Skip to content

New minister at St. Andrew's embraces Newmarket with open arms

Self-described 'small-town guy at heart' brings love of community, the church, history and heritage trees to town

Rev. Robert Royal answered a ‘gospel call’ that brought him to a new home in Newmarket this summer and a place on the ministry team at downtown’s St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.

Royal was inducted Sept. 8 at a service at the Water Street church, and will serve alongside Rev. Laura Duggan. He previously served for 12 years at St. Andrew’s in Maple (Vaughan) after being ordained in 2007 as Minister of Word and Sacrament.

“There was this vacant position to fill and I felt God was leading me to fill this position here at St. Andrew’s Newmarket,” Royal said. “It’s what we call a gospel call, where God is leading us in terms of ministry. I start to listen to that still, small voice of God that is guiding me in my ministry and it was time for me to wrap things up in Maple because God had a new thing for me to do. And this is the new thing and here I am, and I’m just delighted.”

Don’t miss any local news, sign up for our daily headlines email

The minister with a self-described missional-church focus, love of history, heritage, and the environment, joined the St. Andrew’s Newmarket ministry team July 1. Since then, he has been conducting outreach to meet and get to know local community members.

Royal has already attended a Newmarket Chamber of Commerce breakfast, a Newmarket Main Street District BIA meeting, met with school officials at Pickering College, and others in the community who share his passion for history.

“My ministry is missional, and if I can put the theological spin on it, it is as God has sent me, so I am sent,” Royal said. “That’s what it’s all about, and we hold Christ at the centre. We want to be a missional church filled with missional people, not just inside the church walls but going out and being part of the community. That’s an important thing that I bring with me in coming here to Newmarket.”

Originally from Goderich, in Huron County, Royal said he remains a “small-town guy at heart”.

“I’ve been to many places since, but I think that Newmarket has a small-town appeal even though it’s growing exponentially,” he said. “I’ve settled in very nicely here, I just love it here. I love the house I’m in, and I love the community and the people, and I certainly love the church.”

Royal read with interest an article published Aug. 17 at NewmarketToday about Newmarket’s oldest white oak heritage tree that is in danger of dying because its root system was paved over to make room for a parking lot at the rear of a multi-unit housing complex. 

He reached out to NewmarketToday to share an initiative that he and the trustees at St. Andrew’s in Maple took on that saw three 150-year-old sugar maples at the 9860 Keele St. church property designated as heritage trees.

After learning that a property to the south of the circa-1862 church had been sold to a developer, who then resold the land to another developer, Royal said it was time to act.

“We’ve seen far too many trees and natural things just either completely cleared out of the way or damaged because we encroached too close on them,” he said. “We realized they will try to develop as close to the property line as they can, and if they get too close to the root structure of the trees it will damage those trees and ultimately kill them. And then that’s it, it’s over, and I don’t want it to be over. Those trees have lasted and they still produce their sap after 150 years.”

It was a years-long effort that just this past June saw an official declaration from Forests Ontario arrive, days before Royal headed north to Newmarket.

“The idea is that the canopy of the tree, all the leaves and branches you see up top, that will more or less tell you how far out the root system goes,” Royal said. “When you are protecting a tree, it isn’t just a case of going five or six feet around the tree, so you’ve got to be extremely careful.”

Royal recalls with fondness a gentleman from Vaughan who used to tap the maple trees at the church and conduct free educational and tasting sessions for members of the community.

In the Forests Ontario heritage tree certificate, it is acknowledged that “the church, constructed in 1862, is a heritage building and a classic example of the carpenter Gothic architectural style. Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964), a notable commonwealth publisher, politician, and philanthropist, was the son of Presbyterian minister, Rev. William Aiken, who served at St. Andrew’s Church from 1865-1880.”

“It is said that these trees were planted to provide shade, but they have played many roles in their lifetimes. These days, the sugar maples are used to teach local children and English-as-a-Second-Language students to tap for sap”.

The service of induction for Royal was conducted by the Presbytery of Oak Ridges, with Rev. Dr. Kevin Livingston, associate professor of pastoral ministry at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto preaching the sermon. The charge was delivered by Rev. Rebecca Jess of Armour Heights Presbyterian Church in Toronto.

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is at 484 Water St., in Newmarket.

For more information, visit here.