I think it is dawning on many people that evangelical Christianity has shallowed out over the past generation or two. I will be so bold as to suggest some causes which are not often mentioned by others. Children's Bible story books: Parents have felt inadequate to help their children understand what the Bible is all … Continue reading Dumbing down the gospel
Sitting around the fire
We were in a small mission congregation in a major Canadian city. A middle-aged single lady, I'll call her Anne, had been attending for a year or more. One day she said to me, "It seems like there is a warm fire burning here and you are all gathered around to warm yourselves by that … Continue reading Sitting around the fire
The liberation of men
A young lady who worked in a doughnut shop found that she was pregnant. She was only 19, living on her own, working to support herself. She had already had an abortion at 15, her parents pressured her into it because she was too young for the responsibility of motherhood. That memory was painful and … Continue reading The liberation of men
No compulsion in matters of religion
Around 204 AD, Tertullian wrote: "As the religion of others does not concern us, and neither profits nor harms us; therefore it does not become any one religion to force itself upon another; since it must be accepted voluntarily, and not by coercion, for what is required is the offering of a willing mind." In … Continue reading No compulsion in matters of religion
Our Muslim neighbours
In our worship service yesterday evening, a minister told us about a young couple living in an apartment building in New York City. There was a Muslim family living in the same building, with children the same age as the children of this couple. The children played together, became friends, and the parents also became … Continue reading Our Muslim neighbours
Don’t be anxious for anything
We were going through self-examination before communion when a frail elderly brother stood and said "I want to say that I have peace with God, but it seems like I should do something to be able to claim that I have peace. I have prayed God to show me if there is anything I need … Continue reading Don’t be anxious for anything
Business and Church
I grew up in a small Saskatchewan town with four grocery stores and three churches. One store was owned by a cousin and another by an old friend of the family. Another was owned by a Catholic family and the fourth was the local Co-op. The three churches were the United Church of Canada, the … Continue reading Business and Church
The church in perpetual tune-up mode
[Adapted from a question in an old Bible study book.] The purpose of the church is to win souls. It is important that the church be kept pure. Is it possible, though, that so much time and energy is spent on the details of church work that we have come to see that as our … Continue reading The church in perpetual tune-up mode
Leaerning to recognize the tempter’s voice
[Another excerpt from When I Was Thirteen, the diary of a young girl in South-Western Ontario. The writer was Christina Young, but she used the pen-name of Mary McKenzie when the diary was published 20 years later in a weekly paper. As an incentive to keep writing in her diary, she had vowed to take … Continue reading Leaerning to recognize the tempter’s voice
The circle of God’s love
Ma says the greatest mistake in the world is the notion some people get that outside of God’s laws there is freedom. She says that the only real freedom to be found on the earth is within the circle of His laws, and as soon as one steps outside of that circle, he finds himself … Continue reading The circle of God’s love
Flatlander Faith 