Urging Peace
ENI – WCC general secretary Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Kenyan, said in January he hoped Kenya “will overcome the prevailing situation and that the churches will play an important part in speeding up that time.”
Magazine
Radical Disciples
Radical disciples. Counter-cultural prophets. Teenagers.
Main Street Evangelism
About a year ago, a friend of mine took me to see a new Presbyterian church built near her home in Uxbridge. “You've gotta see […]
The Vanquished is the Victor
March comes in as winter and then it goes to the birds, at least in our neck of the woods. Ever since my pubescent period, […]
Year of Paul
ENI – Turkey's small Roman Catholic community hopes to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Paul of Tarsus by reopening a church at his birthplace. They also hope to improve the status of the country's Christian minorities.
Leaders' Tour Begins
An aboriginal and church leaders' tour is scheduled for March 1-10, and will give participants a chance to visit community programs, and meet with media, local government, church and first nations representatives along the way.
Taking Pains to Grow
'I am sure God has a plan for my church. And, I'm pretty sure what we're doing isn't it.” These are two of the three concerns I heard repeatedly while doing a congregational visit where I met with every member one-on-one. (It was a very small congregation and that was possible.) The third, however, was the punchline: “And, I'm the only one who feels that way.”
Open to love
Jesus wouldn't have said things like “take your light out from underneath that basket and let it shine” or “move into all the world and make disciples” if he was content with a church plan of maintenance or gradual decline. God wants our churches growing and alive.
Articulating Faith
Back in the early 1970s William Stringfellow, a tenacious lawyer and lay theologian, contended that what the church most needed was the spiritual gift of discernment. That is, one should exercise the gift of spiritual insight that truly engages the particular times in which you are living. Now, in the listing of spiritual gifts by the apostle Paul, discernment is not explicitly mentioned. But Stringfellow, speaking at a Presbyterian College convocation in Montreal, made a compelling case. The social upheaval of the 60s, the long drawn out Cold War and profound questions raised by the Vietnam War were among the growing challenges to face those who would soon enter ordained ministry. For him the witness of Scripture to the Gospel of Christ compelled discernment of the times as a spiritual discipline.
Threatened with Resurrection
Matthew 28:1-8 (9-20)Easter Day, March 23, 2008
WMS Cuts Back
The Women's Missionary Society has decided to cut back its grant to regional staff beginning in 2009. The yearly grant will be $200,000, representing a 50 per cent cut in funds. The change is mainly due to decreased givings resulting from dwindling membership.
A Rare Opportunity
Adam Parsons was the 2007 recipient of the peace and human security internship program with Project Ploughshares, an ecumenical peace centre of the Canadian Council of Churches and sponsored by the Presbyterian Church. A member of Gale, Elmira, Ont., Parsons was completing his Masters degree in international relations when he heard of the opportunity, and contacted Ploughshares immediately to find out more.
Core Beliefs
I write to you in the dead of winter. Even in Abbotsford, B.C., as in the rest of Canada, the leaves have fallen from the trees, some snow has fallen on the ground, the temperature dips a little below freezing and the wind is often cold. Getting up while it is still dark to face the short, often dreary, days of winter is a bit tougher for most of us.
Mission Trips This Year
Deadlines are approaching for this year's mission trip opportunities, which cover a wide range of locations and mission work. Confirmed trips are:
Teen Pregnancy Thing
Juno is a well-made movie; it is modest, with a strong script, great dialogue, charming performances from charming actors and a great indie soundtrack. The movie is set in some ideal world, where love reigns and hope prevails. When the title character, a teenage girl, gets pregnant, her parents are supportive, her boyfriend waits on her and her friends rally around her. She gets a few dirty stares but the movie has no interest in the politics of teen pregnancy. It's a quiet story of a remarkable girl going through an extraordinary year.
Guildwood Deal Causes Concern
Guildwood Community Presbyterian Church, Toronto, has had protestors walking its front lawn thanks to a 20-year lease agreement with Bell Mobility that will see a 10-storey relay signal tower erected on the church's property. Residents are worried about electromagnetic signals emitted from the tower, which will be in the middle of a residential neighbourhood.
Sealing a Moment in Time
Worship materials from 190 congregations from every province in Canada will now be sealed in the Presbyterian Church's national archives for 50 years, preserving a “moment in time” for the future church.
The Battle of the Bald
Though I am only 46, my hair has begun to vanish. I do not have trouble growing hair. But location is everything with hair. I am like a struggling oil company. I have great production, but poor distribution.
If you're one of those guys who still has his original hair, go ahead and laugh. But if you're experiencing a recession yourself, if you've been cluttering pillows and clogging drains, if you've stopped combing and started rearranging, you'll be happy to know that there is hope. I can't think of anything hopeful at the moment, but give me some time and I'll think of something. While I do, let's look at some ways in which the scientific community, working hand-in-hand with laboratory rats, has shown us just how bleak the picture really is.
Rich with oil, but poverty high
ENI – Church leaders in Nigeria say urgent government action is needed to tackle poverty in the West African nation that was ranked 158th out of 177 countries in the human development index of the United Nations Development Programme.
Sharing The Love
February is a time when we think about love and part of that is the Lenten emphasis on repentence for not loving enough. As I thought about that I reflected on my experiences with our Muslim neighbours.