John Fraser doesn’t believe God is so draconian as to hold a child to a hastily made promise, but as he reflects back on more than 40 years of ministering across Canada and into the Caribbean, he believes it was just that – God drew him to what would become his lifelong profession.
Fraser was nine years old and was driving in a 1956 Ford with his family from their home in Pictou County to Halifax to watch his sister graduate. It was winter and the weather was stormy. As they were going up a hill, the car began to slide towards a steep bank. Instantly, Fraser prayed.
“God I’m too young to die,” he said. “If you keep this car on the road, I’ll become a minister.”
The car stayed on the road and they safely made their way to Halifax.
In his recently published book, “By The Sweat of Your Brow,” which can be purchased on Amazon.ca, Fraser tells how as a teen and young adult he considered various job options from banking to working at the IGA in New Glasgow. But ultimately, he believes God was calling him to the life of a minister.
He remembers how another local minister told him how they were looking for a minster to fill in at some of the smaller churches outside New Glasgow and suggested he try out as a student minister. He gave it some thought, prayed about it and ultimately decided to do it.
For a year he ministered in the pastoral charge that includes the churches in Blue Mountain, Garden of Eden and East River Saint Mary’s. His call confirmed, he then went to university to get a degree. After completing four years at StFX and then taking theological training in Montreal, he returned to Pictou County to start as the minister in the Toney River area. Later he would go to Calgary as an assistant pastor for 12 years. During that time he also became a padré for the Canadian Armed Forces. It gave him many opportunities, he said, including the chance to organize an event that involved a visit from Queen Elizabeth.
Later he would serve in churches in Ontario, the Bahamas and Bermuda.
Now he and his wife live in Florida and it’s there he has spent the last three years completing this book on his life and ministry. In the book, names of people and places are changed to protect people’s privacy, but Fraser hopes it offers a glimpse of what ministry is like. While, as a whole, Fraser has enjoyed his time as a minister, he has tried to paint a realistic picture in the pages.
“Just because God called me into the ministry doesn’t mean there weren’t downright difficult times. There were very trying times.”
It was those times he tried to follow Christ’s example and not let it get him down.
“I would hope that in my ministry, based on what they read in the book, they will see the value of having a personal relationship with God,” he said. “I’m not talking about just being religious, going to church or reading the Bible – that’s all important– but to realize that that personal relationship with God is right there at the very top.”
Reflecting on changes within the denomination during his tenure as a minister, Fraser said the biggest has been a shift to more liberal theology and he’s concerned that personal relationship is being lost as many within the church seem to think they only need a general belief in some sort of deity. He believes this shift from more conservative theology is one of the primary reasons churches are seeing their attendance drop.
“People want something that’s more solid. People want to know what the Bible says is right and what the Bible says is wrong. There’s a need for that. There’s a need for some solid lines to be drawn. What is acceptable and what is not. When those lines are not drawn all hell breaks loose. There’s a need for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
He considers it a privilege to have had more than 40 years doing just that.
