After graduating from the University of Toronto with degrees in History and English and in Theology from Emmanuel College, he was awarded the Watt Travelling Scholarship in Divinity for post-graduate work at the University of Cambridge, England. Then, he served in the Ministry of the United Church of Canada in Leader, Saskatchewan and at Calvin United Church in Pembroke, Ontario. Leaving the parish ministry, he entered public education earning a Master of Education degree (O.I.S.E.).
With his colleague and best friend W. Douglas Wilson, he co-authored widely-used History texts.
He was the first Protestant Minister to welcome a Roman Catholic priest to preach from his United Church pulpit and in return, became the first Protestant pastor ever invited to preach in a Roman Catholic Church in the diocese of Pembroke.