Adventurous Rector in South Queens

Rev. Donald Lawton’s interest in ministry began after a religious experience in high school.

He would attend movie nights with an organization called Youth for Christ. At the time he said he was not really interested in church or Christian things.

He grew interested in the people in the organization, as they were different then people he knew.

Lawton described them as having something in their life that was different. After awhile he noticed the message in the movies and in the preaching started to make sense.

“At that point I committed my life to Christ, because it made sense,” he stated. “I could see the quality in the lives of others and so I wanted those qualities in my life.”

Lawton started a career as a schoolteacher back in the day to avoid the call into ministry.

“The stories we had around the dinner table were of adventure,” he stated, thus he wanted adventure as well.

But he soon found out there was adventure in ministry as his job took him to the Yukon, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

In 1969 he became a lay minister and was ordained in 1977.

He worked as an Anglican Chaplin in the military for 15 years as well.

He comes with experience in adult education, was involved with the lay readers academy in Toronto, was chair of the program resources board for the Diesis of Toronto, involved in marriage preparation programs and marriage counseling.

Lawton has also taught palliative care programs and provided support in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, he added.

“Ministry has been a real adventure. I have seen a wide variety of different things in life,” he commented.

He started work in Queens County Feb. 1, looking after five churches.

The parish includes the Trinity Church in Liverpool, St. James’ Church in Hunts Point, Holy Redeemer Church in Port Medway, St. Andrew’s Church in Brooklyn and St. John the Evangelist Church in Eagle Head.

“My hope for this parish is that it develops a strong sense of parish identity without losing its individual congregational uniqueness,” he said

Lawton lives with his wife in Brooklyn.