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Rev Margaret Bain speaks with pride of her Northern Ontario roots. She grew up in Schumacher, ON, graduating from the local high school in the late 1960’s. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Laurentian University before moving south to Toronto’s Emmanuel College where she was granted her Master of Divinity degree in 1974.
While at Emmanuel, Margaret met and married her husband, the Rev Barrie Bain. Their first appointments after college were to two 3-point charges on Manitoulin Island, centered around Little Current for Margaret and Manitouwaning for Barrie.
At the completion of her three year appointment, Margaret elected to temporarily turn from full-time ministry to full-time motherhood. She spent the next six years looking after her two girls and a boy. She and Barry are now Grandparents.
In 1984, Margaret and Barrie accepted a team call to Grace United Church, in Hanover, ON where they remained for the next 9 years. It was during the latter stages of this ministry that Margaret experienced some very trying times, both personally and professionally. It was at this low point in her life that she felt a call from God to Interim Ministry and subsequently became one of the earliest qualified professionals of this branch of ministry in Hamilton Conference.
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Rev Margaret Bain, BA, MDiv
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According to the United Church Manual, "Interim Ministry means an intentional, time-limited ministry established by the Presbytery, the purpose of which is to work toward specific goals identified by the Presbytery and the Pastoral Charge." (Rev Margaret will be explaining this process in some detail throughout her stay with us.)
For the record, Rev Margaret Bain has been certified as a Professional Transition Specialist by the Interim Ministry Network of Baltimore, MD, which is the only organization in Canada or the United States dedicated to providing training in Interim Ministry. She has served 7 congregations over the past 12 years, from Winona to Paris, with stops in Hamilton, Ancaster and Brantford. Also included in this time was an 8 month stint doing senior Administrative Work in the Hamilton Conference offices.
The part of Interim Ministry Margaret enjoys the most is helping congregations improve their spiritual health, by helping them to see more clearly where they want to go. The part she finds the toughest is the start-up period, where she has to discern what the congregation’s agenda really is. She has to overcome their fear of change, and convince them that transition is a slow process.
When she is not being a minister or a mother, Rev Bain reads mystery stories, knits, works on felt appliqués, and listens to relaxing music. Her children are all grown up now and out on their own.
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