The Book of Belonging is a gentle and imaginative collection of Bible stories for children shaped by the belief that God welcomes and cherishes everyone. In her introduction, author Mariko Clark addresses her young readers and shares her hope that they will know, “God is trustworthy, and God’s names for you are true. You Belong….
Ron Greidanus was born with the twin gifts of being prodigiously talented and being gay. But being born in the late 1960s, the fifth child of six to a hard-working, modestly-educated farm family in the Dutch immigrant community in Huron County, Ontario, it would take a long time before he could accept both of those…
I had dinner with some new friends last month; all of us are caregivers of children with disabilities and developmental challenges. At one point, we discussed the question, “If you could change anything about your child, would you?” It sparked some deep reflections about making changes for our children versus making changes about them. Several…
Last month, I discussed a large, well-designed study of early school math ability in girls and boys. At the start of Grade One, the study found no difference between boys’ and girls’ math abilities. Some girls and boys perform well, while others struggle, but girls generally match boys’ performance on standardized math tests. Yet four…
Nestled a short walk from the shores of Lake Malawi is a rust-coloured brick elementary school called Bandawe Primary. Maxwell Jr. is one of its 62 students in the classes for deaf students. The fact that he attends school is a remarkable story in itself – UNICEF reports that only 33 percent of children in…
At a recent outdoor church service, I asked the children if they knew any of God’s commandments. They mentioned quite a few from the Old Testament such as don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t swear, obey your parents and so on. I asked if they remembered the one about where you should go to the bathroom…
When I was a child, I loved chocolate pudding. We’d put a little milk, just the right amount, on top and then use our spoon to create reservoirs, mountains, creeks and rivers. And then eat the geographic world we’d created. When I was a child, I loved rainstorms so we could take popsicle sticks, sharpen…
Our church is in the middle of a library renaissance. It began when my wife and I were going through its books and found that 80 percent no longer served our congregation. After much sorting and recycling, we are learning that physical books – paper and ink, words and images – still have a big…
I love my church. Every Sunday service begins with naming the First Nations people of the land we’re standing on. One of the first pieces of art a visitor will see is a painting of an Indigenous mother holding her child. Another one is of a dark brown Jesus, holding out communion bread and a…
It’s 2018. Downtown Eastside Vancouver. It’s an Indigenous-focus school, the first (and only) of its kind in Vancouver, and I tutor elementary school kids after school. The school is changing its name from Macdonald Elementary to Xpéy, which means “cedar” in Musqueam. The ministry I volunteer with aims to alleviate the poverty of the Downtown…
This September the usual back-to-school focus on new pencils and a different classroom sits on the surface of a boiling cauldron of controversial issues in education. From nursery schools to elite universities, education has become one of the biggest battlegrounds in the contest to control and shape social development in Canada and the U.S. In…
Author and illustrator Carly Allen-Fletcher’s passionate, articulate narrative and spectacular, vivid artwork will draw children into the breathtaking wonders of God’s creation. Allen-Fletcher points out that there is life all around us, some seen, much unseen. She explains that scientists sort different types of life (based on differences in their cells and how they live)…
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