Rev. Andrew Fitton: God Sends a Man to Cloverdale
Fall 2023
The Word of God reminds us in Isaiah 55:8–9 that “…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Often we have our own plans and our own thoughts concerning our lives. These plans may not be the will of God for us. Proverbs 3:5–6 instructs us to “trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
As I reflect upon the recent years of my life, these verses from the Word of God stand out as a vital message that every believer must heed. May you be open to His will, though it be different than what you want or expect.
I was born into a Christian home and I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my own and personal Savior at the age of four. In my teens the Lord began to challenge me about serving Him and attending Bible college. As a consequence, I could not settle on what to do with my life as the Lord’s call was pressing upon my heart. I was happy and zealous to serve the Lord in my local church, but going to college to train for the gospel ministry was not in my thoughts.
As time passed, the Lord challenged my heart. I placed several excuses before the Lord and in a sermon in my home congregation dealing with the excuses of Moses, the Lord dismantled all of my excuses. In 2005, while I was working nightshift in a supermarket, and stacking the shelves with baked beans, I listened to a sermon by Dr. Alan Cairns about discipleship. He was challenging his listeners to serve the Lord and he said, “You may be stacking beans on the supermarket shelf and the Lord could be calling you to serve Him!” In that same year, the Lord laid Jeremiah 1:4–10 upon my heart and I realized that I could do nothing else, but surrender it to serve the Lord.
After graduating from the Whitefield College of the Bible in 2013, I had opportunities to minister and assist in several churches under the Ulster Presbytery during the next few years. I spent a year pastoring the Free Presbyterian Churches in Port Lincoln and Lock, South Australia. Rev. Ian Goligher contacted me on several occasions about preaching in Canada and I preached in Cloverdale, BC in February 2017 and then spent five weeks preaching in Victoria, BC. I enjoyed that first trip to Canada—however, I had no intention of moving to Canada or ministering in Canada. The Lord’s ways are not our ways.
In September 2019, I arrived in Calgary to preach for one month. Here I met my future wife, Hannah. We believed that the Lord had brought us together and Hannah visited Northern Ireland in November and December 2019. New Year’s Eve marked our engagement, and our wedding date was set for August 2020. We then had to seek the Lord as to whether we would live in Canada or Northern Ireland. I was able to obtain a visa to live and work in Canada for two years, which would greatly help if I were to move to Canada. We would have to wait until we were married to make a visa application for Hannah to live in the United Kingdom. It was during this time that I began to realize that I may need to leave home and emigrate to Canada. This thought caused concern about my future and the call of God in my life, but I knew that all things worked together for good, and that God was in control.
I arrived back in Calgary in March 2020 for a short vacation to make plans for our wedding. I had also been persuaded to activate my visa just in case I needed it! It was good advice because in a matter of days the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada, including travel restrictions. Therefore, if I left Canada to return home, even with my visa, I had no guarantee of reentry before our wedding. I also was permitted to work in Canada. Despite many applications for work in Northern Ireland, I received no offers, despite previous experience. My first application in Canada for a similar position was accepted and my previous experience was noted as being of benefit to my new employer!
So, we believed that all of these circumstances were clearly guiding in relation to the Lord’s will for us to live in Canada. Hannah and I were married on August 15 that year and we had a little window of opportunity to have our wedding with minimal restrictions.
Believing that the Lord had brought me to Canada for the purpose of serving Him here, I prayed to Him regarding future ministry. The pandemic had hindered any possibility of traveling outside Canada to preach and therefore I began to pray regarding opportunities to preach in Canada. The Lord also reemphasized to me those verses which He had used to call me to train for the gospel ministry. He answered prayer regarding a smooth process for my application for permanent residency in Canada which I received in July 2022.
The Lord gave many opportunities to preach the Word in Calgary FPC and in Cloverdale FPC during the vacancy after Rev. Goligher’s retirement in 2021. I was also able to preach in Heritage FPC, Prince George and in William’s Lake, BC. The Lord burdened my heart for the work in Cloverdale. I quietly kept this to myself and prayed for the Lord to lead, and in His time and according to His will, I received and accepted the call from the congregation to be their pastor. The Lord placed the words spoken to the church at Philadelphia upon my heart, “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Revelation 3:8).
Please pray for me as I preach the Word of God to the Cloverdale congregation. May I experience what the Apostle Paul prayed for in 2 Thessalonians 3:1–5, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you” (2 Thessalonians 3:1).