OFFER: Prayers for the family and friends of Elder Ken Tiews

Dearest Siblings in Christ:

 It is with broken hearts, but with the assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ, that we share with you that our presbytery counsel, Elder Ken Tiews, has gone home to the Church Triumphant and now dwells with the saints in light.

 We find comfort in knowing that if we live to the Lord, we die to the Lord so that whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Ken certainly was, and is, the Lord’s and has been welcomed into the arms of Christ and now dwells fully in God’s Kingdom. We don’t know another saint who deserves more to rest from their labors than Ken. Even though we are surrounded by comfort, we will miss his presence among us and mourn his loss profoundly.

Ken first served the Synod of the Covenant and then began serving the Presbytery of Lake Michigan in approximately 1996. Through nearly three decades of service, Ken was gracious, fair and gentle. He called others into reconciling relationships with one another. He was a great man of faith, and at the basis of all his work was obedience to Christ’s love and the call to proclaim the Gospel in all we do.

Ken received his Juris Doctor (JD) degree from the University of Michigan in 1973 and was admitted to practice law in the State of Michigan in 1976.  He received a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree from the University of Michigan in 1977. He taught courses in the philosophy of law at Aquinas College and at Calvin University in Grand Rapids. One of Ken’s specialties was the practice of ecclesiastical law.

Ken was a rare combination. He was a competent attorney but also knowledgeable and conversant with the polity and theology of the Presbyterian Church. His focus on the Book of Order was not the rules but the wonderful expositions of how Christians should be in life together. He was a deeply spiritual man who never forgot that all works begin with God. His deep and abiding faith was evident in all he did and in all his relationships.

We will miss him greatly. A memorial service at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, Ken’s home congregation, is contemplated for this fall. We will inform you when those details become available.

Ken did not have children but he did have siblings. Please remember in prayer all who were touched by Ken and will feel the loss in their own particular ways.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Cal Bremer
Co-Leader