“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2). The Canadian elections this past spring highlighted a general difference between Christian and other organizations and communities that is not often understood or addressed and that change leadership realities. In politics, you succeed by winning over people…
There’s been a lot of drama in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) these past few years. I could use a break; maybe you too? The CRC has suffered self-inflicted wounds. We’re losing churches and pastors. We’re short on trust, and all we have left is procedure. We haven’t found ways to give and receive forgiveness,…
Location, location, location are the principles of real estate value. Context, context, context are the fundamentals of interpretation. When context is ignored, texts are manipulated to fit an agenda. This is what happened with the Christian Reformed Church’s Synodical Human Sexuality Report (HSR). It has caused chaos in the denomination. Literary Context The first context…
Our congregation’s annual picnic is now a memory. We had a wonderful day together. The weather was glorious, and nature was dressed in its finest. The water in the lake was just right – not too cold and not too warm; the beach was not yet crowded with Canadians when we arrived in large numbers….
On March 13th, I arrived at my office to find all of my filing cabinet drawers ajar and papers scattered on the floor. The safe behind my chair was busted open with a lock cutter. “My office looks like a crime scene,” I exclaimed to my only in-person co-worker, Pastor Joel Ringma. “Because it is,”…
When the motion for Edmonton’s Fellowship Church’s disaffiliation from the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) was approved at the March 8 Classis Alberta North meeting, members of Fellowship met the news with murmurs, joined hands, smiles and tears. The motion didn’t take long: a unanimous vote, a farewell letter, a blessing and a…
All people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. (John 13:35) For many years, I taught a course at The King’s University called Introduction to Teaching. A major topic covered in the course textbook was “classroom discipline.” To introduce this topic, I asked my students to call out what they…
Recently, I wrote about the all-too-common tendency for Christian organizations to delay action. Excuses are made, like “needing to pray,” “waiting upon the Lord” or “forming a committee.” Ultimately these excuses prevent Christian communities from taking action. How different it is from God who “sees” and then “provides.” God takes action! To provide a practical…
Last month, I talked about my involvement in quality control at our public universities. I am a member of the Audit Committee of the Quality Council. At universities, each academic program undergoes a review every eight years by external academic experts to ensure that it stays up-to-date and continuously seeks to improve the quality of…
I spent three full days at a university in late November as part of an academic audit. This visit was a step toward ensuring that Ontario universities offer high-quality and continuously improving education. Just as our reformed heritage calls for always reforming the church, universities continuously seek academic improvement. Quality assurance Several years ago, the…
If you are a lover of pipe organs and organ music, Montreal is the place to live! The American author Mark Twain once called it the “city of a hundred bell towers” and traditionally where there are churches, there are also organs. As I write, the month-long Canadian International Organ Competition, held every three years,…
I spent time with a crying woman at the bank the other day. She is what I imagine Mary, the mother of Jesus, was like. As we got out of our respective cars, she recognized me. She wanted to talk “church.” We weren’t in the conversation for more than 60 seconds when tears filled her…
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