If your church died, would anyone in the neighbourhood notice or come to the funeral? That’s the question being asked by Laurence East and Brian McKenzie of Reframe Concepts in Kelowna, B.C. “If your faith community vanished from the neighbourhood map, would your city feel the loss in its gut, or just notice a fresh…
Growing up, like many Christians, I attended worship services with my family. Church was never something I did alone; it was a shared rhythm of life, deeply embedded in family routines. When I began studying at a Christian university, I either returned home on Sundays to worship with my parents or attended a local church…
When Dan and Emily Coyne attend Sunday services at their church in Evanston, Illinois, they bring their Bibles – and their whistles. The Bibles are so they can follow along with sermons. The whistles are to warn their neighbours if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are in the area. “They’re with us all the…
Since its start, the Church has been changed by new technologies – from the printing press to cars. But the rate at which those changes are coming has quickened from centuries to decades to days. Previous generations had years to understand new technology. Now, AI tools to help pastors are coming out almost weekly, and…
After church, early in my first pastorate, Peter stopped me at the door. He said, “Tom, you have a problem in your preaching.” My countenance fell, but I kept listening. “You say ‘you’ too much, instead of ‘us.’” He was right, and his assessment was profound. The lesson permeated my whole career. Peter was a…
On the morning of August 18, at around 4:00 AM, the Christian community of Loretto, Pakistan, witnessed the wall of St. Cecilia Church vandalised with an Islamic inscription. The wall marks the entrance to the village and stands next to the founding stone engraved with the words “Welcome to Loretto.” Loretto is a small village…
“Hello! My name is Elder Price, and I would like to share with you the most amazing book.” For those familiar with theatre, these words are instantly recognizable as a line from the Broadway hit The Book of Mormon, which graced Toronto’s stage in 2024. However, my actual encounter with a missionary from the Church…
Late this summer I went to Mass in small-town Ontario, after being warned that the service at the local Christian Reformed Church (CRC) would probably be long due to a baptism. It turned out that the Catholic church had a baptism that day as well. The coincidence gave me food for thought. Baptism is, after…
“You cannot be neutral about this!” That was what a senior denominational leader in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) told me last Spring, during a dispute over an editorial. I was the editor in chief of the CRC’s magazine, The Banner, until July 2025 when I resigned in protest. In that disputed editorial, I wrote…
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…
A retired farmer helped me better understand the importance of “core values” for a Christian organization. In a church workshop some years ago, I had finished demonstrating how the congregation’s core values were uniquely relevant for pursuing fruitful ministry. Then, during coffee break, the farmer told me that there were different soil types in his…
The holy fool is someone who loves extravagantly. In a world that teaches us to play it safe and self-preserve first and foremost, holy fools dare to love at great cost. Holy fools do insignificant, small things because they are the right things to do, not because there is any fame, influence or money to…
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