Fruit that Lasts
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Fruit that Lasts

What does it take to have a community flourish? At Diaconal Ministries Canada, we believe it takes relationships; moving away from transactional interactions (meeting needs) to transformational relationships (connecting and belonging) so that every single person can thrive. That’s why for the last 40 years, NewGround has helped churches establish or grow healthy and sustainable…

Church property repurposed
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Church property repurposed

On March 21, the Board of Kings Cross Senior Communities (KCSC) in St. Catharines, Ontario, hosted a Recognition Service on the parking lot of the former Maranatha Christian Reformed Church (CRC) to reflect on the church’s history and to share plans for the next phase of the property’s use after the church building is demolished….

The Church at Work
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The Church at Work

Syria is on many of our minds since the recent earthquake and World Renew is responding with aid for survivors. But this country has long been a place of insecurity and unrest, and an estimated one and a half million Syrians have fled to Lebanon. Wafaa* is one of these refugees. The mother of six…

Getting into some holy trouble
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Getting into some holy trouble

When it comes to books addressing the themes of home and homelessness, it is not surprising that memoir seems to be a pervasive genre. Home is, after all, rooted in story. The memories of significant events, foundational relationships, celebrations, the feel of the familial abode, the landscape of our youth, conjure up the feelings of…

Into the Woods of Northern Alberta
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Into the Woods of Northern Alberta

For most of their lives, Roger and Evelyn* never called a single place home. Instead, they traveled from place to place on trains that ran across Canada, where they worked on track repair crews. Then in 1960 they finally settled in a secluded home in the woods of northern Alberta. During their retirement years, Roger…

On Solid (New)Ground
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On Solid (New)Ground

FOR YEARS, Bethany CRC in Fenwick, Ontario, was engaged in global missions work. Yet each time their teams returned, they wondered what missions might look like in their own backyard. The church had a huge heart for youth and was already running a summer kids camp. After much discussion and prayer, a group from the…

The Garden of Hope
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The Garden of Hope

In the last two years, regions of East Africa have endured four back-to-back failed rainy seasons. This long drought has pushed an estimated 20 million people into acute food insecurity. One person struggling with the impact of the drought is smallholder farmer Kadzo Kenga Safari, a single mother, who lives in Kilifi County, Kenya. For…

A new song for Indigenous Sunday
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A new song for Indigenous Sunday

“The Lord is God. He watches over all the lands, and we are put together, from the earth, by His hands,” sang Don Amero, a Cree musician and member of a Winnipeg CRC church. They are the opening lyrics to a song Amero wrote for the Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee (CIMC). The committee’s focus for…

Salim’s Pentecost testimony
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Salim’s Pentecost testimony

“When I read the Pentecost story in Acts, it’s so amazing to think about all the people represented in God’s Story,” said Salim. “We’re talking about thousands of languages.” Born in Lebanon, Salim grew up learning the country’s three official languages – Arabic, and English primarily, as well as some French. But Portuguese was the…

From Refugee to Family
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From Refugee to Family

As we watch the gut-wrenching conflict coverage coming out of Ukraine, many of us are wondering what we can do to help. Images of destroyed shelters, video footage of babies too premature to be evacuated and news reports of civilian bodies in the streets are impossible to ignore – they cry out for justice. On…

Lives Changed Through Global Coffee Break
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Lives Changed Through Global Coffee Break

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The programs of Raise Up Global Ministries equip the global church by developing interactive, biblically-based resources and equipping leaders to facilitate learning and kingdom change. This includes Global Coffee Break. Coffee Break helps churches invite neighbors to discover God’s story together. Brookfield Christian Reformed Church in Wisconsin is a great example of this. They recently…

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…