The Committee to Advise with the Moderator will present the Rev. Lara Scholey as the nominee for Moderator of the 2026 General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Lara grew up in Brampton, ON, and attended St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. She received a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from Queen’s University (1994) and a Master of Divinity from Knox College (1997), and was ordained by the Presbytery of Brampton in 1997.
Lara began her ministry at Rockwood/Eden Mills Presbyterian Churches in Ontario, then served as a Parish Associate in Purcellville, VA (PCUSA), and later was called to Bethel/Burns Memorial/Knox, a rural charge in the Presbytery of Pictou, NS (2001-2017). She currently serves St. Columba by-the-Lake Presbyterian Church in Pointe-Claire, QC (a suburb of Montreal) since 2017.
In the greater church, Lara has served as Moderator of the Presbytery of Pictou, and Moderator of the Atlantic Synod. She was a member, then Convenor, of the Presbyterian World Service & Development Committee (2009-2016), which included monitoring trips to Malawi, India, Afghanistan and Haiti. She served on the Life and Mission Agency (2014-2016) and is currently on the Grants Committee of the Congregational and Community Ministries. Lara has been the PCC representative on the Interfaith Committee on Canadian Military Chaplaincy since 2021. She serves as Convenor of Mission Committee in the Presbytery of Montreal, since 2018.
Lara enjoys attending an ecumenical, lectionary Bible Study, and served on the board of Dix Mille Villages in Pointe-Claire, fair trade store begun by churches.
Lara is passionate about creative worship, community building, intergenerational mentoring, and social justice.
She is married to Dr. Carl Adams. They have triplet, young adult children, Matthew, Isaac and Charlotte.
We wish Lara all the best as she prepares for this important role in serving The Presbyterian Church in Canada over the next year.
In Christ,
The Rev. Victor Kim, Principal Clerk of The General Assembly
The Presbyterian Church in Canada