Last month, I raised a troubling question: Why are fewer ministry leaders choosing the local church? Seminary leaders are seeing fewer students preparing for pastoral ministry, while Barna reported that 43 percent of pastors seriously considered leaving it. Do the math forward ten years, and we see fewer pastors entering, existing pastors leaving, and churches…
Since February, the U.S.-Iran conflict has drawn global attention to the narrow strip of sea between Oman and Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea, is considered one of the most important waterways in the global transit of goods. Now, it’s caught directly in the crossfire of the…
I was recently invited to be part of a conference in Guelph, Ontario with about thirty Canadian Christian leaders. During one personal conversation with a seminary president, I mentioned that my daughter had recently graduated from Regent College in Vancouver with a Masters of Divinity. He asked whether she intended to serve as a local…
In one wing of the vast West Edmonton Mall, a tiny chapel has stood for 40 years, tucked away by the Fantasyland Hotel and near the replica of the Santa Maria. Despite its long tenure, some people are still surprised to learn it is there. “You get to the other side of the mall, they’re…
“I can’t be a coward at the pulpit.” These words, coming from Gerlyn Henry’s supervisor on the heels of the January 6th insurrection in 2021, changed Henry’s perspective on ministry. At the time, Henry was working as an assistant priest at a church in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. New to preaching and unable to…
A few months ago, Eric Almon joined my Bible study group. Almon is a 25-year-old entrepreneur, Canadian Armed Forces reservist and lifelong Toronto resident. As we got to know each other, Almon shared his unique testimony: his father was a non-practising Anglican, his mother came from a New Age Buddhist background and faith wasn’t a…
When the Tohoku tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, Canadians Damon and Kafi Ealey were in Tokyo. After the tsunami, Damon led short service projects around the country to rebuild damaged buildings. Damon was a principal at an international school for the children of pastors and missionaries, and Kafi was a research scientist. Alongside their…
From scheduling facilities to doctrinal clashes, the pitfalls of communication can cause a host of challenges. For Pastor Ryan Chau and the staff of three congregations at Edmonton Chinese Baptist Church (ECBC), these challenges are written in triplicate for their trilingual church community. “Complex theological concepts can be really hard to communicate,” Chau explains, noting…
Sponsored Content: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the organization and do not necessarily represent the editorial perspective of Christian Courier. Canada is a multicultural nation. Many proclaim that diversity is our strength. It is not perfect, however – far from it. Unity in diversity requires constant vigilance and even harder…
I was ordained as a Minister of the Word and Sacraments over 45 years ago. It happened on a Thursday night because of Halloween, of all things! The elders of the rural Southern Alberta congregation that had called me, a 25-year-old seminary graduate, to be their pastor, had first scheduled the event for Friday night….
In Search of a New Horizon is the (translated) title of a fairly large paperback on my bookshelf: Op zoek naar een nieuwe horizon. The pastel green cover and the modernist font used for the title speak to the publication date, 1989; the two hands drawn beneath almost touch. The author, Dr. Wybe Zijlstra, was…
Contentment. That seems to be the church’s greatest sin. We’re content to sit in our usual seat during worship, content to celebrate the status quo when it comes to worship style, preaching style and a gradually declining church attendance. We’re content to coast. For many of us, when we think of church growth, we think…
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