Message From the Director
The Ven. Larry Mitchell is the first Canadian to serve as North American Warden. Larry and his wife Betty live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He began his eight year term in June 2004.
Who We Are and What We Believe as Members of the Order of St. Luke the Physician
From time to time we receive e-mails and calls asking us what we believe as the Order of St. Luke. In order to answer that question we need to begin by stating that the Order of St. Luke is an ecumenical Order of people from many different Christian denominations and backgrounds who come together because of our common concern that the healing ministry of the Gospel finds its rightful place alongside the proclamation of the Gospel in all churches. Although it is our goal to work with and within the different churches we are not governed by the views or the proclamations that are made by those churches and/or denominations. We neither support the views of, nor do we adhere to the doctrine of, nor are we affiliated with any particular denomination although we owe much to all of the denominations that are represented in our Order. We are a ministry that reaches out with Christ's healing love and presence to all who seek him and come to him to be made whole in body, mind, and spirit.
As an ecumenical ministry although we hold to the basic doctrines of the Christian faith as defined in the creedal statements of the universal church, due to our different traditions and backgrounds we understand and interpret those doctrines as defined by the traditions to which we belong. Our theological perspective with regards to our interpretation of the Scriptures will also be influenced by our denominational understanding of the Scriptures but be that as it may we are one in our belief that Jesus heals today just as he did when he walked upon this earth and that it is still his desire that we respond in obedience to heal sick and be ministers of Christian healing. Therefore it is the healing ministry of Jesus that is our common bond within the Order of St. Luke and not so much that we hold to a common understanding of the Faith.
As an independent ministry made up of many different Christian traditions with the goal to help the church embrace the healing ministry we do expect those who minister in the name of the Order to hold to these basic doctrines of the Faith as they understand those doctrines. We expect those who minister in our name to:
Believe that the Scriptures are the Word of God and have the final authority when
it comes to the matters of Faith
Believe that God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Believe our knowledge of the Father comes through our personal relationship
with Jesus, the Son, and that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that we accept Jesus as our Lord, Savior, King, Light, Leader and Law
Believe that as Christians we live our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit so
that our lives reflect the truth of the Gospel and show forth the light of the Lord that we serve.
As a leader in the ministry of healing within the Order of St. Luke it is essential
That we belong to, and are rooted in a Christian Faith Community and we are
recognized by our congregation to be a person of faith that practices the gifts that God has given through the impartation of the Holy Spirit.
That we believe that Jesus heals today and that it is His will that the healing
ministry be a part of the life and offering of every Christian Community
That we believe that we are called into the healing ministry with the mandate
and mission to bring Christ's healing to hurting people, to hurting churches and to a hurting world.
Since we are called to work with and within many different Christian Faith Traditions it is important that the leadership of the Order work at being more effective in bringing the Christian healing ministry to all Faith Communities. In order to accomplish that there are at least four key standards that any Christian ecumenical organization needs to work at fostering within the organization.
1. We need to value and learn from the other Christian traditions with whom we work. This involves honoring the person and their denomination no matter whether we might agree with them or not, and we need to come to understand more fully that what binds us together is not that we all think alike but that we accept the Lordship of Jesus in our lives and that we are committed to offering the healing ministry of Jesus to all persons based on their need and their desire to be touched by Christ's love.
2. We need to work at maintaining and being allowed to maintain our own integrity in the faith and we need to learn to accept and celebrate the integrity of others who are working with us. That is to allow people the freedom to be who they are and to believe the truths of the Gospel in the way that they have come to see and understand those truths. We are all in a process of growth in Christ which means that each of our Faith journeys are different and one is not better than another nor is one farther along than another they are just different.
3. We need to recognize that God has given the Order of St. Luke through the many Christian traditions that make up the membership of the Order all the resources needed to do the ministry that he has called us to do and those resources reside in the people that God has drawn into the organization. We have to learn to recognize and accept those resources and to be faithful stewards of what God has given to us.
4. We need to work at understanding what it means to be an ecumenical ministry. What it means to live and work with diversity and to be open to accept and learn from that diversity. None of us or do any of our churches have the whole answer. We have to work at understanding the ecumenical diversity of our organization at all levels and learn to serve and work within that diversity to forward the mandate that our Lord has entrusted to us. Above all we need to focus ourselves on our objective as an Order.
"It is the objective of the Order of St. Luke the Physician to bring about, among the Christian denominations, clergy, doctors, and other medical personnel, and lay people, an increased understanding of spiritual healing and wholeness as an essential part of the teaching and practice of Jesus Christ as set forth in the New Testament, and to encourage believing Christians to understand that all believers may have an active part in Jesus healing ministry."
The objective of the Order has much to say about helping people within different churches to understand that they are called to be a part of the healing ministry of Jesus and that their church is to become a place of healing and wholeness. As an Order that embraces diversity let us be unified in focusing our attention on helping to further those objectives. We have a valuable gift for the church and the Church needs what we have to offer therefore we need to do everything within our power as a Christian ministry to share that gift with all who need it.
The Ven. Larry Mitchell
1219 Cairns Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7H 2H1
306-343-6649
lwm.osl@sasktel.net