End the Values Test: EFC Letter on Summer Jobs Program
The EFC sent a letter last week to the Hon. Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, asking her to "make a real, substantive change to the attestation" required for its Canada Summer Jobs granting program next year, "and not to merely tweak the wording or add clarification." The current attestation "amounts to a values test," a "troubling precedent" opposed by many civil liberty organizations and faith groups. Read the full letter.
Now is the perfect time to contact your own MP or meet with them in person during the summer and ask them to push for changes to the attestation in next year's Canada Summer Jobs application. You can find out how to contact your MP here. Our Canada Summer Jobs page has talking points and a sample MP letter.
EFC Webinar on the TWU Decision
Last Wednesday, we hosted a webinar on the impact the Supreme Court's decision on Trinity Western's law school will have on religious freedom and the future of education in Christian schools in Canada. If you missed it, you can now watch a recording of the full webinar online or listen to an audio podcast version. Thanks for all your thoughtful questions! Our expert guests were able to respond to many of them during the hour-long webinar.
Guests: Bruce J. Clemenger is president of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Albertos Polizogopoulos is legal co-counsel for the EFC in this case. Justin Cooper is executive director of Christian Higher Education Canada.
Your Stories of Palliative Care: Randy Mueller
The EFC is publishing a series of personal experience stories in support of our free new Palliative Care Toolkit. This week you can read the story of Randy Mueller of West Kelowna, B.C., about his experience during his wife's last 18 months. He writes: "I wish I had documented or somehow recorded her final days just to see how beautiful and spiritual it can be with proper palliative team training." Read his story and others in the series at TheEFC.ca.
Do you have an experience with palliative care that you’d be willing to share? Email us to tell us about it. To say thank you, we’ll give you a free one-year subscription to Faith Today, Canada’s Christian magazine. We’re also publishing these Stories of Palliative Care on the Faith Today blog.
Our Common Calling and the Language of Mission
The EFC recently hosted a consultation of 38 Christian leaders to help clarify areas of convergence and divergence in how Canadian Evangelicals talk about mission engagement both locally and globally. The dialogue, held in Toronto, was facilitated by Matthew Gibbins, Executive Director of the EFC’s Global Mission Roundtable, and Aileen Van Ginkel, Vice-President, Ministry Services of the EFC.
The consultation was prompted by the recent Canadian Evangelical Missions Engagement Study. Stay tuned for upcoming reports on the outcome of this consultation.
How Bees Can Inspire Us to Live out Our Faith
Award-winning author Preston Pouteaux compares our life-giving presence in our neighbourhoods to the crucial role bees play in making the plants around them bear fruit and grow. “Keystone species are animals that may not be the most elaborate or celebrated, but hold a vital role in their environment. They provide essential support in small ways that make a big difference, so much so that without them the system may not be self-sustaining.” Read a thought-provoking excerpt from The Bees of Rainbow Falls: Finding Faith, Imagination and Delight in Your Neighbourhood, in the May/June issue of Faith Today.
This article is free online, but you can also support us and receive our print magazine by subscribing at FaithToday.ca/subscription.
The EFC on Instagram, LinkedIn
The EFC is now active on a couple of new social media accounts. Do you prefer photos over text? Follow us on Instagram at @evangelicalfellowshipofcanada. Are you active on Linkedin? Follow us there under The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
Publicize your event for free.
→ Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ 25 Years & More, Toronto, July 8
→ Crystal Lewis Live in Concert, Toronto, July 8
→ Canada’s Gospel Music Celebration, Red Deer, July 12-14
→ BC Christian Ashram, Langley, July 13-15
→ Understanding and Answering Summit, Toronto, July 18-21
→ Festival of Faith Conference by the United Church of Canada, Oshawa, July 21-22
→ Taste of Jesus in the City of Toronto, Toronto, July 21-22
→ Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers – Canada 2018 National Conference, St. John’s, Aug. 3-4
→ Absolutely Life to the Fullest (Stories of Palliative Care)
→ After 56 Years, I Am His Advocate (Stories of Palliative Care)
In Case You Missed It
→ Making Sense of the TWU Court Decision (blog series)
→ Three Questions on Recent Reconciliation Meetings
→ Multiple Faces of India: Dispatch from Brian Stiller
→ Audio Podcast: Short-term Missions Are Good For Whose Soul?
→ Raising Funds Without Losing Our Souls (Faith Today article)
→ He Is Not Afraid (Stories of Palliative Care) (Faith Today blog)