for sharing
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your story with us. Remember to enter our draw for a
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free book by emailing the address in our show notes.
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And please take a minute to leave a rating on this podcast
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and share this episode with others.
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You can follow Called to Serve on Facebook and Instagram.
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And keep up to date with our latest news at Called to
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serve.ca. We'll be back in two weeks with
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another woman's story of being called to serve.