Conversion Therapy Ban Passes Quickly Into Law
A bill to ban conversion therapy passed through both the House of Commons and Senate in just over a week, a process that usually takes months. Bill C-4 will come into force 30 days after it received royal assent (which took place on Dec. 8). The EFC is preparing an analysis of the bill’s impact. For more information, see the EFC’s new blog.
Join January Discussion on Witness in Canada
You're invited to a series of online discussions in January to help us all deepen our witness in Canada. Our Common Calling is a partnership that exists to encourage collaboration among God's people as we together follow Jesus into the world. OCC is a partnership of four groups: The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Lausanne Canada, the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities, and Christian Higher Education Canada.
Learn more and register at www.ourcommoncalling.ca.
Faith Trends Podcast: Gen Z and Evangelism; Zoom Seminary
In a new episode of the Faith Trends Podcast, EFC researcher Lindsay Callaway speaks with Shaila Visser and Tim Gonsalves from Alpha Canada about a recent study on Gen Z and evangelism in Canada. They discuss the implications of moving away from a verbal, message-centric conception of evangelism in favour of actions and relationships. Podcast hosts Lindsay Callaway and Rick Hiemstra share their thoughts after the interview.
Another recent episode, entitled “Zoom Seminary,” features Jason Mills, a Canadian pastor, chaplain and educator living in the Blue Mountains and researching about ministry and technology, online theological education, pastoral formation and practical theology. Last month he graduated with a PhD in theological studies from St. Michael’s College/Toronto School of Theology and received the Governor General’s gold medal for achieving the highest academic standing at the graduate level.
Find all Faith Trends episodes at TheEFC.ca/Podcasts.
Faith Today Podcast: How to Have Weird Conversations about Vaccination Status
Christmas is coming and so are awkward conversations about vaccination status and who is going where when and what we're all going to talk about when we get there. Marriage and family therapist Sharon Ramsay offers practical tools and very kind ways of thinking through the coming days. This conversation is based on Christmas, but the insights are timeless.
Are We Too Obsessed with the Next Big Thing? Column by EFC Vice-President
Do you hear Christian leaders talking eagerly about the next big ministry trend in a post-Covid or post-Christian era? EFC Vice-President David Guretzki asks us to consider the source of our hope before trying to prepare for the next watershed moment: “Do our gospel strategies depend on knowing what’s next? These are hard questions for someone like me to ask as I’m regularly thinking about what’s next myself. But let us honestly ask – is theological futurism a sign of faltering faith and misplaced hope?”
New EFC Weekly Prayer Prompts
This week’s prayer request is about religious freedom. In prayer about religious freedom, offer thanks to God for the freedom of religion we currently enjoy; ask for boldness to follow God’s calling to be salt and light; and intercede for our nation to allow religious communities to exist and flourish. Pray for wisdom for the courts and elected officials. You can learn more on this topic at TheEFC.ca/ReligiousFreedomCanada.
Each week at we rotate through a prayer request from each of these five areas: Sanctity of Life, Care for the Vulnerable, Church and Mission, Family and Community, Religious Freedom. We also list an EFC affiliate group to pray for, which this week is Intercede International. Intercede partners with indigenous missions and the men and women of God who labour to establish a witness for His name among their nations.
Covid 19 and the restrictions have a significant impact on our lives. The EFC continues to offer new Friday@4 pandemic-focused prayer suggestions each week at TheEFC.ca/Covid-19.
Coming Events at TheEFC.ca/Calendar
→ Tips from the Winning Christian Communicators: Writing Categories (CCCA), online, Dec. 17, Jan. 21
→ Deepening Understanding for Intercultural Ministry (FILL/Wycliffe College), online Monday mornings starting Jan. 10
→ Celebrate Recovery for Women in Ministry/Pastors’ Wives, online starting Jan. 13
→ Watercooler Break for Communications Workers (CCCA), online, Jan. 14
→ Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25
→ OneWay Ministries Workplace Summit, online and in Ottawa, Jan. 19
→ Suffering Well and Suffering With (SA Ethics Centre), online Mondays at noon starting Jan. 24
→ Our Common Calling Forum (EFC/Lausanne/CCCC/CHEC), online, Jan. 23-28
In Case You Missed It
→ Beyond Pestilence and Flood: The Story of a B.C. Church (Faith Today blog and video interview)
→ The Scattered Flock and the Call to Fellowship (Faith Today column by EFC President)
→ No Cure for Being Human and Just Being Wonderful with Kate Bowler (Faith Today podcast)