Moving forward via Women Talking
|

Moving forward via Women Talking

Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel Women Talking was recognized for its powerful screenplay in the recent Academy awards. In her acceptance speech, Polley said: “A young woman delivers the last line of our film to a new baby, and she says: ‘Your story will be different from ours.”’ “It’s a promise, a commitment…

Contagious strength
|

Contagious strength

“Do it scared,” Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste tells entrepreneurs. After almost 20 years as an engineer, Montreal-based Jean-Baptiste became a full-time photographer in 2019. She couldn’t have known that covid would hit the world a year later. Nor could she have known that a photography series she “did scared” would get national media attention, launching her new…

Calling all women
| |

Calling all women

All women are invited to attend the 2023 Inspirational Women’s Conference hosted by Global Coffee Break. Join us for a day of encouragement, biblical teaching, and worship. The conference will be held on April 29, 2023 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm at Compass Point Bible Church in Burlington, Ontario. There is also an opportunity…

Deconstructing biblical womanhood
|

Deconstructing biblical womanhood

What if? My kids love “what if” questions. What if you had two extra arms? What if you could turn yourself into anything you wanted? These types of questions stimulate their imaginations and get them thinking about what life would be like if things were different. In her new book The Making of Biblical Womanhood,…

A better future
| |

A better future

When the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) began allowing the ordination of women as clergy, Helen Reitsma anticipated positive change for the church she attends in Brantford, Ontario. Twenty-five years later, however, her congregation still has no women in office, let alone female clergy. Even so, she says, “a lot of stuff is really run by…

The hostile ‘big tent’
|

The hostile ‘big tent’

“It’s really hard to keep loving a denomination that doesn’t love you back. Honestly, it’s getting harder and harder to stay.” That’s one of many sobering responses to a Christian Courier survey of ordained women in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) a quarter century after the denomination opened that office to women. Of the 20…

History and advocacy
|

History and advocacy

Dr. Beth Allison Barr’s The Making of Biblical Womanhood takes the reader on a journey of the Christian woman through historical facts, clever quotes and heart-wrenching stories. As a professor of medieval, women’s and church history at Baylor University, Barr is more than qualified to lead us on this entertaining and knowledgeable exploration into why…

Creating space
| |

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…

Listen. Learn. Relinquish Power.
| |

Listen. Learn. Relinquish Power.

Where can a congregation go if they’re looking for resources to learn how to centre people from minority groups and go beyond merely including them? What if you’re wanting to listen to the voices of the LGBTQ+ community in your congregation? Or people with disabilities? People affected by poverty or homelessness? People with mental illnesses?…

Pro-Choice – a Second Look
|

Pro-Choice – a Second Look

I see that the abortion debate has once again been in the news. As Christians, we usually take the stance for no abortions. But is making abortion illegal the right stance to take?

Image crafter or image bearer?
|

Image crafter or image bearer?

Individually, we need to be aware of our own image-construction practices. What things do we hide our selves behind, and which need to be sacrificed so we can better reflect Jesus?

No farm chores for young children
|

No farm chores for young children

There have been many columns in my 30-year career as a newspaper columnist that stirred up readers to respond by writing letters to the editor.