Minister to Bring the Spirit to Oakland Church

By Will Read - Special to The Herald
The Rev. James Douglas Simpson will be installed Sunday as the 10th pastor of Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church. The Service of Installation will be at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary with the Rev. Dr. Bettina B. Kilburn speaking. A luncheon will be afterward in the church activity center.
Kilburn, with Disability Research and Consulting, is a graduate of Fairfield University, Boston University School of Medicine and Columbia Theological Seminary. She has been board certified in psychiatry since 1987 and is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Simpson, a native of Motherwell, Scotland, is a graduate of the University of Dundee with a bachelor of science, an honor graduate of the University of Aberdeen with a bachelor of divinity in systematic theology and church history, and a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., with a doctor of ministry.
Ordained in May 1987, Simpson served as assistant minister at West Parish Church, Bellshill, Scotland, and parish minister in Newtonhill and Portlethen churches near Aberdeen until 1996, when he was called to pastor the Northminster Presbyterian Church in Roswell, Ga. He was there until taking up the position of director of church relations at Presbyterian College in 2007.
In his “Statement of Faith and Spiritual Journey,” Simpson stated:
“My hope and trust is in the God we know through our encounter with Jesus Christ, our experience of the Holy Spirit, our engagement with the Holy Scriptures, our participation in the church, our receiving and sharing of the sacraments and our sharing of God's love, mercy, and justice in our lives in the world.
“In receiving and accepting the call of God to serve with the Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church, I am responding to a call from God to engage in a ministry of proclamation, leadership development, communication, outreach, evangelism and pastoral care. I believe God will help me use my gifts to nurture, challenge, shape, and inspire the congregation of Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church to faithfully exercise its God-given ministry as it approaches the centenary of its establishment. As a congregation birthed by and into the Presbyterian family by the faithfulness of those who saw new possibilities and potential, Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church will continue to be a committed partner within the Presbytery and denomination as together we face the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow.
“It has been my joy to follow my vocation, and it is my hope and intention at Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church, ‘to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love' as I seek to nurture this dynamic community of faith in, and towards, faithful worship and service to the community that it serves and to all the ends of the Earth.”
He and is wife, Janice, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, were married in 1983. She has been an educator in church, public high school, and college settings for 30 years. She taught in the religion and philosophy department at Presbyterian College from 2008 to 2009.
Simpson enjoys movies, sports — especially soccer and golf — history, travel, all kinds of food, and current events.
He and his wife have two grown children, Jennifer and Jim. The family became United States citizens in 2005.