Stuart Marples, fresh out of Bible College, arrived in Shawville on Mother’s Day in 1982. He came here to take on what he thought was to be a three-month summer ministry assignment at Shawville. As luck would have it, the church found a need for a full-time pastor that year and and Stuart turned that three month assignment into a 13-year ministry.
Not only did he find a job, but Stuart also found love and, in time, started a family. He married Kellie (Brownlee) in 1983 and they went on to have three children, Shawn, Heidi and Ian. As Stuart continued to grow his ministry and Kellie worked part-time at K&L Dairy, and then at the Pontiac Home Bakery.
During those early years in Shawville Stuart enjoyed coaching the boys soccer team at PHS and working with Rick Valin and John Petty on getting the Saturday morning town soccer program started. He collaborated with Bill Black to induct a Chaplain into the Shawville-Clarendon Fire Department.
During those years Stuart became increasingly convinced of the importance of working cooperatively with other Pastors and churches. Youth ministry events were shared with St. Andrews-Know United Church in Bristol; The Church Corner and the Good News Trailer at Shawville Fair were offered cooperatively by the Pontiac churches; funerals were conducted on behalf of Shawville United when it was between Pastors; and many a special service was shared with Rev. Barney Wood and Rev. Daryl MacPherson at Shawville Standard.
The Marples left Shawville in 1995, when Stuart was offered an opportunity as Lead Pastor at Brockville Wesleyan Church where he served for 15 years before moving to Mount Pearl, NL, in 2010.
Through the years, the family often returned to Shawville to visit Kellie’s family. They kept in touch with friends and were never quite able to shake the feeling that Shawville was ‘home’ and that someday their paths may lead them back here. That opportunity came this year.
The Wesleyan and Standard denominations merged in 2004. At the time, towns that where both denominations had a church were free to decide how to run their ministry. The two congregations in Shawville decided to maintain their separate identities while continuing to work together, even sharing a Pastor for a while. In 2014 the Wesleyan Church building on James Street was sold and the two congregations came together as the New Hope Christian Fellowship.
This Spring, the New Hope began their search for a new pastor. When the phone rang in Newfoundland and Stuart and Kellie decided that the time was right to make a move Home. This summer they moved back into the same house they lived in in the 80s & 90s and began to get reacquainted with friends, neighbors, and co-workers from so many years ago. “It is surreal, on the one hand, to realize how little has changed, and on the other to recognize that the years have passed by, people have grown older, and many who were precious to us have passed on,” said Stuart.
Kellie started a job at PHS at the end of August and Stuart officially began his ministry at New Hope on September 1st. “We look forward to whatever the future has in store for us, determined to enjoy every moment of being ‘home,’ said Stuart.
Leave a Reply