Church Leaders in the Canadian Synod

Pastor Profile:
Rev. Stephen Swift
Grace Community Church
by Kyla Ward

It was fun that attracted me to him as a friend; it was fun that introduced me to the Lord of his life, and it is fun that is at the heart of his passion for seeking the lost. Stephen Swift is my pastor, friend, and associate in ministry, and he is a guy who knows how to have fun.

To many, the idea of a fun pastor may be an oxymoron akin to "military intelligence"; however, Stephen really has a love for life and a love for people that makes for many moments filled with laughter.

I met Stephen while he was a pastor in the United Church of Canada. He was doing some ministry at spring and summer camps, working with teens. I can remember when I discovered that he was a pastor. I thought to myself, if you can be a pastor and have as much fun as this guy, Jesus must be okay. I gave my life to Jesus that day.

Looking back at those years he worked in a camping ministry, Stephen believes it was then that God first awoke in him a great passion for evangelism. That passion has driven him to be a part of shaping a church with a vision to see people transformed into the likeness of Christ.

In 1989, Stephen left the United Church of Canada and found himself in the midst of seeking out a denomination in which he believed such a Vision could be pursued. Attracted to the Reformed Church in Canada because of its Reformed theology that had retained its evangelical edge, and perhaps by the fantastic Christian people he met, Stephen was called to pastor a new RCA congregation that same year.

Grace Community Church was to be a church with a ministry targeted toward young families in the Central Saanich area, just north of Victoria. Now, eight years later, Grace still has a ministry reaching into Central Saanich, and Stephen’s prayer is for us to develop a desire to become a community in which people can be transformed.

It is an adventure that Stephen is dedicated to, but he finds it challenging to trust that people will be willing to join him in such an adventure. The struggle is to not fall into the trap of thinking that everything rests on his shoulders. He’s learning to realize that the vision will be fulfilled as people let their hearts be captured by Christ. That, paired with his willingness to model such transformation, will lead to an exciting future for Grace Community Church.

Still, with all the challenges that are brought on by the passion God has fused in his heart, Stephen is committed to pressing on. Recently, that "pressing on" has meant entering into an advisory process, drawing alongside several key leaders in the congregation, and listening to what they hear and see as the "design" that God has in mind for Grace. Steve comments that, "God wants to show us how to design the Canadian church. Someone has to figure out how to do church in Canada in a way that’ll reach the unchurched. I think it’ll come, but we have to keep listening. We have to take seriously the state of the unchurched. And won’t it be FUN when the Gospel is released to transform people—LOTS of people!"

In the coming year, Stephen will be focussing primarily on the continuing advisory process, concentrating his efforts and the entire congregation’s efforts on ministering more effectively to children, and becoming more of a prayer intercessor for souls in his community. Please pray for Stephen, and for Grace Community Church, that God will release His transforming Grace in their midst. Indeed it’ll be a fun day for the entire denomination when we see people everywhere transformed into the likeness of Christ.

Kyla Ward is a member of the Grace Community Church in Brentwood Bay, B.C., where Rev. Steve Swift has pastored since 1989.