A word of explanation from Bruce J. Clemenger,
President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
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Together for influence, impact and identity

April 22nd 2013

Recently there has been some public commentary on whether religious organizations that disagree with same sex marriage should continue to receive federal funding or benefits.

For those of you who may confront this issue, I want to remind you of the provision in the Civil Marriage Act that redefined marriage in 2005. In the Act there is an exemption that the EFC fought hard to obtain, though it received little attention at the time.

The exemption reads:
For greater certainty, no person or organization shall be deprived of any benefit, or be subject to any obligation or sanction, under any law of the Parliament of Canada solely by reason of their exercise, in respect of marriage between persons of the same sex, of the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the expression of their beliefs in respect of marriage as the union of a man and woman to the exclusion of all others based on that guaranteed freedom.

The preamble of the legislation which contains a list of “Whereas” statements contains similar language, including a statement that it is not contrary to the public interest to hold a different view of marriage. However, the “Whereas” statements do not have the full force of law as the section of the Act quoted above.

The story of the inclusion of this exemption is a great story.

After making the EFC’s presentation to the House of Commons Justice committee reviewing the legislation, the justice critic for the Bloc approached me and my colleague, Janet Epp Buckingham. Among the arguments we made was an appeal for an amendment to the legislation that would protect religious organizations from discrimination if marriage was redefined and some organizations continued to hold that marriage was a union between one man and one woman. Though dedicated to redefining marriage, the MP was sympathetic to concerns about religious freedom and I believe he was impressed with the reasonable and credible arguments we were making.

He said he did not really think we needed the protection we sought, but he said that if we really believed we needed it, he would advocate for it. A week later I was attending the hearings to track what other witnesses were saying and see if there were new arguments to which we needed to respond. The same Bloc MP came up to me and assured us that he had not forgotten his promise.

When the legislation came to the House for report stage and the vote, I was sitting in the gallery knowing that we did not have the votes we needed to defeat the legislation. In the report stage the Committee reports back to the House and brings forward any amendments the Committee recommends.
I heard a familiar voice – though I could not see him due to the location of the gallery seating and the location of the Bloc MPs – he was standing to inform the Speaker of the House that he had an amendment that had unanimous consent. And that was it. An amendment to protect religious organizations that we first proposed was included.

That the Bloc stood behind the amendment was significant as their members were known to be totally supportive of the redefining of marriage. Others would not be suspicious of the amendment as they would if it came from someone who opposed the legislation.

I had hoped the Bloc MP was correct and we would not need it. Eight years later, I am glad we were able to secure the exemption. It is evidence that when marriage was redefined, Parliament affirmed it was not contrary to the public interest for an organization to disagree with same sex marriage on religious ground and that holding a biblical view of marriage should not disqualify a religious organization from federal benefits or protections.

Sometimes the benefit of what the EFC does on the Hill or in the Courts is not immediately felt, or even realized till years later, but it is critical that we remain vigilant and engaged.

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap the harvest if we do not give up.” Gal 6:9 (NIV).

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My sister doesn’t normally text me. We were not good friends as children. Over time, we have learned to grow a stronger relationship but it has not always been easy. Patterns of communication have been established. We share a Facebook message every now and then. We call on the phone irregularly. We see each other at Christmas and once a summer. So, I was surprised this past week to receive a text from my sister. She wrote that she was “just checking in.” After we exchanged a few pleasantries about our upcoming Christmas celebrations, she interrupted the flow of the conversation with this text, “Do you have a minute to talk?” I responded in the affirmative. And she called in tears. “My boss just took his life last week…left behind a six year old daughter…and this hurts.”

We talked for the next twenty minutes or so and then she had to go. She didn’t want to be late for work. I reflected on the conversation. It was different than any other conversation I had had with her. I had listened. Gave some advice. And hurt with her. I had given her space to be angry. And loved her in the midst of her pain. It was quite an honour. But a line had been crossed. I was a pastor to my sister.

We have a volunteer who works with us regularly. She is wonderful. She really ‘gets’ what we are about. But she also has deep needs. Her family life was not always good and it has left her with deep scars. She, like all of us, needs affirmation and love. But I forget to do this. I want her to be ‘healthy’ so I can relax around her.

I am learning that the call to be pastor does not come with an ON/OFF switch. I would like it to. I have learned that there are too many times when I play the role of pastor. But perhaps I need to consider the calling as pastor less about playing a role and more of being a friend. Perhaps there are times when I don’t have to be ON with our friends on the street. I can just be. I can hurt and not have answers all the time. Maybe they can pastor me. And perhaps, I can best be pastor to everyone in my life by giving up the role all together.

An ethical dilemma which I ponder on a regular basis is the question of whether to delay in giving someone a Bible when they are a patient in psychiatry.

As a Christian, I believe the Bible is one way of God communicating with us.  It tells of His love and the story of His pursuit of each of us.  I read it as a fantastic love story that reveals the awesomeness of God, the humanness of Jesus, and the mysteriousness of the Holy Spirit.

However, I have contact with people who sometimes do not read it as a love story.  Instead, it is read as a book of vengeance, a book that justifies anger, evil, hatred, prejudice, discrimination and violence.  It is a book where verses, when taken out of context, can be used to justify lots of ugliness.  And when a patient is struggling with delusions or is religiously pre-occupied, it can be a book that seems to stand in direct contradiction to therapeutic goals of care.

A psychiatrist is legally able to make the decision to admit a person into hospital against their will when the person is struggling with psychiatric symptoms that could cause harm to themselves or others.

The question I ponder is whether I should delay in providing religious materials to a patient when I assess them to currently be at risk of using that material in ways that could cause harm to themselves or others.

It feels like a no-win scenario.  It involves questions of religious freedom, of personal autonomy, and of trying to determine how to bring about the least amount of harm in a situation.

It also involves the reality that treatment plans can be thwarted by religious beliefs, and that medical practitioners can be left deeply frustrated and rejecting of any sort of faith system because of the religious responses they hear from patients.

And in Christian circles, it means having conversations around how God communicates with us, exploring the levels of importance given to Scripture in different denominations, and in humbly acknowledging that Christians have not always been so great at using the Bible in Christ-like ways.

In the end, in most situations, I give a patient a Bible if they ask for one.

I do this because I believe that ethically, a person’s right to religious freedom and access to religious literature is more important than my assessment of whether they will use that religious literature in helpful or harmful ways.

But it remains an ethical conundrum.

Normally when I see the need to get something going I look for a leader or potential leader who can take it and run. Generally, that has worked well with experienced leaders but not so well with those who are developing. The newer the leader or the bigger the project, the more advantageous it is to build a team who will run with it together. Individuals can mean well and have great ideas, but it is easy to get knocked off track or lose momentum. Teams provide synergy, support, and accountability.

Maybe part of the reason I have missed the “forest” is because I have worked on too many committees and work groups. They are not the same thing as teams and can often be frustrating. I thought I understood what the term ‘team’ meant until this past year. While I was trying out a few things, something author and Canadian Christian leadership expert Carson Pue wrote caught my attention. According to Pue, a team is not a small group or a committee; it is unique, and frankly, quite rare. He wrote:

When working with younger leaders in the Arrow Leadership Program, we find that the new generation of leaders seems to come hardwired toward working in teams—which is generally not the case for my baby boomer colleagues. However, their definition of teams can be distorted because of the misuse of the term in many of the environments where they have worked or ministered. Many of their experiences have actually been what we call work groups rather than teams [1]

I hadn’t really put much thought to Jesus’ emphasis on teams. Maybe people taught me and I just didn’t listen. In the gospels we see Jesus’ strategy, and it is as much if not more about teams, than it is about reaching individual leaders or sending them out two by two. Jesus started His ministry by building a team, He poured his life into a team, and when His life came to a close His final hours were with His team.

Yes, Jesus took three years to teach His disciples, but He also took three years to build them into a team. He shaped them into strong leaders, who shared a common vision, were committed to one another, operated independently, and yet were interdependent. It is fascinating really, when you think about it. Jesus spent His last moments with His team telling about how they should love each other, and He prayed for their unity. His last touches before the cross were on His team, a team that would turn the world upside down.

I think I’m going to take a shot at looking at the forest for a while. It may take longer, but can I build anything faster than the Master?

[1]  Pue, Carson. 2005. Mentoring Leaders: Wisdom for Developing Character, Calling, and Competency. Grand Rapids MI.: Baker Books.  Pg. 149

Ron Seabrooke is pastor of Outreach/Teaching at Wallenstein Bible Chapel in Wallenstein Ontario. Ron and his wife Win have been involved in ministry for over 25 years. They served as missionaries for 10 years in the Middle East and in church planting in Ontario before coming to WBC in 2006. Ron is currently working on his DMin in leadership at Tyndale University/College.

I live with a few others on a MoveIn team In Kitchener.

A couple years ago, we got to know a young man named Geoff* in the neighbourhood who had a troubled past. He never really said much to us.

He was addicted to drugs and alcohol, wore black eyeliner, goth clothing and some scary jewelry. He was stand-offish from us and paranoid of others.

I’d say hi to him. Occasionally he might look at me, but he’d never say hi back. I hate to admit it, but he was just someone I didn’t expect to come to Christ. We prayed for him at our prayer meetings and we’d often help his mom with practical tasks around her house.

One day we dropped by their home and were chatting with his mom when Geoff walked in and started talking to us. We were floored — he’d never said a single word to us before.

Basically he just talked about his world, the drugs he’d done and so on, and was trying to impress us with it. He also said, “I seen the stuff you guys are doing and it’s really helpful … there is something different about you.” We went home super excited, Geoff had actually talk to us! A few minutes later, his mom came over and asked for one of us to come over to talk to him. I went and the others stayed and prayed. He was up in his room and he invited me in and closed the door.

The first thing he said was, “There is something different about you guys and I want what it is you have.” To make a long story short, I explained to him that I was a a sinner like him, and that it was Jesus’ sacrifice and His great love for us that made us love others and want to serve them. We kneeled on the floor and prayed and he repented and asked Christ to come into his heart. The whole time my mind was just exploding. The same evening, we had him over at our house and talked and prayed with him for another hour. We saw such joy in his eyes. He’s still growing and has been learning to leave his addictive habits behind.

One awesome thing that just keeps blowing our minds is that he gives us a prayer list every week with names of people he knows need prayer or people he has prayed for during the week.

Aaron is a self-employed “fixer of broken things” and enjoys using his handyman skills to help his neighbours. He lives with four others who have also chosen to movein to this neighbourhood. Together they pray weekly for their neighbours, and seek to find ways that they can practically serve those around them. www.movein.to

How can we meet people where they are at in their sin-sickness and lead them towards Jesus?

I became a believer in my early 20’s by hanging out with a bunch of everyday Christians in a College & Career group.  I could battle them to a stalemate with my humanistic arguments, but the way they loved each other really caught my attention.  I asked them, “Can you do something good for someone else without looking for the payback?”  In other words, “Can you break out of the selfishness loop that I seem to find myself caught in?”  They said they could, and I believed them.

Soon after, I actually prayed, “Lord I will believe anything I have to if you will give me these people’s ability to love one another” as I became a believer.  At that point, I didn’t see myself as a “sinner needing Christ’s salvation,” but I did recognize that something was not as it should be in my life.  Being around them helped me realize that I didn’t have to stay stuck in the patterns of selfishness and manipulation in which I felt trapped.  Somehow I sensed that I should be free.  When these believers showed me that this freedom of selfless love was possible, I perceived it as  good news.  I “repented from my sin” long before I knew what any of those words actually meant.

Many of the people around us are indeed “sinners on the path to death and destruction.” But the inner experience they might admit to a trusted friend is probably something more like, “You know, I am not as loving as I should be,” or perhaps as honest, or patient, or generous, or free as I should be.  When they admit this, the door swings open to leading them towards the God who comes to us in Jesus Christ.

In Mark 5:33, the woman who had been healed from her bleeding by touching Jesus’ clothes falls at His feet with trembling and fear.  What will this mighty, holy Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount do to her for reaching out to Him in her need?  The answer comes in His response, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  The Good News is that Jesus really is a safe person to come to as a sinner … the first time, and for the thousandth time.  When we say, “Help me,” He does.

Hebrews 2:14 tells us that Jesus came to share in our humanity so that by His death He would destroy him who holds the power of death and thus free us from slavery.  The God we meet in Jesus is one who has chosen to identify with human brokenness, rejection, and shame by coming to be broken, rejected, and shamed Himself.  He is humble enough to be safe, strong enough to help.  Good News.

The next time you find yourself admitting, “You know, this part of my life really isn’t what it should be,” then come with that brokenness to the One Who will accept you and can set you free.  And in that place of humble gratitude, introduce Jesus to others who are wrestling with admitting the same.

Mark Anderson has a passion for helping people experience God and take steps towards getting to know Him better.  He is a full-time Whole Life Coach for leaders in both ministry and the marketplace as well as providing pastoral leadership at Marineview Chapel in Vancouver, BC.  Vision Ministries planters and leaders who are interested in coaching and/or spiritual direction are encouraged to contact him through www.More2Life.ca .

I don’t do devotions. There. I said it. There is not a spot I go to with a cup of coffee that I pore over scripture. There is not a quiet place by a pond with ducks swimming by that brings me closer to God. Oh, by the way, I have not kept a journal either.

So far, nobody has rammed down my front door to take away my credentials as a pastor—so let me try to explain.

As I took my degree in seminary, we learned much about self-care. We learned to read our Bibles just to hear from God – not “learn” from God. We learned to journal. We learned to seek God by removing all elements that would get in the way. As I struggled in seminary to make these things a bigger part of my life, I put up my hand in class, “What about spiritual self-care for extroverts?” Our professor simply stated, “Good question.”

So, I want to share my routines.

Mentors: I have three people I go to regularly. As an extrovert, I cannot make sense of my thoughts until they are out in the open. So, as I share my thoughts with people I can trust, I hear God’s work through my life. I am challenged and accepted. I unveil deeply rooted insecurities and sin. And I sense God’s forgiveness.

Bible study: I rigorously study Scripture. I love Greek, parsing words, historical contextual research, narrative theology, and intense study of philosophy affecting contemporary thought. But the strange thing is this, the more I dig, the more I see the face of God. A deep thinker (on the Myers-Briggs test), I can find such wonder, joy, calling, and yes, even love in this type of study. I felt guilty for a long time that I did not read Scripture just to hear God speak. But I have learned to rest in the way God made my brain.

In poverty: I feel called to places where there is noise, people, and pain. Simply stated, I can see God there. In the struggles, the pain, the weakness, and the joy amidst great sorrow, I see God. I am filled by God there. In sharing struggles of others and admitting my own, I meet God. It’s not work to me—or service—it’s a calling to go and meet Jesus.

Silence: I know myself enough, that though I thrive on a full plate, I need to stop and rest. I have to be quite intentional. Don’t turn on the radio in the car. Avoid reading a book or watching TV at night. Just be quiet. Learn to rest. Be restored by not doing—just being. Curl up in Papa’s lap and fall asleep. Know the wonder. Experience His pleasure. And just be…loved.

Maybe I’m in need of an intervention. Maybe I should just sit beside a pond with a duck in it and be happy. But I have found God alive in these places and my self-care comes from what seems to be the wrong places.

When I started training to be a chaplain, gradually this all got tossed out the window. Instead of entering a patient’s room with an agenda, or being quick to try to find some good answers to whatever questions were being asked, I  began to be silent and enter more fully into the space the patient was in.

Without realizing it, I was beginning to learn how to listen.

Christians spend a lot of time and energy on words.  We just like words.  We like to know how to preach well, speak well, counsel well, exhort well, admonish well etc. etc.  But unfortunately, more often than we realize, our efforts at expressing ourselves do not convey the reality of the Gospel in near the positive way that we might think.

As Evangelicals, we have been a bit slow to recognize that our ministries and conversations can often be much more Christ-like when we keep our mouths shut.

I get so much out of being silent in a conversation.  It gives my brain the freedom to focus on the words and emotions being expressed, instead of focusing on what I want to say next. The nuances of what someone is trying to express are easier to hear.  Silence brings a humility to my words when I do speak. ItI also brings a conscious awareness to my mind and heart that I am indeed in a sacred space when I am hearing someone’s story.

When I am silent, I am much more likely to look into a person’s eyes, to see their soul, and to feel the presence of Jesus at work.

Silence reminds me that it’s not about me.

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.

God is the friend of silence.

See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence;

see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…

We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
Mother Teresa

Jessica Baker is a chaplain with Covenant Health in Edmonton, Alberta.  She’s an endorsed chaplain through Vision Ministries, has a M.Div. from Tyndale Seminary, and is a certified Specialist in Spiritual Care with the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care.  She’s passionate about the intersection of spirituality, mental health and trauma care.

First, there were the “poor in spirit,” those who knew their need and flocked to Jesus.  From the smelly, outcast shepherds of Bethlehem to the tax collectors, lepers, and prostitute outcasts of Jerusalem, these people who were deeply aware of their brokenness, their fallenness, and their emptiness found Jesus’ grace and humility deeply attractive.  He never lowered His standards, but welcomed them into His circle of friends and His Kingdom with unconditional acceptance.  If they knew they needed Him, then He wanted to be with them.  I would suggest that there is something deeply wrong with us believers today if broken, needy people are not attracted to us.

Second were the Pharisees and Experts in the Law, those who were very sure they knew what God would want in any situation and were offended by Jesus.  Those who make doctrine and morality their highest goal will not be kind to Jesus and His followers.  We should not be surprised, but actually deeply encouraged by rejection from the hardened religious establishment which claims to long for the Lord’s rule, but is actually determined to keep power for themselves.  They will not welcome those who bow to the One whose ways are higher than our ways, whose thoughts are bigger than our categories.  I would suggest that there is something amiss with true believers today if we are not upsetting and threatening some element of the religious institution.

Finally, there were the Sadducees, Herodians, and Romans, those who think that this world is all there is and were baffled by Jesus.  Those who believe that “whoever dies with the most toys wins” should be completely puzzled by believers trying to live by Kingdom values.  They might be irritated or bemused by our lack of attachment to worldly pleasures, by our ambivalence towards money, sex, and power, but they should not think that we are just “cool” co-participants in our secular culture.  We should stand out.

So which one of these gives you pause?  Do you wonder sometimes if people who know their brokenness hesitate to come to you for help?  Do you find yourself appeasing religious authorities and power-brokers?  Do you struggle to extricate yourself from the comfort that comes from “going with the flow” of the lifestyles around you?

These three responses from others are lighthouses to navigate by as we live as His witnesses.  Lord, make us like Jesus:  attractive to the humble, offensive to the self-righteous, and irrelevant to the worldly.  Amen.

Mark Anderson has a passion for helping people experience God and take steps towards getting to know Him better.  He is a full-time Whole Life Coach for leaders in both the church and marketplace as well as providing pastoral leadership at Marineview Chapel in Vancouver, BC.  Vision Ministries planters and leaders who are interested in coaching and/or spiritual direction are encouraged to contact him through www.more2life.ca .

Review by Ron Seabrooke

Problems, wouldn’t it be nice to not have any, especially in church and leadership meetings? They are inevitable because we are children of Adam and because we are people who are serious and passionate about our faith. We will not always agree, so how do we process problems and disagreements?

It is very helpful to consider what category your problem fits into, and there are at least four. There are the problems to solve, where you are looking for a solution, such as getting the funds for the leaky roof, or finding a more creative way to recruit Sunday school teachers. Brainstorming and picking the best idea usually works well. Then there are issues, where problems and disagreements are rooted in values, your identity, or basic beliefs such as: how you view the authority of the Bible. If there is a fundamental disagreement the best you can do is separate or draw up some workable boundaries. A third category is that of choices where you have to make an either/or decision: do we hire this person or that one, do we build or plant?  Lists are made, opinions weighed, and then you choose.

Polarities are a fourth category, they permeate our churches and cannot be solved using either/or thinking or by ignoring, yet that is often how we attempt to deal with them. Polarities require skill and care to work with both sides equally—skills we may lack. A polarity is a pair of truths that are interdependent, neither can stand alone. The bulk of this book deals with eight polarities: Tradition And Innovation, Spiritual Health and Institutional Health, Management and Leadership, Strong Clergy Leadership and Strong Lay Leadership, Inreach and Outreach, Nurture Aad Transformation, Making Disciples: Easy Process and Challenging Process.

What is valuable in this resource is not the description of the polarities; we know what they are and struggle with them constantly. The book gives tools to assist in managing polarities in a way that not only removes unhelpful tension but enables us to leverage them to become more healthy and balanced.

Managing these polarities involves three elements. Each of the eight polarities are carefully addressed and ideas given on how to help each side work together by: 1. understanding the flow or infinity loop (like inhaling and exhaling) to see how each side is critical, 2. developing a robust user-friendly map that enables everyone to see the key dimensions of the polarity, and 3. developing a set of principles that will enable both sides to work.

We can handle polarities like we do other problems and thus ignore the balance God is seeking to give or we can manage them well, leveraging them in a way that can help us thrive as a congregation.

Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities. Authors: R. M Oswald and B. A. Johnson, 2010. Herndon VA: Alban Institute.

More about the book or to order.

Ron Seabrooke is pastor of Outreach/Teaching at Wallenstein Bible Chapel in Wallenstein Ontario. www.wbconline.ca. Ron and his wife Win have been involved in ministry for over 25 years. They served as missionaries for 10 years in the Middle East and in church planting in Ontario before coming to WBC in 2006. Ron is currently working on his DMin in leadership at Tyndale University/College.