{"id":4710,"date":"2014-12-10T07:13:32","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T13:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=4710"},"modified":"2015-01-26T19:46:52","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T01:46:52","slug":"cmu-student-elected-to-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2014\/cmu-student-elected-to-city-council\/","title":{"rendered":"CMU student elected to city council"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018I\u2019ve always wanted to do what I can to make the community stronger,\u2019 Gillingham says<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n

Students put their studies on hold for a variety of reasons, but Scott Gillingham\u2019s reason is unique: he was elected to Winnipeg\u2019s city council.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham, a student in Canadian Mennonite University\u2019s (CMU) Graduate School of Theology and Ministry (GSTM), was declared the winner in the St. James-Brooklands ward when polls closed in Winnipeg\u2019s civic election on Wednesday, October 22.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Gillingham, who was studying at CMU part-time while working as the lead pastor at Grace Community Church, a Pentecostal congregation in Headingley, MB, running for city council was a logical progression after years of community involvement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""We<\/a>
\u201cWe have been blessed with a democracy. We should steward that democracy, we should serve God and serve others…”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt has always been very important to me to be involved outside of my pastoral role in community organization,\u201d the 46-year-old says. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to do what I can to make the community stronger, to make where I live better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham helped start a Winnipeg Harvest food bank that serves more than 60 families every two weeks, he sits on the Winnipeg Airports Advisory Committee for the Environment, and he has been an active part of the Portage Trail Soccer Club.<\/span><\/p>\n

He is also the co-chair of the capital campaign for the St. James Assiniboia 55+ Centre, which is relocating its activities to the main floor of the St. James Civic Centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham ran for the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in St. James in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

While he lost that election, he says it was a good experience for his wife, Marla, and their two children: Hannah, who is currently a student in CMU\u2019s Outtatown Discipleship School, and Andrew, who is a Grade 11 student at Westwood Collegiate. The 2011 campaign gave the family an idea of what to expect this past fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe highs during the (recent) campaign weren\u2019t so high and the lows weren\u2019t so low this second time around,\u201d Gillingham says. \u201cWe were able to anticipate a little more what was coming up and what the campaign would look like.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham grew up near Carmen, MB. His father was a farmer before starting a career later in life with Manitoba Hydro, and his mother was a nurse. The family was always heavily involved in its church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham felt a call to ministry in his early 20s and completed a diploma in pastoral theology at Horizon College and Seminary in Saskatoon, SK in the early \u201890s. He has worked in ministry until this past August, when he left Grace Community Church to focus on his campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham\u2019s interest in politics dates back even earlier than his interest in being a pastor. He recalls two formative experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first was when he was 11 or 12 years old and his family made its annual trip to Lower Fort Garry. Ed Schreyer, who was governor general at the time, was standing at the gates and greeting people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham recalls being fascinated with the role and importance of the governor general.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another formative experience was a conversation he had while eating lunch with his aunt in the Legislative Building, where she worked. His aunt told him, \u201cYou could do this. You could be elected and be a public servant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never forgotten those two incidents,\u201d Gillingham says. \u201cThey\u2019ve always stuck with me for some reason.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He believes it is every Christian\u2019s responsibility to be involved in the political process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been blessed with a democracy,\u201d Gillingham says. \u201cWe should steward that democracy, we should serve God and serve others, and if we have the opportunity to participate in our political realm \u2013 whether it\u2019s through voting, volunteering in a campaign, being part of a party, or running politically as I have done \u2013 then I think it\u2019s incumbent upon us to be good stewards of the privileges that we have.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillingham is looking forward to serving on council, and to returning to CMU at some point.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you take a course, especially at the graduate level, you should go into it expecting to be stretched and pulled a little bit, and that has certainly been the case,\u201d Gillingham says, adding that he has been challenged and invigorated by his professors and fellow students at CMU.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is certainly to continue (my studies) when I have the opportunity and time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018I\u2019ve always wanted to do what I can to make the community stronger,\u2019 Gillingham says Students put their studies on hold for a variety of reasons, but Scott Gillingham\u2019s reason is unique: he was elected to Winnipeg\u2019s city council. Gillingham, a student in Canadian Mennonite University\u2019s (CMU) Graduate School of Theology and Ministry (GSTM), was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[156,170],"tags":[311,576,575,866],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4710"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4823,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4710\/revisions\/4823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}