Skip to main content

Waterloo Woman Reflects on Call to Ministry

November 29, 2017
Cara DeHaan: Master of Divinity student at Calvin Theological Seminary

Cara DeHaan: Master of Divinity student at Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Seminary

Cara DeHaan didn’t know where her pull to ministry would lead her. She received encouragement from important mentors and pursued work in ministry, but the step into the world of theological education and focused ministry preparation was a big one.

Then, through the work of the Holy Spirit and through examples of important ministry leaders in her life – especially examples of women in key leadership roles – she entered the Master of Divinity Distance Learning program at Calvin Theological Seminary.

As part of a series of Student Spotlight stories for Giving Tuesday, Cara shared her story in her own words:

The first person who encouraged me to consider seminary was my high school English teacher. “You become a pastor, and you can come preach in my church!” Mr. Harris promised.

In 1994, that was quite a promise — there were very few Christian Reformed Church (CRC) pulpits open to women at the time. As much as I appreciated his offer, I couldn’t imagine being a pioneer in the area of women’s ordination. I didn’t even know whether it was biblical to ordain women to church office.

Only after 20 years of serving, leading, and growing in the church — and, notably, seeing other women model Spirit-filled ordained leadership in the CRC — did I finally make it, by God’s continual prodding, to seminary.

Even then, my reason for enrolling in the Master of Divinity program was simply “to become better equipped to serve God and his church.” Ordination was still way too scary to say out loud.

I was especially grateful that the Distance Learning program allowed me to explore this crazy calling without uprooting my family from our life in Waterloo, Ont.

On July 24, 2016, I preached for the very first time — in the very pulpit that Mr. Harris had promised to me 22 years earlier!

Ironically, Mr. Harris left Waterloo CRC many years ago, but the congregation had become the church home to me and my family since 2001. Mr Harris’s — now my — church family has been amazingly supportive as I have grown into the leader God desires me to be.

So too the students, professors, and staff I’ve met at Calvin Seminary have been a warm cloud of witnesses. God has especially used four different mentors to speak into my life during coursework, a cross-cultural ministry internship in Haiti, and now a pastoral ministry internship in nearby Brampton.

Only in the past month have I begun to say out loud: Yes, I want to be an ordained minister of the Word in the CRC. I want to preach the good news. I want to minister in Jesus’ name. I want to equip the church to participate in God’s mission of reconciling all people to himself and restoring creation to its intended design.

Since I was a teen, God has assured me with Paul’s words, that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). Even as I grow clearer about my calling as a pastor, I realize I have no idea what God’s completed work in me will be. But it will be good. Thanks be to God.

This story first appeared on calvinseminary.edu, where you can read other student testimonials and listen in as they reflect on their journeys to ministry.