Howard K. Burgoyne is an ordained Covenant pastor serving as the superintendent of the East Coast Conference. This is the first in a series of interviews with speakers who will be highlighted at Gather in June.
Hometown
Originally, Providence, Rhode Island. Currently, Cromwell, Connecticut
What are you currently reading?
The Most Important Words of Jesus, by Gerhard Lohfink, and How to Know a Person, by David Brooks
What do you hope pastors and ministry leaders who attend Gather will take away from your talk?
Acts 2:42-47 will be our primary text. I hope people will encounter the risen Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit! I hope we, especially our ordinands, come away with a clear sense of how the risen life of Jesus, with the power of the Spirit, took shape in the formation of the early Church (which is the story of Acts), and continues to take public shape in the formation and practices of Jesus’s beloved community in the 21st century around the world.
What does the Gather theme, “Faithfully Forward,” mean to you in your life and ministry context?
I’m reminded that Jesus foresaw two ways forward and a fork in the road (Matthew 7:13-14). The wide road choked with human traffic is actually the foolish way forward. There is a wildly popular path that seems at first wise to people, but around a hairpin corner, it descends into disaster. It offers no bridge across the gaping chasm.
Today’s world is so marked by despair because people have charged headlong into self-absorbed consumerism and violent self-destruction. The narrow road, less popular, and as narrow in places as the eye of a needle, is the unsung yet faithful way forward. “Faithfully Forward” offers an alternative footpath, one marked by the sign of the cross—with the Spirit leading us deeper into faith, mystery, obedience, and love. It follows the dusty footprints of the risen Lord. He alone has blazed a virgin trail with his own blood, sweat, and tears, one that leads us into the life of the kingdom, now and forever. As the Covenant looks ahead to its 140th year, it’s opportune that we renew our covenant to move faithfully forward together, companions of all who fear the Lord; all who follow his teachings.
What would Gather attendees be surprised to learn about you?
That I’m left-handed? An identical twin? Jewish? Ukrainian?
What was your first job?
Delivering newspapers for the Providence Evening Bulletin, and Providence Sunday Journal—120 papers a day, six days a week. I was delivering papers when God called me to the ministry in 1972. Now I deliver the good news!
