THE EFC UPDATE - 2016.12.06
Uniting Evangelicals to bless Canada in the name of Jesus
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IS YOUR MP READY TO CHALLENGE PORN’S IMPACT?
A vote is expected in the next two weeks on whether to ask the parliamentary health committee to study the impact of easily accessible, violent and degrading sexual images online. Support is growing across party lines for MP Arnold Viersen’s motion M-47, and the motion has a chance of passing in the House of Commons. The EFC offers a sample letter you can use to ask your MP to support this motion. Time is short, so please act today.
PRACTICAL VIDEO: PORN AND PUBLIC HEALTH
What’s the price of the widespread use of pornography to our society – especially on the developing brains of our young people? What can churches and parents do? Watch a practical video presentation by Julia Beazley, the EFC’s director of public policy, and Glendyne Gerrard, director of Defend Dignity.
EFFECTIVE MINISTRY IN A DIGITAL AGE
Churches today should use social media strategically, as a way of getting the attention of distracted people and inviting them into warmer face-to-face interactions, says Rick Hiemstra, the EFC’s director of research. Watch a one-minute video from his recent visit to the TV show 100 Huntley Street. Invite Hiemstra and other EFC speakers to your school, worship service or other group.
CARETAKERS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
“We appreciate our religious freedom, we cherish it in fact, and it is right that we do. But we also must be conscientious caretakers of it,” writes EFC President Bruce J. Clemenger in the latest issue of Canada Watch. “What you cherish, you protect. That is what you allow us to do when you support the work of the EFC, prayerfully and financially.” Read the new Dec. 2016/Jan. 2017 issue of this EFC newsletter at TheEFC.ca/CanadaWatch.
DEFENDING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
On Dec. 1 the EFC and the Christian Legal Fellowship co-intervened in the Ktuxana religious freedom case at the Supreme Court. Please join us in prayer as the justices formulate their decision over the next months. Six ways to learn more:
→ Blog introducing the Ktuxana case and recent EFC letter to supporters (PDF)
→ EFC-CLF legal arguments (PDF) and legal details at the Supreme Court website
→ Video of webinar discussion and transcribed excerpts (PDF)
→ Canada Chinese Christian Winter Conference, Calgary, Dec. 27-31
→ P2C+ Student Conference, Toronto+Calgary, Dec. 28-31
→ Children’s Ministry Diploma Course, Toronto, Thursdays starting Jan. 12
→ New Testament Survey Diploma Course, Toronto, Mondays starting Jan. 16
→ Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25
EMBRACING ADVENT
Why would a charismatic Christian embrace the liturgical church calendar? Sarah Bessey of Abbotsford, B.C., shares the significance of Advent in her faith journey in the Nov/Dec issue of Faith Today, Canada’s Christian magazine. Read her article online or subscribe now to get a printed copy.
THREE CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
Only a few weeks left! Canada’s Christian magazine lets you give two gift subscriptions free if you buy a third subscription for yourself or someone else! Get details at our 3for1 webpage or by calling toll-free 1-866-302-3362. EFC magazine subscriptions are great for all ages, since they include both Faith Today and our youth magazine, Love Is Moving.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
→ Love Is Moving gift guide: Bless our nation’s youth
→ FT blog post: Why I recently bawled over a Christian novel
→ FT blog post: The saints of old and persecuted Christians today
→ FT blog post: How to simplify Christmas, maybe
→ FT blog post: Ann Voskamp and the myth of perfection
→ FT blog post: ‘Tis the season for charity gift catalogues
→ Interfaith call for high-quality palliative care (aussi en français); sample letter to write your MP
→ EFC blog post: Too Many Victims: Child neglect and the response of our churches