Canadian Catalytic Conversations 2
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Canadian Catalytic Conversations 2

Four delegates representing every Christian Reformed classis in Canada, along with Canadian CRCNA staff, Canada Corp Board members and observers, met online on Saturday, January 29, via Zoom, for a meeting dubbed Canadian Catalytic Conversation 2 (CCC2). The stated purpose of the meeting was to “wrestle with the options put forward for ministry in Canada,”…

Right relationships in a binational denomination
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Right relationships in a binational denomination

Two decades ago, I immigrated to Canada from the United States. And for the last decade I’ve been researching the power dynamics and structures of the institutional church within the (Kuyperian) Reformed tradition. One piece that seems to be missing in current discussions of the Christian Reformed Church’s binationality and the SALT report is this…

The Structure and Leadership Task Force (SALT)
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The Structure and Leadership Task Force (SALT)

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Sponsored Content: The views and opinions expressed in this letter are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the editorial perspective of Christian Courier. The process of hiring three new CRCNA executives is well underway. As you read this article, the new General Secretary will have been identified and the selection process for a…

Surveying family faith practices in Canada
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Surveying family faith practices in Canada

One of the pandemic pivots that churches are continuing to make is in children’s and youth ministry. As church programs shut down, many turned to faith formation at home. This may be a pivot that lasts for months to come, as congregations all over Canada struggle to find volunteers to support their programs, and as…

Performing and climbing: Reflections on reconciliation
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Performing and climbing: Reflections on reconciliation

December 15, 2021 was the sixth anniversary of the release of the complete findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). I remember sitting in a conference hall in Ottawa on that release day in 2015. I was moved by the prayers of Elders, the presence of Survivors and the profound speeches of the Commissioners…

Unity and diversity
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Unity and diversity

Canadian members of the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) face accusations of creating schism and disunity every time they want more space to do ministry in a different way. The word “separation” plays the same threatening role in church circles as it does in Quebec. It now hangs over the upcoming January 29…

Canadian classes called to special meeting
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Canadian classes called to special meeting

For months now there has been a polite rumble among Canadian members of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) about an obscure report called SALT. The Structure and Leadership Taskforce report (SALT), adopted by the CRCNA Council of Delegates (CofD) in May 2021, is on its way to Synod 2022. It is not headline news. It…

Hearing from the ‘moderates’
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Hearing from the ‘moderates’

“I can’t get two people alone in a room together, let alone worry about what they’re going to be doing with each other.” This tongue-in-cheek remark kicked off an online conversation between five Christian Reformed (CRC) pastors from across the U.S. and Canada this summer, all feeling stuck between revisionist and traditional voices in the…

Creating space
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Creating space

Amanda Bakale can still picture the first time she saw a woman step up to the pulpit to preach, her long lavender skirt swishing in the silence of the sanctuary. “I remember the movement of her skirt,” Bakale recounts, years later. “Not a suit, but a beautiful, flowing skirt. And a body that looked like…