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EFC Update Newsletter - January 4

04 January 2022

Thank you from the EFC

As we begin the new year, the EFC extends our most heart-felt appreciation to everyone who helped to advance the work of the EFC throughout 2021 with your prayers and financial support. are truly blessed to have you as part of our EFC family. We are ready to face the challenging work ahead.
On behalf of everyone here at the EFC, may you be blessed with His peace, love and joy throughout 2022!

Concern Over Government Plans on Anti-Abortion Groups

Canada’s finance minister has been instructed to make “anti-abortion groups who provide dishonest counseling to pregnant women about their rights and options” ineligible for charitable status. The EFC is concerned that this may single out groups solely because of their views on abortion and when life begins. For more information and a sample MP letter, see TheEFC.ca/CharitableProlife.

EFC’s French Prayer Summit

La Rencontre au Sommet 2022, the EFC’s French prayer summit, is planned for January 24-25, in Granby, Que. Find more information and register here.

Meet the Author of Refuge Reimagined and explore how we can better journey with displaced people

Sign up today at TheEFC.ca/MeetTheAuthor to join Mark Glanville and EFC discussion hosts Ilana Reimer and Bill Fledderus on Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. Eastern (4 Pacific, 5 Mountain, 6 Central, 8 Atlantic). Mark Glanville will share about his book Refuge Reimagined: Biblical Kinship in Global Politics (IVP Academic, 2021). If you’re a book reader, why not order it now from your local bookstore and read it beforehand?

Worldwide, people are forcefully displaced from their homes in increasing numbers. How can we extend solidarity and share responsibility for those affected by these crises? Glanville will share his perspective on how we can generously, creatively and engage with hope with refugee issues in our communities.

What’s ahead in Parliament in 2022

The Prime Minister released the ministerial mandate letters in December. These letters are like a To Do list or set of instructions. They outline the PM’s priorities and tasks for each Cabinet Minister during this mandate. They give some indications of what may come before Parliament in the new session of Parliament, perhaps as soon as this year.
 
This is a sample of the issues mentioned in the mandate letters. Please pray with us about the following government plans on conversion therapy, online hate/online harms, charitable status of anti-abortion organizations that provide "dishonest counselling," and a positive initative on eradicating forced labour.

Dispatch from World Evangelical Alliance Ambassador: Post-Covid Church

As the worldwide church nears the second full year of Covid social distancing, Brian Stiller shares an encouraging report from a recent visit to the Ukraine: “Ukrainian Evangelicals are more than surviving. Their fervent faith, evangelistic outreach and energetic worship could offer a positive example as new mutations of the coronavirus wind their way from region to region.”

Join January Discussion on Witness in Canada

You're invited to a series of online discussions January 23-29 to help us all deepen our witness in Canada. Join with Christians virtually from various parts of the Church in Canada to learn how others are innovating thought and practice and discern how God is leading us into new paths. The six discussion topics are:

  • Christian Hospitality and Opportunity to Become a Welcome Church
  • Faith at Work Collaboration
  • Scattered but Gathered: (the “diaspora” in Canada)
  • Collaborating Inter-Culturally: A Nice Idea or What God Intends?
  • Understanding Indigenous Realities
  • Applying to My Context.

Learn more and register at www.ourcommoncalling.ca.

Three Articles from Canada Watch Now in French

Nous avons traduit trois articles de « Canada Watch ». Jetez un coup d’œil à toutes les dernières nouveautés sur TheEFC.ca/actions-evangeliques. // Don’t miss three new French translations of articles from Canada Watch, online now.

Top Content of the Year from Faith Today

The team at Faith Today: Canada’s Christian magazine is always eager to hear from you about the content we publish in print and online. We counted online traffic for the year to get a snapshot of what resonated the most with readers. Here's what the website traffic analytics say is the top material we posted in 2021 (read by the most unique visitors during 2021).

Funerals: Faith Today Essay by Tim Perry

The way we say goodbye to our loved ones matters. Tim Perry elaborates in his essay for the Jan/Feb Faith Today: “I have seen far too many believers’ funerals that look and sound like a retirement roast where the guest of honour is absent. Christian funerals – not celebrations of life or homegoings – ought to be different.”

New EFC Weekly Prayer Prompts 

This week’s prayer request is about discipleship and evangelism. Pray for increasing commitments among Christians to witness to God’s love in all areas of life and society; and for hearts and minds that are open to receiving the gospel. 

Each week 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. This week, pray for Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada, whose mission is to end Bible poverty by facilitating the translation of God’s Word among minority language communities worldwide.

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 

→ 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
→ Tips from the Winning Christian Communicators: Writing Categories (CCCA), online, Jan. 21
→ 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
→ Rencontre au sommet 2022 (EFC’s French prayer summit), Jan. 24-25
→ Meet the Author of Refuge Reimagined (EFC/Mark Glanville), online, Jan. 26
→ EFC Prayer Gathering of National and Regional Church Leaders, online, Jan. 26
→ WEA Business Coalition Webinar, online, Jan. 26
→ Making Peace in a Polarized World, (Jesus Collective), online, Feb. 2

In Case You Missed It

A No Secrets Mission? (Faith Today column by Carolyn Arends)
Behind the Scenes and Christmas with the EFC Podcast Team (Faith Today podcast)