Surprising turns: the call story of Louise Sinclair-Peters

Together with her husband Dave and their four children, Louise Sinclair-Peters is thrilled to be bringing Thai people before God’s throne of grace. “Just think,” she says as part of MBMS International’s Team 2000, “some day we will be in heaven, worshiping around the throne as part of Christ’s bride from every nation, tongue and tribe.”

Louise Sinclair grew up in a sometimes violent and chaotic home with an alcoholic father. Because it was affordable, Louise’s mother sent her two children to Manitoba’s Camp Arnes. There, 11-year-old Louise immediately encountered love and acceptance. Before the week was out, she had put her faith in Jesus. She returned home with the lovely secret of heaven in her heart.

Every summer, Louise experienced spiritual refreshment at camp but did not know how to live as a believer in the winter. In high school, after yet another weekend of excessive drinking, she suddenly realized she was becoming exactly what she had vowed never to be. “I didn’t need God to save me from my parents,” she was surprised to discover, “I needed God to save me from me.” Right then, Louise cried out to God to lead her to something better.

A camp mentor suggested that “something better” could be Bible school in New Zealand and Australia. Upon arrival, Louise knew so little about Christianity that she failed the basic Bible knowledge entrance exam. By the time she left, she had gained invaluable knowledge of Scripture, prayer and faithful living. She came home to Winnipeg excited to counsel at Camp Arnes: “to share my testimony with little girls just like me.”

At camp, Louise met fellow counsellor David Peters, a young man with a stable Christian background. She was immediately drawn to his sincere love and commitment to God. As the two interacted at camp and as Dave went out of his way to invite Louise to his church, their wildly divergent backgrounds began to come together into one exciting future.

Inner healing

Newlyweds, the Sinclair-Peters attended Elim Chapel in Winnipeg where God began the miracle of inner healing in Louise. “The traumas and hurts we go through in life need not disqualify us from ministry,” Louise emphasizes. “If we open up those painful experiences to God’s healing power and light, they can strengthen our character and compassion for others.”

At university, a Christian professor encouraged Louise to channel her strong sense of justice and advocacy into ministry. As she experienced deep rest from the turmoil and bondage of her past, serving God became the natural choice. She began testing the waters by ministering in the local church and as a hospital chaplain.

Soon, in the midst of a Masters of Divinity degree from the University of Winnipeg, Louise was drawn to Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno. There she experienced the Christian community she was looking for. As a couple, Dave and Louise lived, prayed and served with people who were united by a mission focus. Foundational truths learned in the classroom were worked out in the streets of their community. “Evangelizing and praying in radical ways with radical Christians became the other half of our seminary education,” she says.

From seminary, Dave and Louise were called as a pastor couple to Cariboo Bethel MB Church in Williams Lake, B.C. They spent eight years there, growing in their respective roles as pastor and counsellor, and raising their young family. When friends from the Seminary contacted them about a 10-year mission project in Thailand, they thought the idea of moving their family across the world was ludicrous.

To Thailand

As they sought the Lord’s will, however, the Sinclair-Peters were reminded of their Fresno years when they were “chalk full of creative zeal waiting to be unleashed!” The desire to go to Thailand grew as their Williams Lake community blessed and released them. Today, stationed with Team 2000 in Chonburi, Thailand, the Sinclair-Peters are part of a dynamic three-family church planting team. (See more about Team 2000 at MBMS International.)

Reflecting on the surprising turns of her life, Louise recalls the many Christ-like mentors who “cried with me, befriended me, and called out the gifts and abilities I didn’t even know I had. And,” she adds, “they confronted me when I was going the wrong way.”

God did indeed have something better in mind for Louise. The little girl who rejoiced to discover there is no fear in Jesus is now the woman who joyfully shares that same message with others, both here and across the world.

This is one of a series of “call stories” collected by Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in their Ministry Quest program.