Brief Bio

Tim Gallant was born December 1965 in New Westminster, British Columbia. The son of an independent Pentecostal itinerant evangelist, he was involved in worship and exhorting activities at an early age.

During the period 1989-1992, Tim became Reformed, largely through study and interaction with his close friend John Barach Jr. He served as a deacon, and then assistant pastor at Family Worship Center in Grande Prairie, Alberta, before finding a Reformed church home in the Orthodox Reformed Church of Edmonton.

In 1995, Tim helped plant the Covenant Reformed Church in Grande Prairie as a 'daughter church' of the Orthodox Reformed Church. Covenant is now a congregation in the URCNA (United Reformed Churches of North America).

Following service on the steering committee, which included visitation duties, leading worship, and other tasks, he was sent to Mid-America Reformed Seminary (Dyer, Indiana) by the Edmonton church, where he had retained his membership. He was a student there between 1997-2000.

During his time at seminary, Tim led a ladies' Bible Study, engaged in prison ministry at Cook County Jail's maximum security facility, and preached in a wide variety of churches (including RCA, CRC, PCA, OPC, URCNA, RCUS). He served two summer assignments, first at Grace Community Church in Kennewick, Washington (1998), and second at his home church in Edmonton (1999).

Tim graduated in May 2000 with honours in Biblical Studies and Doctrinal Studies, including a perfect score on the Greek comprehensive exam.

Following his seminary studies, Tim was examined for candidacy by Classis Western Canada at Lynden, Washington (June 2000). Just prior to this examination, Mr. Gallant had been studying the issue of paedocommunion (children's participation in the Lord's Supper), at the request of members of a church which was interested in calling him.

By the time of the classis meeting, Tim had studied enough to be unsure of his position on the issue, and wished to ensure that he would not fall outside the bounds of the confessions to which he needed to subscribe, should he come to embrace paedocommunion. Consequently, he requested that his pastor, William Pols, bring up the matter before classis, to determine whether such a view was allowed by the confessions recognized by the URC (i.e. the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort). The body ruled that these confessions required a profession of faith prior to participation in the Lord's Supper. Mr. Gallant's response was to decline to sign the Form of Subscription, which allows for no exceptions. As a result, the classis was unable to declare him eligible for call. (Tim subsequently appealed this decision in June 2002 at Classis Ponoka. The earlier decision was upheld. For Tim's reasoning that these Reformed confessions do not forbid paedocommunion, see his article "Paedocommunion and the Three Forms of Unity.")

Between July and December of 2000, Mr. Gallant did pulpit supply for Covenant Gospel Church of Red Deer, which was a church plant effort by a handful of families. During this period, he continued to study the issue of paedocommunion, and landed squarely in its favour by the end of the year.

Consequently, in between working a variety of jobs and filling pulpits, Tim began work on a book on paedocommunion, which was completed by the end of 2001. He took this to press himself by forming Pactum Reformanda Publishing. The book, Feed My Lambs: Why the Lord's Table Should Be Restored to Covenant Children, first shipped to book distributors in February 2002, and went into second printing in early 2003.

Tim has spoken on paedocommunion in various public forums. He presented his lecture, "Communion, Corinthians, and Covenant Children" at a break-out session during the 2002 Christ Church Ministerial Conference, "Liquid Gospel, Edible Words," in Moscow, Idaho. (This conference is available in MP3 format on CD-Rom from WordMP3.com. Tim's lecture is available in MP3 format for download here.) On October 5, 2003, he engaged in "The Great Paedocommunion Debate" with Steve Schlissel at King's Highway Reformed Church in Brooklyn, New York. (Recordings of this debate are available from Messiah's Congregation, of which Schlissel is the pastor. An mp3 version can be purchased here.) He also a contributed a chapter to the 2006 book, The Case for Covenant Communion.

Tim is also deep into studies in Paul; however, his major essay, "These Are Two Covenants: The Mosaic Law in Paul's Thought," remains unpublished at present.

Tim served as pastor of Conrad Christian Reformed Church in Conrad, Montana, from November 2003 - April 2006. He is now working in several positions, including web site development, and preaches extensively. He serves as clerk of council of Christ Covenant Church in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Tim is a bachelor. His hobbies include 19th century literature (especially English and Russian), guitar, musical composition and recording, and tennis. His main focal points of interest in biblical studies are covenant, sacraments, and Pauline studies.