A Conversation with Bishop Kevin Robertson | Trinity Talks Podcast

It's my pleasure today to have Bishop Kevin Robertson with us here today for Trinity Talks.

And it certainly is an honor to have the bishop join us.

And what a blessing it was to have you receive some new Anglicans and to confirm many of

our congregants into the church today.

So how are you doing?

I'm great, Elizabeth.

Really very, very happy and privileged to be here today.

Yeah, well, thank you.

It's a busy morning for you.

You've got a full itinerary.

And so I do have some questions because when we have the bishop with us, we want to make

the most of our time together.

So I've got some kind of tough questions, exciting questions.

But I always like to start off with some fun questions.

Okay.

All right.

So I've got my first question for you so that we get to know you a little bit better is

could you share with us maybe one of your secret talents?

Yeah.

All right.

Just one.

I'm sure there's a few.

Oh my gosh, I have so many to choose from.

I don't know where to start.

No, I'm just kidding.

Well, one of my things that I love to do that people might be surprised about since I'm

now in my 50s is I love to ride a BMX bike.

Okay.

And my son who's 11 about to turn 12, he I used to take him to the indoor skate park

in Markham.

And then he said, Dad, why don't you why don't you ride sometimes?

So I ride with him.

Okay.

People are like, you ride a BMX bike?

I sure do.

All right.

So for those of us, myself included, what is a BMX bike?

Oh, okay.

So a BMX is a kind of bike.

It's a small bike that you I had one when I was a kid that I used outside.

But this is an indoor skate park.

It's just it's like a sport bike.

Right.

It's used for tricks, jumps, all right, and all that kind of thing.

So all right.

At this place in Markham, there's a foam pit that you can ride your bike into off a ramp.

Like it's really that's a lot of fun.

I wear a helmet.

Okay.

Safety first.

All right.

So another question is movies.

Do you like movies?

I do.

Yeah.

So what's the one movie that you've gone back to time and time again and would watch

multiple times over?

What movie can you just never get enough of?

Oh, wow.

That's a tough question.

Yeah.

Because we have twins and they're about to turn 12 and they're both big fans of like

Spider-Man.

I saw the new Aquaman movie last week with my son.

Okay.

I would say Marvel.

The Marvel comic movies.

I just love them.

Yeah, I can't get enough of them.

Amazing.

All right.

Well, there certainly are a lot of those movies out there.

I can't keep track.

But anyway, that's great.

And then my last question is, what is your favorite thing to do to relax on a Sunday afternoon

after church is done?

Well, this afternoon I'm actually in another church in the West End.

So I often find that on Sunday afternoons, I'm busy doing ordinations or a celebration

of new ministry or an anniversary service.

And that's what's happening today.

So Sunday afternoons are not usually quiet for me.

But when I get home at the end of the day, and sometimes that's not until seven or eight

o'clock, I just love to chill in front of the TV.

That's great.

Yes, I suppose Sunday afternoons are few and far between for you.

When I was in parish ministry, I loved Sunday afternoons because we rarely had anything.

And then I became a bishop and my Sundays are like chock-a-block.

All right.

Well, that's actually a great segue into maybe some more serious questions for you.

But you are a bishop and many of the people here at Trinity have not come from an Anglican

background.

Actually, and some people who have come from an Anglican background may still not know

exactly about the role of what a bishop does and what a bishop is exactly.

So could you take a moment just to tell us a little bit about your role here in the diocese

of Toronto here?

Sure.

I'd be happy to do that.

Well, I think the most important place to start is that the ministry of a bishop and

bishops are biblical.

It's not something that we kind of just made up along the way.

The ministry of oversight, episcopae from the Greek word episcopae, from which we get

the word episcopal, bishop, is something that we discover in the pages of the New Testament,

specifically in First Timothy.

And in the Bible, the role of the bishop is to be just that, to oversee the church.

You may know that in some cases, I didn't bring mine with me today, but a bishop carries

a staff.

Right.

And it looks a lot like a shepherd staff.

And the bishops are supposed to be, I mean, our calling is to be shepherds of the people.

Now, of course, our good shepherd, our great shepherd is Jesus.

And he's the one that we look to to guide us in our daily journey of life.

But the bishops are entrusted with that special responsibility of leading the people of God.

And what that means for me in the Diocese of Toronto is that I oversee about 80, 85

churches.

And I'm in a different one every Sunday.

I also oversee the eight Anglican independent schools that are in our diocese as well.

I also have a special relationship with them and with the Anglican chaplains in those schools.

So it really is one of oversight of kind of getting the big picture.

One of the things that I really love about being a bishop, and maybe I'm jumping ahead,

that's all right, is being able to bring together needs and resources.

So this space in which we're sitting is a great example.

This studio is relatively new, right?

It is.

It's still ever evolving as well.

And your church, Trinity, asked the Diocese of Toronto if there was some money to be able

to help with the technology that is needed for this kind of ministry.

And I was delighted to be a part in bringing together the need that you had with the resources

at the diocese.

That's one of my favourite things to do.

That's great.

Thank you very much.

All right.

So actually, that's a great segue into one of my other questions that I have here.

Is the role of technology?

As you see here, we're in a studio, we've got cameras, we're live streaming.

What sort of your ideas are on the role of technology within spreading the greater gospel

message?

I'm not sure if you have experience using technology in the church.

I'm sure you do.

But what you think the role of technology is right now and maybe even going forward

in the future?

I think it is absolutely essential.

And I think I would have said that before the pandemic, but I really say that after

the pandemic.

I think churches that were not able to embrace technology during the pandemic and continue

on using it after the pandemic as you are, have really suffered.

And I think to embrace technology is to embrace one of the ways in which God is allowing us

to be involved in gospel ministry.

If we didn't embrace technology, the gospel would not be proclaimed in some places.

I mean, that's how deep this is, right?

And we're all about the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, right?

So any way we can do that, I think we should.

I think one of my concerns about technology is that in some places, it replaces this kind

of conversation that you and I are having that we're sitting six feet away from each

other that we are in real relationship.

I'm meeting you for the first time, Elizabeth, today.

I'm delighting in your presence.

I'm enjoying being with people.

It's hard to replicate that.

It's hard to replace that in technology.

So I think the church needs a blend.

I think we need to continue to gather together in person, in community.

For those who are not able to be in person, technology is something that I think really

needs to be embraced for the sake of the gospel.

Thank you.

That's great.

And that is something that we're trying to do and explore and learn about here at Trinity.

I can tell.

Yeah.

The studio is amazing.

And it's wonderful to know that we have people out there who are watching that will actually

they'll check in, we'll say hello to each other, we'll connect during the week over

email.

So we are able to grow in relationship.

At least that's the goal with everyone who is out there watching online or listening

into our podcast.

Yeah.

So it's very exciting.

And you talked about some of the great things that are going on in your role as bishop,

but I know that the church right now is also facing some challenges.

So I'm wondering what challenges and this is I hope this doesn't sound like a negative

question, but I know that some churches or the church in general is facing some challenges

these days, but then maybe what your hope is for the greater church as well.

Yeah, I think churches and I would say that even broader than that, Elizabeth, would be

like the faith communities generally are I think are struggling to be relevant and meaningful

in a world where there's so much else going on.

And I think that's especially true for young people and for young families that there's

just there's in the marketplace, including the spiritual marketplace, there's so much

happening that people don't necessarily need to show up in church in order to get their

spiritual fix on a Sunday morning.

They there are books, there are podcasts, there are all kinds of opportunities for people

to be nurtured in their spiritual lives without necessarily coming to church in a traditional

way like our parents generation and our grandparents generation did.

I'm not discouraged by that.

I mean, I think we need to be open to change.

And I think the Holy Spirit is leading us in some ways of change that are uncomfortable.

Some of our churches that are really struggling with viability, their congregations are small,

the needs of their building are great and expensive.

That's not a that's not a nice place to be right when when you've been a part of a church

community for decades and you see that it may be coming to the end of its life.

Right.

That's hard.

But we are people of death and resurrection like that.

We stake our whole lives on the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Right.

And if God is faithful, and I believe God is faithful, even those communities that may

be shutting their doors a year from now, two years, five years from now, there's life for

them still.

Maybe that's in a new community of faith.

Maybe that's in a house church.

Maybe that's in a small group.

I think that the Holy Spirit's inviting us to reimagine what it means to be the people

of God in church.

And as I say, those aren't I don't I don't mean to suggest those are easy decisions or

comfortable ones.

They don't they're not.

But it doesn't mean that God is not faithful.

I think God is just calling us into new things.

I think you said that very beautifully.

Oh, thanks.

Yeah.

So there is so much hope in that.

And that is what we found our faith in.

Yeah, thank you for that inspiring message.

That was great.

And then you did allude to the fact that there's lots of churches out there that you oversee.

How many was that that you said about 80 85, something like that?

85.

That's no small task.

But you know, Trinity and I'm wondering where you see Trinity's role sort of in the greater

kingdom.

Where do you see Trinity and what sort of unique spiritual gifts or presence does Trinity

have to you?

Oh, my gosh, that's that is such a great question.

And I think it's fairly easy for me to answer, even though I don't know this community all

that well, just because I think Trinity occupies this really unique role in the life of the

Anglican Church in our diocese and within the kingdom of God.

I think, you know, no community is perfect.

We know that.

But for a community of faith that is able to worship the way we did this morning, freely,

joyfully, spontaneously, I just I looked around the church this morning around the sanctuary

and it was just so inspiring.

And that's not true in every church community in our diocese.

You know, some churches don't have good music and good coffee.

Some churches don't have the resources to be able to do what we're doing right here

in this studio.

I think one of the gifts that Trinity can give to other churches, other Anglican churches

in our diocese, but other churches of other traditions and denominations is to rediscover

what real community looks like.

I, you know, there's a freedom about talking about the gospel in this place.

There is an owning of the faith of Jesus Christ in an unapologetic way.

And I think I think lots of communities could learn from that.

I also know something about this community's reclaiming of testimony.

I had a conversation just before the service today where a woman who I never met before

was just kind of testifying.

She was I said, why do you come to Trinity?

How long have you been here?

And she began to speak about her faith in Jesus Christ.

What a gift.

Like, what a gift that she gave me.

Right.

But what a gift that she can give to other people by saying, it's OK to talk about our

faith.

It's important to talk about our faith.

And I get the sense there's lots of that happening around here.

There's a lot of encouragement within each other here in the church to do that.

So I before I say thank you, because I know you have some photos to take with confirmation

are people who were confirmed earlier today.

Do you have any final words or a prayer for Trinity that you could leave us with?

Oh, I would be happy to say a prayer.

And before before we pray together, I do I do want to be part of my ministry, I think,

is to be an encourager.

And that's more difficult in some places than others.

It's this is an easy place to be an encourager because there's so much going on here.

There's so many signs that the spirit of God is active and moving in the life of this community.

And look at those young people who are being confirmed today.

Right.

And confirmations happen in other churches, too.

But whenever it happens, I think that's a bold and courageous thing to do to publicly

proclaim your faith in front of a whole bunch of other people.

And it's a sign of great encouragement for me.

I sure is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let us pray.

Thank you.

Gracious God, we give you so much thanks for the gift of this community here at Trinity.

I give you thanks for the generations of people who have built up this community of faith

over many years.

And for those who continue to give leadership in so many different ways.

Lord, you are blessing this community in amazing and wonderful ways.

And the signs of that blessing are in so many places today.

The fruits of the spirit are here.

The love of Jesus is being shared.

And in the faith formation that we see in this place, we know that your gospel is being

engaged and lived out.

And we give you so much thanks for all of that.

And so we would ask, oh, God, that you just continue to build up this place.

Equip and empower each person to go out from these four walls to be an instrument of your

reign.

That others may catch a glimpse of your coming kingdom in the lives of those who have been

blessed in this place.

And send us out to love and serve the Lord, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in

word and action.

All this we ask in Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Thank you for your wisdom and your insight and your time.

Again, it really was a real blessing to have you with us here today.

The blessing is mine.

It's been really wonderful to be here.

And I'm going to send you back for your photos.

Okay.

Blessings to all of you who are listening either now or in the future.

Exactly.

All right.

Bishop Kevin Robertson joining us today for Trinity Talks.