The George H. Stewart Award

The 2026
George H. Stewart Award Recipient

The Rev. Janet Anstead

by Carrie Shea, parishioner at Mapleton and vice-moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada

After a career as a Family Law Lawyer in London, Ontario Canada in the 1990s, Janet discerned a call to Ministry. She completed her seminary studies (Master of Divinity) at Huron College, University of Western Ontario and returned to complete a Master of Arts (Theology). She has been serving the Mapleton Church of Christ (Disciples) since 2005. Mapleton is a small but mighty rural congregation near Aylmer Ontario Canada.

Janet’s commitment to the Disciples of Christ extends beyond the congregation as she has served in leadership roles with both the Ontario Assembly of the Christian Church and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada. Janet recently completed her second non-consecutive term as Moderator for the Canadian Region in August 2024.

Janet’s commitment to ecumenism has found expression in various ways. She was the denomination representative to the Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada (WICC) and served as President of the Council from 2010-11. Janet also represented the Christian Church Disciples of Christ in Canada at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Karlsruhe, Germany in Sept 2022. Janet served for the past 5 years on the Canadian Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Witness. She has been appointed as the General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches starting on Sept 1, 2026.

In addition, Janet has shown a passion for interfaith dialogue especially within the academic context. From 2013-20, Janet taught World Religions in both degree (BTH) and non degree programs offered at the University of Western Ontario – Huron University College. In this capacity Janet created relationships with other religious leaders in the community to facilitate guest lectures and site visits to diverse places of worship.

She also was a camp leader. She was Camp Director at the Disciples Conference Grounds for over a decade. She had the best games including popular ones like giants, wizards and elves and the camp bean song. The favourites were always the “night” games that were played after dark including capture the flag and infiltration. The relationships she created and fostered at camp with the children and counsellors have continued way past camp.

She also had a special skill in helping people dealing with the recent loss of a loved one. She worked with a local Funeral home and officiated over many services for local families that didn’t have their own religious leader. In several circumstances people met Janet at a funeral and then visited Mapleton church afterwards because of it and some are now members of our church.

When it comes to her time served with Mapleton, Janet has been our beloved Pastor the past 21years. As of September 1st, she will start a new chapter as the General Secretary for the Canadian Council of Churches. We are thankful for the many years of leadership she provided to our congregation and wish her all the best in her new role. As our Pastor she created a warm, welcoming, family environment and she often added touches of humour too. She was able to be part of all of the church as she was just as comfortable giving a sermon as making pies with the women’s group or going on a pastoral visit.