Taking Up the Cross and Following

by Arron Gust

On September 6, 2026, at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Winnipeg, I was installed as Regional Pastor along with the other newly-elected leaders of Lutheran Church–Canada. As part of that day, I was entrusted with a beautiful pectoral cross surrounded by the traditional symbols of the four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

I have found myself looking at it often, and perhaps that is because the cross arrived at just the right moment. It came as I was closing one chapter of my ministry and beginning another—leaving full-time parish ministry at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Regina and entering the Regional Pastor’s office to serve the congregations and pastors of LCC’s Central Region.

Only a week earlier, I preached my final sermon as Grace’s full-time pastor. The Gospel appointed for that Sunday was Matthew 16:21-28, where Jesus tells His disciples: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Those words sounded different to me that Sunday.

For 25 years, my vocation as a pastor placed me among particular people in particular places. I have baptized children, confirmed young people, stood beside couples as they exchanged their vows, brought Christ’s body and blood to His people, sat beside hospital beds, stood at gravesides, and preached the Gospel Sunday after Sunday.

And then comes a new call. There is something bittersweet about such moments. We naturally speak of “leaving.” I was leaving the pastoral office at Grace. I was leaving routines and relationships that had become very dear to me. Yet, as I told the congregation that Sunday, perhaps “leaving” is not quite the right word.

Jesus does not say, “Take up your cross and go your separate ways.” No, He says, “Take up your cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).

Beloved, that changes everything!

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
– Matthew 16:24 –

The people of Grace continue to follow Christ. I continue to follow Christ. And now, in this new calling, I have the privilege of walking alongside the pastors and congregations of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northwestern Ontario as together, as one, we follow the same Lord.

Our paths may look different, but the One ahead of us has not changed.

That is why the cross I received at my installation has become meaningful so quickly. At its centre is the cross of Christ, and around it are the symbols of the four Evangelists. It is an appropriate reminder of what this new office is and what it is not.

A Regional Pastor is not called to bring a new Gospel to the Church. He has no new Christ to offer and no new Word to proclaim. He is called to serve under the same cross and bear witness to the same Gospel proclaimed by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. To proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen for sinners.

The cross also reminds me that Christian leadership is never primarily about position. Our Lord defines greatness through service. He leads His Church not by avoiding the cross but by going directly to it. In fact, immediately before Jesus tells His disciples to take up their crosses, He tells them what His own journey will be: “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21).

That last word matters. Raised. Resurrection. The Christian does not take up the cross wondering where Christ is leading. We know where the road goes. It goes through death into life.

So I begin this new calling with tremendous gratitude. Gratitude for the people I have been privileged to serve over 25 years of pastoral ministry. Gratitude for my brothers in the ministry. Gratitude for the congregations of our Central Region. And gratitude for the trust that the Church has placed in me.

I also begin knowing that I have much to learn.

There will be long kilometres across the Prairies and Northwestern Ontario. There will be congregations rejoicing and congregations struggling. There will be pastors needing encouragement and vacancies needing attention. There will be difficult conversations, unexpected blessings, and undoubtedly more than a few occasions when I must stand on the words I confessed at the installation, “I will with the help of God.” And perhaps then I will look down at that cross again.

Not because it is a symbol of my authority, but because it reminds me whose I am, what I have been given to proclaim, and who I am following.

A new road has begun for me. But it is not a new Gospel, and it is not a different Saviour. So I pick up the cross. And by the grace of God, we continue down the road together, following the One who first carried His cross for us.

Rev. Arron Gust is the current Regional Pastor for the Central Region.

Print this article